West Plains combined a  solid rushing game with Waynesville mistakes to win a 21-14 decision in the season opener Friday night at Tiger Stadium.  All three Zizzer scores came on the ground while the Tigers had a touchdown called back on a penalty and twice failed to score after recovering West Plains fumbles deep in W.P.  territory.

West Plains opened the scoring on a one-yard run eight minutes into a briskly played first quarter.  Tiger quarterback Varon Martinez went 80 yards down the right sideline in the second quarter, but a blocking penalty behind the run nullified it.  Martinez later scored on a 13 yard run behind a great block from Jalen Thomas. Sam Thompson kicked the extra point. 

Midway in the third quarter, West Plains went back on top with a three yard run. Then things fell apart.  After a personal foul pushed the Tigers back to their own three with ten seconds remaining in the quarter, West Plains forced a fumble and scored the eventual winner on Ryan Martin's third t.d. with 2.9 seconds left in the quarter. 

Martinez hooked up with Nigel Farmer on a 20-yard scoring strike with 8:23 remaining, Thompson again kicking the x.p.  The Tigers marched down field on a later possession and Martinez connected with Seth Hedrick on a 30 yard pass to the West Plains 27 with 2:40 remaining, but the Tigers went out in four downs to seal the final.

The Tigers hit the road on the second week with a game at Lebanon.  Kickoff will be at 7:00.