Less than six months after
lifting the Los Angeles City Section Open Division football title
, Narbonne learned Wednesday the City crown is being vacated after the Los Angeles Unified School District and City Section combined forces on an investigation that revealed the program violated multiple bylaws as it pertains to eligibility.
The City Section’s release says, “a thorough investigation by the LAUSD and the CIF LA City Section” found that Narbonne “violated CIF bylaw 202 (Accurate information) and CIF bylaw 510 (Undue influence, pre-enrollment contact) during the 2024 football season.”
Due to these findings, Narbonne’s football program will forfeit all of its games during the 2024 season, have its City title stripped, and be banned from the playoffs for the next three seasons (2025-2027). The school can appeal the remained of the ban after the 2025-26 school year.
Narbonne’s whole athletic department has been placed on probation in all sports for three years effective immediately through the 2027-28 school year, according to the City Section’s release.
The news isn’t exactly a shocker. The
Marine League football coaches joined forces
to boycott Narbonne during the fall due to their strong belief that Narbonne is illegally recruiting.
“I don’t have a problem with transfers. We have transfers. Everyone wants their program to draw talent, but when there’s
monetary incentive and housing arrangements
going on. It has to stop,” then-Carson coach Mike Christensen said in October.
Christensen has since retired.
The Marine League football coaches came through on their pact. Narbonne didn’t play one Marine League game and received a forfeit victory for each game.
More inklings came in mid-November when seven Narbonne football players were deemed ineligible amid the postseason for
‘fraudulent documentation’
.
The City Section issued a statement on November 18.
“…findings to date show that common addresses, bills, and utility meter numbers were used by different families to establish residency for their enrollment into Narbonne High School. Additionally, in some instances, when families were notified by District personnel that
documentation appeared fraudulent
, they submitted Student Housing Questionnaire forms (“SHQ”) claiming that they were homeless. These acts, and others, set forth in specific findings, are evidence of violations of Bylaw 202.”
According to the section’s Bylaw, since the findings came after the playoff pairings were announced, Narbonne was still able to still compete as long as the newly deemed ineligible players didn’t compete.
The Gauchos went on to beat San Pedro 75-31 in the Open Division final at El Camino College on November 29, 2024 thanks to six touchdown passes from Oklahoma commit Jaden O’Neal, who has since transferred to a high school in Oklahoma.
Less than two weeks after winning the City title,
Narbonne coach Malcolm Manuel stepped down
from the position on December 12.
The program is under new direction with new head coach Doug Bledsoe.
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as
California high school football 2024 championship vacated due to CIF violations
.
