Narbonne becomes first City Section team to win state football title in 98 years

Back in the old days, when Manuel Douglas first started coaching Harbor City Narbonne, he was running the wing T offense. Then he became a proponent of the spread offense, passing and running. And it was that offensive balance that propelled the Gauchos to become the first Los Angeles Unified School District team since Manual Arts in 1917 to win a state football title.

The Gauchos defeated Concord Clayton Valley, 28-14, on Saturday afternoon at Sacramento State in the CIF state championship Division 1-A bowl game. Sean Riley rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns and Kameron Denmark broke off a 43-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Roman Ale had a touchdown run and also completed seven of 11 passes for 117 yards.

“It’s so great,” junior safety Justin Prince said. “I’m so emotional. I don’t know what to say.”

Douglas has made Narbonne (14-2) the top program in the City Section, but this win takes the Gauchos another step. In 2012, Narbonne lost to Corona Centennial in a regional bowl game at the highest level. This game enabled the Gauchos to put the finishing touch on a season that came very close to zero losses. Narbonne’s only defeats were by a total of four points to Long Beach Poly and Gardena Serra.

“This is the pinnacle,” Douglas said. “We’ve been one of the top teams in the City for a while. We always talked about taking the next step.”

Narbonne’s defense was able to withstand the physical ground attack of Clayton Valley (13-2), who kept going for it on fourth down. Clayton Valley only succeeded four out of nine times.

Linebacker Raymond Scott, only a sophomore, was a tackling machine for the Gauchos. And the offensive line, led by UCLA-bound Alex Akingbulu, created opportunities for Ale and the running backs.

“It’s special as a sophomore playing with these tremendous players,” Scott said.

Ray Jackson rushed for 139 yards and Jake Peralta had 123 yards for Clayton Valley, which had a 20-play, 72-yard drive in the second half that consumed more than seven minutes off the clock but failed to score.

In the end, Narbonne showed it could finish big in its biggest of game this season.

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