Narbonne

Carson High, an 11-time City Section champion, has been seeded No. 1 for the City Section Open Division playoffs under first-year coach William Lowe.

Birmingham, which has a 54-game winning streak against City Section opponents, was seeded No. 2. San Pedro is No. 3 and unbeaten Palisades is No. 4.

Carson will host No. 8-seeded King/Drew on Nov. 14. Palisades is the home team against No. 5 Garfield, while San Pedro hosts No. 6 Crenshaw and Birmingham hosts No. 7 Kennedy.

There was no City Open Division champion last season after Narbonne had to vacate the title for rule violations.

Venice is seeded No. 1 in Division I. Cleveland is No. 1 in Division II and Santee is top seeded in Division III.

In girls’ flag football, San Pedro was given the No. 1 seed for the Open Division. Games begin on Friday, with San Pedro hosting No. 8 Verdugo Hills; No. 4 Marshall is at No. 5 Banning; No. 6 Wilson visits No. 3 Panorama; and No. 7 Narbonne travels to No. 2 Eagle Rock.

MONDAY’S RESULTS

CITY SECTION

Birmingham 12, Cleveland 6

Crenshaw 37, Hawkins 14

Crenshaw 19, Washington 0

Dorsey 20, View Park 0

Dorsey 15, Fremont 0

Eagle Rock 41, Bernstein 0

El Camino Real 38, Chatsworth 6

Franklin 20, Mendez 6

Fremont 18, View Park 2

GALA 55, Dymally 0

Hollywood 24, Annenberg 0

Huntington Park 22, L.A. Roosevelt 19

Huntington Park 27, South Gate 0

Jefferson 26, Angelou 0

Jefferson 48, Los Angeles 0

King/Drew 6, Carson 6

L.A. Hamilton 26, LACES 6

L.A. Roosevelt 25, South Gate 0

L.A. Wilson 40, Roybal 0

Narbonne 6, Wilmington Banning 0

Narbonne 34, Port of LA 0

San Pedro 27, Carson 0

Santee 33, Foshay 0

Santee 44, Stella 0

Stern 33, Animo De La Hoya 0

Venice 50, Fairfax 0

West Adams 12, Manual Arts 6

Wilmington Banning 52, Port of L.A.

