How Pearl-Cohn’s girls flag football college signees captured 2nd straight MNPS title

• Four Pearl-Cohn High School girls flag football players are headed to Cumberland University, a unique opportunity as the sport has grown at the college and high school levels.
• The TSSAA is considering sanctioning girls flag football for the 2025-26 school year.

Going into her senior year, Pearl-Cohn’s Dyna’C Davis knew she wanted to go to college. 

She didn’t know where. Austin Peay was her leading choice. One of her other Pearl-Cohn girls flag football teammates, Madison Woodard, was in the same boat. She was considering Tennessee College of Applied Technology. 

Then a unique opportunity arose. The two signed to play at Cumberland University for flag football, which is an emerging TSSAA sport. Teammates Tatiana Groves and Khira Johnson both plan to do the same later this spring.

Four years ago, that was nowhere near their radar.

More: TSSAA girls flag football is in its inaugural season: What fans need to know

More: How TSSAA flag football became a learning lesson for some Murfreesboro area teams in first year

“I never thought I’d be signing a scholarship to play flag football, ever,” Davis said. 

Woodard threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more, and Davis intercepted a pass in Pearl-Cohn’s 26-18 win over Hillsboro for the Metro Nashville Public Schools title on May 2 at McGavock. It was Pearl-Cohn’s second consecutive title. 

Both schools advanced to the TSSAA’s first state invitational May 7-8. Hosting a postseason tournament is another step forward for the sport, which potentially could receive TSSAA sanctioning for the 2025-26 school year.

Woodard thought flag football was a fun experience when MNPS began offering the sport three years ago. That was the extent of it, though. It was for fun. 

“Now, it’s way more serious,” she said. “I think it’s pushing people to get more opportunities, because now you can go to college for it. Now it’s something you can work for. There’s going to be more competition every year.”

Woodard and Davis got the full recruiting experience from Cumberland coach Steve Miller, a former Cumberland County athletic director who will lead the university’s first team in 2025-26. Women’s flag football began at the NAIA level in 2021, and though it doesn’t have official championship status at the national level, it crowns a champion each season in a bracketed playoff. 

The recruiting process is like what it is in other sports. Davis and Woodard, who also play basketball, made official visits. Miller stayed in close contact and even went to watch them at Pearl-Cohn basketball games. 

Pearl-Cohn has embraced flag football with open arms. The Firebirds are 24-0 the past two seasons and have reached all three district championship games since 2023. 

Pearl-Cohn coach Kenneth Miller is equally intense on the sidelines as he is in the fall as an assistant for the football team.

“I knew that the same way I pushed for the effort from the boys, I had to do the same thing for the girls,” he said. “That’s probably just me. I coach the same way. And I’ve found that they love the tough love.”

Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for him? Reach Tyler at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83. He also writes The Tennessean’s high school sports newsletter, The Bootleg. Subscribe to the newsletter here. 

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