<p class="p1">SULPHUR — It doesn’t count in the win column, but Washington-Marion signaled to the rest of Southwest Louisiana Friday night that it is one of the teams to watch this season.

<p class="p3">Class 3A W-M defeated defending Class 2A state champion Welsh 20-0 on the second and final day of the SPOT Therapy/Billy Navarre Chevrolet Jamboree.

<p class="p3">“We hadn’t won a jamboree game in seven years,” said first-year W-M head coach DeCarlos Holmes said. “I think that it is a morale booster as well as a community booster. 

<p class="p3">“I think that north Lake Charles has something to look forward to. We played together as a team.”

<p class="p3">After a penalty on its first play, W-M scored the first of two long touchdowns when Mar’Quez Chagois tossed a 69-yard touchdown pass to Williams Carswell.

<p class="p3">“Coach Williams, our offensive coordinator, has done a great job with those guys,” Holmes said. “They are finally understanding how to play fast. 

<p class="p3">“That is the big thing that we try to impress on those guys — playing faster than the other team is capable of playing.”

<p class="p3">The Charging Indians defense had a hand in the next two scores. Welsh put together a nine-play, 35-yard drive, but D’Micah Bailey recovered the ball after a bad snap to prevent the Greyhounds from getting in the end zone.

<p class="p3">Two penalties cost the Indians 12 yards, pushing them back to their 7-yard line. But it didn’t matter. Chagois spotted Carswell wide open in the middle of the field for a 93-yard score.

<p class="p3">Welsh had two more drives deep into W-M territory but came up empty. W-M’s Ahmad Lee picked off a Welsh pass and returned it 79-yard for six points and Nathan Royal added a 2-point conversion.

<p class="p3">The lone blemish on the Charging Indians’ performance was penalties (4 for 32 yards).

<p class="p3">Welsh’s Jaheim Simon rushed for 45 yards on seven carries.