Football: Fourth-quarter surge leads Narbonne past Los Alamitos, 35-28

Narbonne, ranked No. 9 by The Times, looked lethargic, uninspired and hardly played like a defending City Section championship team in falling behind, 14-6, at halftime to Los Alamitos on Thursday night at Veterans Stadium.

“We were sleepwalking in the first half,” Coach Manuel Douglas said.

The Gauchos (3-2) woke up in the second half behind a fourth-quarter surge that saw them score 21 consecutive points en route to a 35-28 victory.

Daniel Brown and Lawson Hall had interceptions in the second half to ignite the offense.

Roman Ale completed 16 of 29 passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns. He passed for just 41 yards in the first half.

Kameron Denmark had touchdown receptions of 17 and 13 yards, the later coming with 6:22 left to give Narbonne its first lead at 28-21. Sean Riley added a 20-yard touchdown run with 3:07 left to clinch the victory.

Jack Telenko of Los Alamitos completed 21 of 37 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns. Narbonne put on more defensive pressure in the second half after Telenko was 14 of 20 for 172 yards in the first half.

“We rallied together,” Lawson said. “We came together as brothers. We made some big plays.”

Jamal Hicks had an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown and DeVaughn Cooper caught a 58-yard touchdown pass.

Los Alamitos dropped to 2-3 going into its Sunset League opener next week against Edison, but its last three losses have come to good teams _ La Habra, San Juan Hills and Narbonne.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer