Narbonne rallies for win over Banning in game that ends with a fight

In the strangest of Marine League football games — in which both teams recorded a safety, there was an unplanned fireworks show, and a fight broke out when a player carrying a Narbonne flag was chased around the Banning High football field at the conclusion — the one team that left with a victory was the Narbonne Gauchos, 22-21, on a 30-yard field goal by Jonathan Martinez with 58 seconds left.

Banning was driving at the end, but on fourth down and with no timeouts left, the Pilots decided to run the ball seeking a first down. They were stopped short. Narbonne ran out the clock. Then came the extracurricular activities that could have been easily predicted since both coaching staffs were talking smack before the game in front of players and Banning was upset that Narbonne showed up with green home jerseys. The Gauchos were assessed a 15-yard penalty to start the game.

Players started to fight on the field, with helpless administrators and security stuck trying to separate players. Disruptions like what happened have been common in Marine League sporting events in a variety of sports through the years, resulting in the City Section intervening with punishments. It remains to be seen if any action will be taken against either team for the postgame skirmish. On Friday morning, the City Section requested both schools submit a report on the incident.

Narbonne linebacker Mark Iheanachor Jr. kept making play after play in the middle to help the Gauchos rally after falling behind 21-10 going into the fourth quarter.

Xavier Owens caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Deshawn Laporte with 6:13 left. The Gauchos closed to 21-19. He passed for 201 yards and guided Narbonne on its final drive to give Martinez the chance to kick his second 30-yard field goal of the game.

Banning quarterback Robert Guerrero scored three touchdowns on short runs. The Pilots couldn’t convert first downs when they needed to, and a fumble in the fourth quarter following an interception proved decisive.

Narbonne is 4-4 and 1-1. Banning dropped to 3-4 and 0-1.