WELSH – Behind a dominating performance on both sides of the ball, Welsh cruised to a 51-6 win over Grand Lake in its District 5-2A opener on Thursday to extend its win streak to four games.

Welsh (4-2, 1-0) has outscored its last four opponents 193-33.

“I thought as far a complete game this is our best game so far this year both offense and defense,” Welsh head coach Ronnie Courville said. “They are doing good. They just have to keep it going.”

Welsh quarterback Jonavon Begnaud accounted for four touchdowns and running back Hayden VanNess three as the Greyhounds racked up 393 yards on offense.

“I think Jonavon has gotten better each week,” Courville said. “Hayden, this is his second full game back, and he is just gaining steam as well.

“He is getting more conditioned. He had to sit out a couple of weeks, so those guys are getting better each week.”

Begnaud had his first 100-yard rushing game of the season with 107 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. VanNess topped the century mark for the fourth time this season with 135 yards and two scores on 19 carries and added an 84-yard kickoff return touchdown seconds after Grand Lake had cut the lead to 16-6 on a 5-yard run by Charles McFarland with 3:41 left in the second quarter.

The Greyhounds held Grand Lake 196 yards of total offense. The Hornets fumbled the ball four times with Welsh’s Ethan Beard and Casey Cormier recovering one each, leading to a pair of touchdowns.

“So last week I thought we did a great job, but I thought we kind of came out after half and let up a little bit,” Courville said. “I challenged them after the game and all this week that when we go into the half, we need to finish strong.

“I think that is what they did tonight. They (Grand Lake) had six (points) at half, and we stayed focused and finished the game and shut them out in the second half.”

Beard’s fumble recovery with 7:02 left in the second quarter led to a 35-yard touchdown pass from Begnaud to J.J. Artis just over a minute later for a 16-0 lead. Artis had two catches for 35 yards, plus a rushing and two passing two-point conversions.

Cormier recovered a fumble with 6:58 left in the third quarter. Five plays later, Begnaud took it in from 21 yards out to put the Greyhounds up 44-6.

Grand Lake’s Gage Bang picked off a Begnaud pass near the goal line with 8:18 left in the first quarter, but the Hornets were forced to punt after a three-and-out.

Ian Vigo led Grand Lake (3-3, 0-1) with 94 yards on 14 carries.

Welsh 51

Grand Lake 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Grand Lake 0 6 0 0 — 6

Welsh 8 22 14 7 — 51

SCORING SUMMARY

W: Hayden VanNess 5 run (J.J. Artis run)

W: Artis 35 pass from Jonovan Begnaud (Dane Iguess pass from Artis)

GL: Charles McFarland 5 run (run failed)

W: VanNess 84 kickoff return (pass failed)

W: Begnaud 10 run (Latroy Pattum pass from Iguess)

W: Hunter Hixon 44 pass from Begnaud (Brecken Haydel pass fro Artis)

W: Begnaud 21 run (kick failed)

W: VanNess 2 run (Haydel kick)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING — Grand Lake: Ian Vigo 14-94, Brycen Guillory 8-37, Kaden Taylor 1-1, Charles McFarland 13-54, Kealan Bell 1-0. Welsh: Hayden VanNess 19-135, Jonovan Begnaud 16-107, Azarias Bennett 3-15, Latroy Pattum 1-0.

PASSING — Grand Lake: Taylor 1-3-0—11, Guillory 0-1-0—0. Welsh: Begnaud 8-12-1—136.

RECEIVING — Grand Lake: Guillory 1-11. Welsh: J.J. Artis 2-35, VanNess 1-10, Dane Iguess 2-3, Will Arceneaux 2-44, Hunter Hixon 1-44.