By Damian Juneau
Special to the American Press

WELSH — The third-seeded General Trass Panthers took advantage of big plays and converted turnovers in taking a 40-20 win over the 19th-seeded Welsh Greyhounds Friday night in a Class 2A regional playoff game.

General Trass (12-0) advanced to the quarterfinals where they will host Amite, which beat Kinder 35-20.

The Greyhounds recovered a fumble at their own 49-yard line on the opening kickoff. The Greyhounds settled for a 37-yard field goal attempt, but the Panthers’ Ahmonnie Wiliams blocked the kick and returned it for a 70-yard touchdown and an 8-0 lead with 7:48 to play in the quarter.

Trass took a 14-0 lead when J’Wuan Turner scored on 26-yard touchdown pass with 7:48 to play in the second quarter. Keldrick Green extended the advantage to 20-0 on a 3-yard touchdown run.

The Greyhounds’ Grant Daigle scored on an 11-yard pass from Kale Navarre with 5 seconds left in the half. The Panthers held on for a 20-7 halftime lead.

Aubrey Nash scored on a 31-yard pass from Wydett Williams in the first drive of the second half to give Trass a 26-7 lead.

“They have a really good football team,” said Welsh head coach Cody Gueringer. “They played really well defensively and mixed it up. We started to the ball more offensively with the passing game which made them soften up a little bit to open up the run game for us, but the problem was it was a little too late to sustain the run as we got behind with the score early.”

The teams then both exchanged scores on the next possessions. Welsh scored on a Cohen Fontenot 4-yard run, and Trass answered with a 26-yard Green TD.

Welsh’s Fontenot scored his second touchdown on a 1-yard run. The final score of the game came two plays later from the Panthers when Kameron Williams scored on a 48-yard run with 5:33 to play.

Trass finished with 188 rushing yards and 125 passing yards. Green led the way on the ground with 79 yards.

“Our guys did a job executing our offense tonight,” said General Trass head coach Toriano Wells. “We challenged our defense all week because we knew Welsh has a great ball club. Our guys played hard for four quarters and had a great ball game.”

Welsh finished with 268 rushing yards and 125 passing yards. Fontenot had a big game as he rushed 40 times for 202 yards and touchdowns.