Welsh Shuts Out Basile 44-0 and Sets Up a Nov. 5 Showdown With Unbeaten Notre Dame

By Remus Dixon | Gridiron Gumbo
Friday, Oct. 23, 2026 · LHSAA Week 8 · District 7-2A
FINAL · CONFIRMED

CONFIRMED: Final score confirmed as 44-0 per MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated and Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decision (the American Press, KPLC and PrepRank listed 43-0; see Sources); records, schedules and standings per MaxPreps (retrieved Oct. 23–24, 2026); season stats per the American Press (through Oct. 22); coach quotes per KPLC (Sept. 17) and the Jennings Daily News (Oct. 23, preview excerpt). No quarter scores or Friday individual stats were published by any outlet we checked. District math, where shown, is Gridiron Gumbo’s own (sources below)

Welsh blanked Basile, won its fifth straight and stayed perfect in 7-2A play. Lake Arthur is next, and then comes unbeaten Notre Dame.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Final: Welsh 44, Basile 0 (Friday, Oct. 23, at Basile)
• Records (MaxPreps): Welsh 7-1, 2-0 District 7-2A · Basile 2-6, 0-3
• Next: Welsh at Lake Arthur, Friday, Oct. 30 (district), then vs. Notre Dame, Thursday, Nov. 5 (district) · Basile vs. Ville Platte, Thursday, Oct. 29

The recap

Welsh shut out Basile 44-0 on Friday night at Basile for its fifth straight win, according to MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated.¹ The American Press, KPLC and PrepRank listed 43-0, but Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decided the final is 44-0.²

The Greyhounds (7-1, 2-0) have won every game since a 47-28 loss at Jennings on Sept. 17, according to their MaxPreps schedule. Friday was their second shutout of the season; the first was a 42-0 win over Opelousas Catholic on Sept. 11. Basile fell to 2-6 and 0-3.

How it unfolded

MaxPreps’ box score has Welsh scoring 18 points in the first quarter and 26 in the second, for a 44-0 halftime lead, with neither team scoring after that. Neither the American Press nor KPLC published a scoring summary.

What the season numbers say is that Welsh arrived with the offensive numbers to do this. The American Press reported Thursday that Welsh was among three Southwest Louisiana teams (Barbe and Leesville were the others) to have both a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard passer after seven games. Its running back had 1,157 yards and 18 touchdowns, and quarterback Grant Haydel had 1,180 yards and 13 touchdowns. Those are totals through last week, not Friday’s numbers.

Greyhounds coach Ronnie Courville told KPLC on Sept. 17 that after Welsh’s first shutout, the 42-0 win over Opelousas Catholic, his players “showed up and executed extremely well.” Previewing the game, the Jennings Daily News noted that Basile has moved up to Class 2A and that Courville was not looking past them.

The district race

Welsh (2-0) visits Lake Arthur (2-1) on Oct. 30, then hosts Notre Dame (2-0) on Nov. 5. By Gridiron Gumbo’s math, winning both gives the Greyhounds the 7-2A title outright. (Our count, not an LHSAA announcement.)

PrepRank, an unofficial site that applies the LHSAA formula, listed Welsh at 12.41 and 11th of 42 Division IV Non-Select teams after Friday’s game. Basile was 28th at 9.09.

What others missed

• Welsh has been here before. In 1994, Lake Arthur went unbeaten through eight games and reached No. 6 in the LSWA poll before losing 13-8 to Welsh in Week 9, the American Press reported on Oct. 15. Lake Arthur’s unbeaten run ended Friday against Notre Dame, but it still hosts Welsh on Oct. 30. Welsh also beat Lake Arthur in the first round of last year’s playoffs, per Louisiana Football Magazine.
• The defense during the streak. Over the five straight wins, Welsh has scored 247 points and allowed 61, and four of the five opponents scored 13 or fewer (our math from the MaxPreps schedule; the 44 uses Friday’s confirmed final).
• Basile’s whole district schedule so far. Basile’s 0-3 district record is made up of losses to Lake Arthur (62-7), Notre Dame (50-0) and Welsh (44-0 by the confirmed final), per MaxPreps and the American Press. Two of those three, Lake Arthur and Notre Dame, are the teams Welsh’s title math runs through.

TAKE: Welsh went 5-7 last season, according to Louisiana Football Magazine. Two games, at Lake Arthur and against Notre Dame, now decide whether the Greyhounds finish this one as district champions.

TAKE (joke): Between 1994, the Oct. 30 trip and the Nov. 5 showdown, a Southwest Louisiana football calendar is basically a family reunion where everybody remembers 1994 and nobody brought dessert.

Related: 92 Throws, Zero Picks: Welsh’s Grant Haydel Is Pitching a Shutout Every Friday Night

Sources

1. MaxPreps game page, final 44-0 and quarter scores (https://www.maxpreps.com/la/football/game/basile-vs-welsh/10-23-2026/?c=66cf33a8-e6f3-4437-9936-e896a22576a0), and Sports Illustrated’s High School On SI scoreboard (final 44-0). Final confirmed by Gridiron Gumbo’s editor decision on Oct. 24, 2026. ↩ Back to story
2. American Press, Oct. 23 scores and stats roundup (https://americanpress.com/2026/10/23/local-prep-football-scores-and-stats-oct-23-2/), KPLC’s TDL Week 8 scores (https://www.kplctv.com/2026/10/22/tdl-week-8-scores-highlights/) and PrepRank (https://prep-rank.com/games/533884) listed 43-0. We are treating that total as an error. ↩ Back to story
3. American Press, “Perfect Pioneers, Tigers dual” (Oct. 22, 2026), for the 1,000-yard passer and rusher note and season stats: https://americanpress.com/2026/10/22/perfect-pioneers-tigers-dual/
4. American Press, “Rocky road: unbeaten Lake Arthur faces dangerous portion of schedule” (Oct. 15, 2026), for the 1994 history: https://americanpress.com/2026/10/15/rocky-road-unbeaten-lake-arthur-faces-dangerous-portion-of-schedule/
5. KPLC, TDL Week 3 Game Week Preview: Welsh Greyhounds (Sept. 17, 2026): https://www.kplctv.com/2026/09/17/tdl-week-3-game-week-preview-welsh-greyhounds/
6. Jennings Daily News, “Greyhounds travel to take on Bearcats” (Oct. 23, 2026; paywalled, preview excerpt only): https://www.jenningsdailynews.net/sports/greyhounds-travel-take-bearcats
7. Louisiana Football Magazine, 2026 Preview Class 2A District 7: https://www.lafootballmagazine.com/news/2026-preview-class-2a-district-7
8. MaxPreps schedules: Welsh · Basile · Notre Dame · Lake Arthur
9. MaxPreps District 7-2A standings (updated Oct. 23, 10:44 p.m. CT): https://www.maxpreps.com/la/football/26-27/district/2a-district-7/?leagueid=5f98d655-3173-43c3-a492-41aaf579425b

Featured image: Gridiron Gumbo illustration. No outside photos.

Corrections: Gridiron Gumbo fixes errors promptly and notes changes at the bottom of the story. Spot one? Tell us.

Correction, Oct. 24, 2026: An earlier version of this story gave the final as 43-0, the total listed by the American Press, KPLC and PrepRank. The final is 44-0, per MaxPreps and Sports Illustrated. The headline, records line and streak points total were updated to match.

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