KINDER — The Kinder Yellow Jackets picked up right where they left off last December on Thursday night, opening the high school football season with a 40-16 win over old rival Elton.

The win marks 12 in a row dating to October 2013 for the Yellow Jackets.

“It’s always important to win the first one,” Kinder head coach Bret Fuselier said. “You want to be 1-0 after Week 1.

“We knew Elton would be ready and they played good on defense. We had to make some adjustments early, but the kids executed and got it done.”

It was a team effort for the defending Class 2A state champions, but new quarterback Welles Cooley’s star shined brightest Thursday night.

The junior, who started at slot back last year, completed half of his passes for 82 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 34 yards and another score. He accounted for his fifth touchdown when he returned a fumble 85 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown.

“I was very impressed with him tonight,” Fuselier said. “I was satisfied with the way he ran the offense. He made some really good reads and he hit some receivers with some very well-thrown balls.”

The Yellow Jackets defense held the Indians to 20 yards at halftime and kept Elton running back Marcus Lemoine in check for most of the night.

“Marcus Lemoine is a heck of a running back and he is hard to stop,” Fuselier said. “All week we wanted to focus on containing him and he probably only got off two good runs when it counted. Other than that we bottled him up pretty good, and to do that to a 2,500-yard rusher, it’s impressive.”

The Kinder defense forced seven fumbles, two of which it recovered, and got interceptions from Greg Mayfield Jr. and Brandt Hebert.

Aiding Cooley were Jordan Vickers with 96 yards and a touchdown on the ground and Zach Rider with 43 yards rushing, 12 yards receiving and a touchdown. Mayfield Jr. and Wallace Burns caught the other two touchdowns.

The Indians started the game with a strong defensive showing, but Cooley and the gang wore the young defense down as the game progressed.

“Our defensive front played their butts off,” said Elton head coach Doyle Carter. “I couldn’t ask for anything more. Coming in I knew it was going to be a physical game and it was. Actually, in the first quarter I thought we took it to them.”

Lemoine, who led the state in rushing in 2013, was bottled up for 45 yards in the first half before finding room to run late. He finished with 151 yards on 20 carries.

Quincy Dewees hit Joel Veillon from 26 yards out for Elton’s first touchdown. Jamal Wilson added the second on a 23-yard run with less than a minute to play.

Dewees finished 9 of 24 with 135 yards.(Rick Hickman/American Press)