The Gatlinburg-Pittman High School football team fell 62-21 to Westview in the 2025 Class 3A BlueCross Bowl Championship on Friday, Dec. 5, at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn. (Photo by Danny Parker/5Star Preps)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
CHATTANOOGA — For the Gatlinburg-Pittman High School football team, the ending to the season’s journey Friday afternoon didn’t reflect the elation enjoyed en route to it.
The Highlanders’ first-ever appearance in a BlueCross Bowl got off to a disastrous start at Finley Stadium, and momentum seemed content just to stay on Martin Westview’s side throughout.
Westview sophomore quarterback Graham Simpson — in the first quarter — passed for 287 yards and three touchdowns in addition to a rushing score, and the Chargers rode an early four-score lead to a 62-21 rout of Gatlinburg-Pittman in the Class 3A state championship.
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Simpson won BlueCross Bowl MVP honors for his efforts.
He finished the day 18-for-21 passing for BlueCross Bowl record 566 yards and seven touchdowns. He ran three times for 46 yards and one touchdown. His touchdown passes tied the BlueCross Bowl single-game record and they spanned 80, 11, 73, 62, 99, 62, and 7 yards.
Westview, which finished runner-up in 3A last year to Alcoa, won its first-ever 3A title and its second football championship overall. It won the 2021 Class 2A championship when current Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson led them to that title.
Now Graham Simpson has his own to match big brother’s.
Westview (14-0) completed its second-ever undefeated season and brought an end to Gatlinburg-Pittman’s first 14-0 run.
“We’ve had to fight and scrap to get here,” Gatlinburg-Pittman coach Tyler Williams said. “A lot of people picked other teams throughout the playoffs and for good reason. They were bigger, some of them were faster.
“Our guys fought. They fought and were scrappy. Just wanted to see them win so bad. We just finally ran into one we couldn’t overcome. They’ve got a lot of good players at their offensive skill positions that we had a hard time keeping up with.”
HOW IT WAS WON
Gatlinburg-Pittman suffered the worst kind of start to a championship game, falling behind four scores just one quarter into the contest.
Simpson started it, dropping back — on play No. 1 — and throwing an 80-yard touchdown pass. The pass sailed 30 yards to the midfield logo, where 5-10 senior Christopher Damron caught it, redirected his path and then raced in untouched down the Westview sideline for an immediate score.
“Obviously they saw something there they schemed up,” Williams said. “Also, just the execution of it. Guy made a great throw there. That was tough. But we’ve been down before. That wasn’t anything new. But when we didn’t get a stop, it compounded on us.”
Westview’s customary pre-snap shifts and odd alignments on its PAT attempts got G-P defenders to jump, and so Westview — with the penalty — elected to go for the two-point conversion. The Highlanders stopped that; however, they trailed 6-0 just 13 seconds into the contest.
The Highlanders then went three-and-out on its ensuing possession.
Westview responded by going 94 yards in eight plays to pull ahead 14-0 by the 7:37 mark of the first. Simpson tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Miles Brown, and the Chargers completed a two-point pass.
The Chargers made just one mistake in the early going: a holding penalty early in its third drive. But they made up for it on the next play, as Simpson lofted a perfect screen pass to tailback Asa Barnes. And Barnes rumbled down the G-P sideline for an easy 73-yard touchdown and 21-0 advantage.
After Cecilio Rodriguez crafted a beautiful 50-yard puntnthat was downed inside the 10, Westview went 92 yards in five plays, as Simpson’s 26-yard touchdown run helped the Chargers bump the lead to 28-0.
The Highlanders made a name for themselves in not giving up and not getting fazed by any opponent or circumstance.
But this obstacle proved too large to overcome.
G-P had one first down in the first quarter and didn’t cross midfield until the 9:41 mark of the second quarter, as Westview muffed a punt and G-P recovered inside the Westview 10.
Tyson Sutton threw a 4-yard touchdown to Elijah Spence to cut Westview’s lead to 28-7 with 8:35 remaining in the half.
That feel-good moment for G-P was short-lived.
Simpson, on third down, threw a 62-yard touchdown pass with 7:38 left in the second quarter to push the lead back up to four scores (34-7). The PAT failed after the score.
He added a 99-yard touchdown pass to Donteze Joy with 6:02 left in the second quarter, ruining what was another stellar punt for the Highlanders’ special teams unit. Westview led 41-7, and Simpson’s 99-yard touchdown pass set a state championship record for longest pass play.
Westview’s Miles Brown returned a kickoff 78 yards for a score with 2:20 left in the second quarter, quickly answering the score that Gatlinburg-Pittman got on a 2-yard touchdown run by Rodriguez.
Westview reached the half ahead 55-14, as Simpson tossed another 62-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds to play before the break.
He reached the half 12-for-14 passing for 512 yards, six passing touchdowns and one rushing score.
By game’s end, Sutton went 16-for-37 passing for Gatlinburg-Pittman for 133 yards and two touchdowns.
Hayden Shultz punted six times for a 43.5-yard average with five downed inside the 20.
Brayden Maples ran nine times for 35 yards while Rodriguez added 29 yards on the ground to go with his rushing touchdown.
Rodriguez also had five catches for 63 yards and a touchdown receiving in the fourth quarter.
“The kid’s the heart and soul of our team,” Williams said of Rodriguez. “Just a scrappy kid who people underestimate a lot, but does a lot for us.
“We wanted to make sure he got in the end zone.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Per the depth chart provided to the TSSAA for the BlueCross Bowl, Gatlinburg-Pittman started seven seniors on offense and seven seniors on defense.
Notable departures include running back Cecilio Rodriguez, wideout Elijah Spence, tight end/linebacker Craig Huskey and safety Nathan Allen.
Junior tailback Brayden Maples, junior quarterback Tyson Sutton, junior defensive end Elijah Valentine, junior linebacker Jackson Younger, and junior wideouts John Keohane and Jackson Savarese will be big building blocks for the 2026 campaign.
“I’m really appreciative for our senior class,” G-P coach Tyler Williams said. “G-P Football is 65 years of great tradition and hard-nosed football. These guys set a new standard. We will be back. We will be back. We’re going to try to live up to this new standard. I think we will. We got a lot of good players coming back. We got some holes to fill with these seniors (graduating).
“But we will be back here.”
5STAR PHOTOS: Gatlinburg-Pittman vs. Westview — presented by Jeremy Cox/Thrivent Financial