By SCOTT TYLER

Sports Editor

It was a tale of two halves for Arp and Westwood.

Unfortunately for the Westwood Panthers, Arp had the bigger half.

Arp scored 25 straight points in the second half to defeat Westwood 31-14 Friday night in the mud and the rain.

“They went into the half and made the adjustments and we could not respond,” Westwood head coach Kevin Anderson said.

On a muddy field from the rain throughout the week, Westwood (2-2) took an early 14-0 lead over the Class 2A topped ranked Arp.

It only took three plays for the Panthers to find the end zone on their first possession. Westwood running back Cameron Shead, on the counter, broke through a wall of Tiger defenders to score on a 33-yard run to take a 7-0 lead.

After a quick stop by the Panther defense, the offense again drove the field and Tevin Watson’s 16-yard pass to Domanick Turner on third down put Westwood on the Arp 3-yard line.

The Tiger defense stopped Westwood three times and the Panthers decided to go for it on fourth down on the 2-yard line instead of attempting a chip shot field goal. On the direct snap to Shead, he fumbled the snap, but picked up the ball and found the corner of the end zone and Westwood led 14-0.

The Tigers took advantage of a Westwood penalty in the second quarter to get on the scoreboard. On fourth down inside the Panther 25-yard line, Westwood looked to have Arp stopped on a batted pass in the end zone, but an offsides penalty gave the Tigers a new set of downs.

Two plays later and Lavocheya Cooper found the end zone on a 6-yard run and the Tigers trailed 14-6 going into the half.

“That penalty looked to have helped jump start them,” Anderson said. “We could have been 14-0 at halftime, but they made us pay for an error.”

During halftime, the skies opened up with heavy rain falling, soaking the field into a bigger mud pit.

But the weather did not affect the Tigers, who came out in the second half and dominated.

After the Tiger defense stopped Westwood three and out, the Panthers put together an eight-yard drive that resulted in a Michael Wade touchdown to cut the lead to 14-12.

For the next three series, Westwood’s offense did not gain a first down and each time Arp scored a touchdown.

Cooper scored the first two touchdowns on runs of 62 and 15 yards to give Arp a 24-14 lead.

The final score came after Westwood mishandled a snap on the punt and was stopped for a 4-yard loss. The next play was a 34-yard touchdown by Wade giving the Tigers a 31-14 lead.

Notes: The 14 points scored by Westwood was more points than Arp allowed this season in all three games. The Tigers came into Friday night’s game allowing only 13 points. ...Arp had nine fumbles on the night but reovered all of them.

Arp 0 6 12 13 31

Westwood 14 0 0 0 14

WESTWOOD — Cameron Shead 33 run (Tyler Dillon kick)

WESTWOOD — Shead 2 run (Dillon kick)

ARP — Lavocheya Cooper 6 run (kick blocked)

ARP — Michael Wade 5 run (run failed)

ARP — Cooper 62 run (run failed)

ARP — Cooper 15 run (run failed)

ARP — Wade 34 run (Lars Lemke kick)

Arp Westwood

First Downs 15 8

Rushes-Yards 46-305 33-75

Passing Yards 13 64

Total Yards 318 139

Comp-Att-Int 2-4-0 6-14-0

Punts-Avg 3-30.7 5-34.8

Fumbles-Lost 9-0 3-1

Penalties-Yards 1-15 3-35

Rushing — A: Cooper, 22-195; Wade, 12-97; Stephen Sarica, 1-12; Kyle Copeland, 1-10; Kasey McClendon, 2-(-9). W: Shead, 16-74; Nick Morrow, 3-9; Domanick Turner, 5-(-1); Tevin Watson, 9-(-7).

Passing — A: Copeland, 2-4-0-13. W: Watson, 6-14-0-64

Receiving — A: Clint Copeland, 1-7; Wade, 1-6. W: Turner, 4-58; Des’Mone Williams, 1-6; Shead 1-0.