Leader of the pack: Greyhounds’ Courville Coach of the Year
Published 9:44 am Tuesday, December 26, 2023
- Welsh’s Ronnie Courville is this year’s American Press/Southwest Louisiana Coach of the Year. The first-time head coach — and father of twins — guided the Greyhounds to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)
Going into the 2023 season, Welsh High head football coach Ronnie Courville knew the potential his team had. They just need to find a way to reach it.
“I knew we had some potential just from the competitive aspect,” Courville said. “I felt like, early in the year, we could line up on offense and defense, and it would be pretty competitive in practice.
“In the past, when I have been here, usually when practice is competitive, you have a chance to be pretty good. So I knew there was potential there.”
At first it was a bit rough. The Greyhounds lost to Kinder (46-28) and Westlake (55-27) to open the season. They were moving players around early and dealing with injuries.
“We had a lot of new people in a lot of new places, so I knew there would be a learning curve, including myself,” Courville said. “I think it was a couple of things.
“We had some key guys that were out early in the year. I think, also, it was an adjustment period for me as well. The defense didn’t perform really well early in the year, and some of that is on me, dealing with being a head coach, a new position, calling defense and also trying to figure out being a dad. I had a lot of good help, that is the main thing.”
It all settled down in Week 3 when the Greyhounds rolled into Lake Charles and beat Hamilton Christian 50-6. That started a seven-game win streak that included a string of four defensive gems in which they limited Grand Lake, DeQuincy, Lake Arthur and Vinton to a combined 12 points.
“The week of Hamilton, we got a couple of guys back, and I thought (quarterback) Jonovan (Begnaud) starting playing a lot better throughout the year,” Courville said. “People on defense got a little more experience under their belt, and they started playing together.”
Welsh’s streak ended with a 44-0 loss to Notre Dame, but it bounced back with two double-digit wins to open the playoffs, beating Basile (42-20) and White Castle (54-18). Welsh almost reached the semifinals for the first time since 2018 but lost a quarterfinal game 42-34 to No. 1 Logansport.
“We were right there on the 10-yard line,” Courville said. “It was fourth-and-1 or fourth-and-2.
“The kids just did a really good job of hanging around. Just when it looked like we were out of it, we made a play and scored and stayed right in it. The kids fought hard until the end.
“I think you always have high expectations going in, but I think we exceeded just from seeing where we came from. Our goal was to try to get to Thanksgiving, and we did that. We wanted to go further than that. I am proud of the way the kids played and finished the year.”
Under the direction of offensive coordinator Caleb Hayes, the Greyhounds averaged 38.6 points a game and scored more than 40 points seven times. Begnaud and running back Hayden VanNess, both of whom played on the defensive side, played major roles. VanNess ran for 1,435 yards and 15 touchdowns despite missing two games with an early season injury. Begnaud ran for 697 yards and 12 touchdowns and completed 89 of 158 passes for 1,411 yards with 20 touchdowns to six interceptions.
“Offensively, we made some changes, schematically and as far as our terminology went,” Courville said. “The group did a really good job of handling that and being able to execute because we moved some guys over from defense on to offense like Jonovan. We had to replace some guys on the offensive line, and LaTroy (Pattum) made the move from defensive end to tight end. We moved our cornerback to running back.”
“I felt like we threw the ball better at times, and I felt like the receivers ran better routes at times. I feel like the offensive line did a really good job this year, and we were still able to run the ball. Through the course of the year the offensive line came into its own. They did a good job of opening holes for Hayden and Blue in the backfield and Jonovan.”
Welsh had three all-district players on the defensive side: linebacker Ayden Miller, defensive lineman Pattum and Begnaud at defensive back.
“I think this year we were young, but I thought we did a pretty good job of playing with intensity,” Courville said. “We were never the biggest and were never the fastest, but those guys did a good job of flying around and being physical.
“I would say Ayden and Ethan Beard bring intensity when they are out there. They bring a swagger to the defense and Jonovan as well. He is a guy that is always excited. LaTroy is not somebody that will talk a lot and get real excited, but he just has an elite skill set that we didn’t have on the team other than him.”
