A high school parking lot after a sports contest in 2019 was where The Tennessean's season-long project covering the 2026 Pearl-Cohn football team was born. Yes, it took seven years to get things off the ground. But let's explain. Tennessean photographer Andrew Nelles and myself were talking after a game, sharing ideas, including how to cover things differently. Nelles had been talking with former photo editor Marcia Prouse regarding a season-long photo project covering Pearl-Cohn football. I — The Tennessean's high school sports editor at the time — told him we should piggyback on that idea and follow the team with a reporter as well. Sounded like an excellent idea, right? Well, then the 2020 season rolled around, along with the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions were put in place and high school sports access was albeit non-existent. Add to that, Metro Nashville Public Schools chose not to start the high school sports season. They didn't begin to play until after the midway point.
So much for an all-access season look. Now, though, is the perfect time to launch "Friday Night Fire," our title for our high school football project. The Tennessean will follow Pearl-Cohn throughout the 2026 Tennessee high school football season, compiling stories, photos and videos with members of the sports staff. We announced this to Pearl-Cohn parents in July and was greeted with applause. We also have a paid high school intern, Pearl-Cohn student Tymarius Muse, who will help chronicle the season with our writers and visual team. Muse's internship is part of a USA TODAY Network program highlighting high school sports coverage with high school students across the nation. The program, sponsored by T-Mobile, will give students real-world experience in writing, video creation and social media content, working with Tennessean editors. As part of the program, a select group of interns could be featured in a short-form, documentary-style video that chronicles how they covered their beats as high school students. Muse will focus on his video expertise while embedding with the football program. This wasn't a quick process. The Tennessean and Pearl-Cohn are in this project together. Multiple conversations with Pearl-Cohn principal Miriam Harrington and Firebirds football coach Tony Brunetti have taken place, discussing our vision and with Harrington sharing ideas. We've met with MNPS athletic director Mark North and MNPS spokesman Sean Braisted about the project. We've assured them we want to tell the story of Pearl-Cohn football. We plan to do it professionally and with sensitivity when applicable. And while we'll have a focus on Pearl-Cohn, don't worry, the remaining high school programs will be part of our coverage plans like every year. Tom Kreager is sports director at The Tennessean. Reach him at tkreager@tennessean.com and on the X platform @Kreager. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: The Tennessean's idea for Pearl-Cohn football project began in 2019