Football: A teaching moment for Narbonne’s Manuel Douglas
Championship games don’t always come out well. Narbonne Coach Manuel Douglas was dealing with more than just his team’s 20-13 loss to Crenshaw on Friday night in the City Section Division I final.
He had a 16-year-old junior center, Joe Teofilo, feeling pretty despondent. He snapped the ball three times over the head of the punter on live television, resulting in three safeties. There was a fourth bad snap that the punter saved.
Teofilo started all 14 games for the Gauchos this season and didn’t have previous trouble. But what happened in the City Division I final was hard to take, and it was up to the coach to put things in perspective.
“I told him, ‘This is a life lesson. This isn’t the end of the world. The sun will come up tomorrow. You’ll have time in the off season to get better.’ He felt he had the world on him,” Douglas said.
There were lots of tears from Teofilo and Douglas had to help escort him on the bus. But count on Teofilo and his teammates to get a second chance in 2014.
The Gauchos will be the favorite. Four of their five offensive linemen return. Backup quarterback Roman Ale is ready to take over. Three of four defensive linemen are back. There’s two linebackers and three defensive backs returning. And that’s before transfers show up.
Narbonne will be back playing in a bowl game in 2014. And Teofilo will get the chance to show what he has learned in the off season.
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