WELSH — Notre Dame still has Southwest Louisiana’s number.

The Pios blanked the Greyhounds 44-0 to win the District 5-2A championship and extend their win streak against Southwest Louisiana teams to 44-0.

The Pios’ (7-3, 5-0) last loss to a Southwest Louisiana team was back in 2011.

Notre Dame quarterback Parker Faust ran for a touchdown and threw three more to end Welsh’s win streak at seven games. Faust exploited the Greyhounds secondary, completing 13 of 20 passes for 219 yards.

“It felt good,” Faust said. “We were clicking on offense and a lot, and defense was playing great.

“We came out here with a mindset that we wanted to win the football game and win the district obviously. We came out and did a really good job on offense, and that propelled us to the win.”

Notre Dame finished with 395 yards of total offense.

Despite the loss, Welsh will likely host in the first round of the nonselect Division III playoffs next week. The Louisiana High School Athletic Association will announce the playoff brackets on Sunday.

“This should motivate us to continue to grow and to continue to get better,” Welsh head coach Ronnie Courville said. “The only thing we can do is get ready for next week.”

Welsh’s defense, which had allowed 12 points in its last four games, started out strong and forced the Pios to punt on their first possession. Welsh’s Ethan Beard dropped Notre Dame’s Jackson Casanova for a seven-yard loss during the drive when he lined up in the wildcat formation.

But the Pios’ next drive cemented their control on the game as they went 79 yards in 16 plays and ate 7 minutes, and 35 seconds off the clock to take a 7-0 lead on a 2-yard run by Casanova. The Pios converted on two third downs and a pair of fourth downs on the drive.

“I thought they did a good job of throwing the ball around,” Courville said. “That is kind of where we struggled.

“The boys did a good job of continuing to fight throughout the game.”

Notre Dame broke the game open in the second quarter with four touchdowns, all at the hands of Faust. He scored on a 15-yard run when it looked like the Greyhounds (7-3, 5-0) had him bottled up in the backfield, then threw scoring strikes to Hayden Johnson (7 yards), Leyton Faul (21 yards) and Jacob Trahan (10 yards) over a nearly 10-minute span.

Welsh struggled to maintain a drive in the first half with a single first down and didn’t cross midfield until the third quarter.

“I think they (Notre Dame) just did a good job up front,” Courville said. “We kind of struggled blocking them guys up front.

“In the run and the pass game, we just struggled there.”

Notre Dame held the Greyhounds to a season-low 56 yards of total offense. Most of that yardage came on the Greyhounds’ opening drive of the second half. Jonovan Begnaud hit tight end Latroy Pattum for a big 41-yard gain, and the Greyhounds eventually reached the red zone but stalled out after three consecutive incomplete passes.