Football: Narbonne goes more than 40 minutes with zero penalties

Those who have watched City Section football games through the years know that penalty flags frequently fly out nonstop.

So it was with rapt attention last Thursday night that an exciting story was unfolding. At the end of the first, second and third quarters, defending City Section champion Narbonne had zero penalties in its game against Los Alamitos, a 35-28 victory.

Not until there was 7:26 left did the Gauchos finally get called for a penalty. That’s an achievement worth a standing ovation.

A holding penalty is easy to call, and Narbonne worked very hard to make sure its linemen blocked properly. The Gauchos ended up with four penalties.

“Our biggest thing was holding,” Coach Manuel Douglas said. “We actually practice what holding looks like and doesn’t look like. You have to give those officials credit. Most good officials let the guys play. The good officials you don’t even see them there. We have to do our job and make it easy on them.”

Twitter:@LATSondheimer