A goal line and a big pass play gave the Gatlinburg-Pittman enough cushion to send Cloudland home with a 20-8 loss to start the season.

“We couldn’t get yardage,” said Cloudland head coach Mike Lunsford. “They have been in the weight room. They were a lot bigger than us and a lot stronger than us.

“We couldn’t move the ball and had to resort to other things,” added Lunsford.

Gatlinburg-Pittman made good on its first trip down the field as G-P’s Bryce Akey rumbled in from 4-yards out before G-P booted through the point-after attempt, giving Pittman a 7-0 lead with 8:02 left in the first quarter.

Cloudland’s first drive ended at G-P’s 1-yard line. After a 13-yard pass from Highlanders Malachi Benfield to Triston Lacy put Cloudland on the 3-yard line, the ‘Landers came up short after G-P stuffed a run by Cloudland’s Jordan Coffey on the 1.

Stepping up defensively, the Highlanders, seeing a couple big of tackles from Dillion Johnson, forced G-P to punt from inside their own 10. A bad snap resulted in the ball going through the back of the end zone for a safety, and the Highlander cut into G-P’s lead 8-2 early in second quarter.

The Highlanders made good on their possession after the saftey kick as they drove from G-P’s 40 to the 4-yard line in ten plays. Cloudland’s Josh Blair blasted his way into the end zone on a 4-yard carry. The 2-point conversion pass from Benfield came up short and the ‘Landers led 8-7 with 5:46 left in the half.

G-P struck one more time before intermission. With 7 seconds left on the clock, a trick play helped J.D. Shults connect with Ethan Estabrook on a pass that was tipped by Lacy. Estabrook ran the ball down to the Cloudland 6, before Akey took it on in from there giving G-P a 20-8 lead at the half.

“We had the play called, and we knew that they were going to run that double-reverse pass,” said Lunsford. “We played it well. Thought we had it picked and a chance to run it back. Just didn’t turn out that way for us.”

The game didn’t see any scoring in the second half as both teams battled back and forth.

The Highlanders had some big moments in the second half including a fumble recovery by Johnson and a recovered fumbled punt by ‘Landers Damian Black. In the fourth, Benfield had back-to-back complete passes to Lacy and Blair with both of them being made on the run. The two tosses allowed the Highlanders to convert a first down at the Highlanders 43, but things would come to a standstill for the Highlanders as they turned the ball over on downs at the G-P 31.

“We just couldn’t do anything consistent enough,” said Lunsford about the Highlanders’ pass game. “Malachi could throw it but he was getting rushed on every play. We didn’t do a good job of protecting him. He played really well.”

Next week,  the Highlanders visit North Greene on Friday.

“You can’t lose two games in one night,” said Lunsford. “This one is over. You have to get ready for the next one.”