Four Marine League football coaches signed a letter sent to City Section commissioner Vicky Lagos threatening to boycott games against Narbonne unless action is taken against the Gauchos over an alleged violations of rules.
The Marine League season was scheduled to begin Friday night, with Banning playing at Narbonne, but Banning coach Raymond Grejada, one of the signees, said his team will not play. Buses have been canceled.
“The Marine League is coming together for a good reason,” he said.
Grajeda, Mike Christensen of Carson, Monty Gilbreath of Gardena and Corey Walsh of San Pedro wrote, “We cannot, in good conscience, continue to subject our athletes to an environment where unethical behavior is rewarded and their safety is jeopardized. Therefore, until action is taken, we will not schedule or participate in any football games against Narbonne. Our programs deserve an even playing field, and we believe that these steps are necessary to restore the principles of fairness, safety and competition within our league.”
Narbonne received punishment from the City Section in 2019 when it was banned from the playoffs for having an ineligible player. There was a player exodus after the resignation of coach Manuel Douglas in 2020. Now the Gauchos have started gaining new players, including transfer quarterback Jaden O’Neal, and the other coaches in the league, who also have transfer students, decided the Gauchos’ new players present an “unfair advantage.”
Grajeda said he had a meeting with his players on Wednesday and told them what he was going to do.
“The district has an opportunity to act now,” he said. “This is my decision as a head coach. I let them know what I believe in. The district ought to do their job. This not a fairy tale story. It’s my time to stand up. I want to stand up for something good.”
It remains to be seen what action, if any, school principals or the Los Angeles Unified School District will take against the four football coaches. In a statement, an LAUSD spokeswoman said, “Los Angeles Unified is aware of these allegations and will work with CIF to address any findings, as appropriate.”
Lagos said she received the letter this week, spoke to school administrators and told them the City Section does not support the coaches.
“Until something is uncovered or they provide documents of something, they’re saying someone has committed a crime without going through the proper channels,” Lagos said.
Local District South Operations is in charge of all five high schools and conducted an investigation of Narbonne in 2019.
There were meetings Friday afternoon involving LAUSD officials on how to proceed. Lagos said Banning will be charged for officials fees and any expenses Narbonne had for canceling the game. San Pedro already changed its homecoming, which was scheduled for next week against Narbonne, to another opponent.
Trent Cornelius, the LAUSD athletics coordinator, did not return a message seeking comment.
All-City linebacker Mark Iheanachor, who has been at Narbonne for four years, wrote on X: “Taking away opportunities from us kids this is crazy.”
Jim Rose, the coach at Birmingham whose team has won 42 consecutive games against City Section opponents, said, “They took a stand together. Whenever four teams from the Marine League can work together, that’s probably a good thing. If we were going to play Narbonne in the playoffs, that would be tough not to play them.”