West Creek’s Nicole Cushionberry tops first Leaf-Chronicle all-area team

West Creek senior Nicole Cushionberry became the face of the Leaf-Chronicle’s first all-area flag football team, earning Player of the Year honors after a breakout season that ended with West Creek in the state tournament. Her selection lands as more than an award line: it is the first such recognition the paper has published for the sport, arriving after TSSAA’s inaugural girls flag football season concluded in May.

Cushionberry’s numbers explain why she stood above the field. She finished with 46 receptions for 830 yards and 15 touchdowns in 13 games, production that earned her a spot on the TFCA All-State team and made her one of the state’s most dangerous pass-catchers. West Creek leaned on her throughout its run to the Elite Eight, where the Coyotes fell 20-14 to Walker Valley on May 15 in Murfreesboro.

That quarterfinal loss was the last snap of a season that helped define what Clarksville-area flag football looks like at the highest level. The 2026 TSSAA Girls’ Flag Football State Championship was played May 14-15 at Richard Siegel Soccer Complex, with pool play Thursday and single-elimination bracket play Friday. West Creek was in the middle of that bracket, and Cushionberry’s season-long output helped push the Coyotes into the state tournament conversation from start to finish.

The timing matters because the sport itself is still writing its first chapter in Tennessee. Williamson County Schools and the Tennessee Titans announced the state’s first interscholastic girls flag football league on June 8, 2021, with the first league season scheduled for spring 2022. What began as an emerging format has now become a fully sanctioned TSSAA championship sport, and the Leaf-Chronicle’s all-area team captures the first wave of players who gave the game a competitive identity.

For Clarksville-area programs, that means the standard has already been set. Cushionberry’s season, West Creek’s run to Murfreesboro and the league’s rise from startup to state championship now form the early benchmark for everyone else trying to catch up.