WISH Academy 13, West Adams 12

SOUTHERN SECTION

Alhambra 18, Keppel 13

Anaheim 26, Savanna 0

Anaheim Canyon 34, Cypress 33

Bellflower 6, Mayfair 0

Bishop Amat 38, Ramona Convent 0

Brentwood 19, Windward 18

California 12, Whittier 6

Canyon Springs 12, Vista del Lago 6

Castaic 12, Valencia 7

Cerritos 32, Whitney 0

Compton 26, Millikan 18

Corona del Mar 14, Los Alamitos 0

Corona Santiago 20, Corona Centennial 7

Covina 26, Northview 12

Desert Hot Springs 38, Banning 20

Downey 46, Gahr 6

Eastvale Roosevelt 24, Riverside King 14

El Rancho 25, Santa Fe 19

Esperanza 24, Crean Lutheran 13

Etiwanda 19, Upland 13

Glendora 32, Claremont 7

Great Oak 16, Chaparral 8

Hart 36, Golden Valley 6

Huntington Beach 18, Newport Harbor 12

Knight 32, PACS 6

La Canada 40, Temple City 6

Lakewood St. Joseph 46, Bishop Montgomery 20

La Mirada 6, Norwalk 0

La Palma Kennedy 33, Tustin 6

La Serna 12, Villa Park 7

Linfield Christian 40, Aquinas 0

Loma Linda Academy 12, Norte Vista 6

Long Beach Wilson 13, Long Beach Cabrillo 6

Los Osos 47, St. Lucy’s 31

Montclair 6, Chino 0

Montebello 12, San Gabriel 2

Moreno Valley 25, Riverside North 19

Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 2, Fairmont Prep 0

Norco 30, Corona 6

Orange 25, Westminster La Quinta 0

Palm Springs 7, La Quinta 6

Patriot 39, La Sierra 12

Placentia Valencia 27, Segerstrom 0

Portola 50, Rosary 12

Ramona 31, Redlands Adventist Academy 25

Saddleback 18, Los Amigos 14

San Dimas 21, Alta Loma 12

San Marino 53, Rio Hondo Prep 0

Santa Ana Foothill 19, La Habra 13

Saugus 19, West Ranch 6

Schurr 20, Bell Gardens 0

Shadow Hills 31, Indio 0

South El Monte 39, Arroyo 6

St. Bernard 24, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 0

St. Mary’s Academy 20, St. Anthony 12

Sunny Hills 13, Brea Olinda 0

Temecula Prep 33, San Jacinto Valley Academy 0

Vasquez 15, Canyon Country Canyon 0

West Covina 33, Hacienda Heights Wilson 12

Western 18, Magnolia 0

Western Christian 25, Ontario Christian 0

Westminster 20, Laguna Hills 12

Westridge 27, Monrovia 18

Woodbridge 26, Laguna Beach 6

Yorba Linda 21, El Dorado 6

TUESDAY’S RESULTS

SOUTHERN SECTION

Aquinas 33, Indian Springs 7

Arroyo Valley 28, Colton 0

Beaumont 39, Redlands East Valley 6

Beckman 41, Capistrano Valley 0

Bishop Amat 32, Don Lugo 0

Bonita 20, Ayala 13

Brentwood 26, Providence 6

Cajon 26, Citrus Valley 7

Canyon Springs 27, Valley View 20

Cerritos 34, Glenn 0

Citrus Valley 26, Cajon 6

Eastside 13, Palmdale 0

Elsinore 22, Tahquitz 6

Fountain Valley 30, Lakewood 6

JSerra 18, Orange Lutheran 7

Kaiser 32, Jurupa Hills 8

Knight 39, Littlerock 12

La Canada 26, Westridge 20

Murrieta Valley 13, Temecula Prep 7

Newbury Park 57, Calabasas 0

Norte Vista 12, La Sierra 0

Oxnard 40, Oxnard Pacifica 6

Patriot 12, Ramona 0

Quartz Hill 7, Antelope Valley 6

Rancho Cucamonga 48, St. Lucy’s 6

Rialto 46, Rim of the World 6

Rio Mesa 39, Santa Barbara 12

San Dimas 13, South Hills 12

San Gorgonio 12, Summit 6

SEED LA 21, Shalhevet 6

Simi Valley 41, Oak Park 34

St. Mary’s Academy 28, Peninsula 0

Temecula Prep 19, Murrieta Mesa 0

Temescal Canyon 12, West Valley 6

Upland 27, Chino Hills 6

Ventura 33, Buena 0

Western Christian 39, Serrano 0

INTERSECTIONAL

Redondo Union 13, Narbonne 6

Four Marine League football coaches who had their teams forfeit games against Narbonne last season in protest of the City Section and Los Angeles Unified School District failing to investigate alleged rule violations in the Gauchos’ program are feeling a bit of vindication after a Narbonne booster said he paid parents of players to transfer to the Harbor City school.

They believe their actions were warranted to highlight the issues seen off the field in high school football despite receiving criticism from some. An LAUSD investigation eventually determined a group of Narbonne players were ineligible, and the City Section imposed a three-year playoff ban on Narbonne for rule violations.

Mike Christensen, the former Carson football coach, said he’s “sad” that the booster Brett Steigh has admitted involvement in the ongoing Bishop Montgomery football scandal that has resulted in the team’s season coming to an end. Steigh also helped finance St. Bernard’s football program, which shut down its team in 2021, 2022 and 2023 following the resignation of coach Manuel Douglas, a former Narbonne coach.

Christensen said coaches who participated in the forfeits last year faced repercussions from school district personnel, “but it needed to be done.”

“My relationship with my principal was never the same,” Christensen said.

Perhaps the coach under the most pressure was former Banning coach Raymond Grajeda, who was the first to forfeit his league game to Narbonne. Then the three others followed.

“We got punished hard from the district office,” Grajeda said. “It was one of the reasons for me quitting.”

He said all the rumors about money changing hands and school officials declining to investigate without evidence was motivation to the coaches as a unit to try to stop the rule violations.

“Everything was true,” Grajeda said. “We live in the community. Some of those deals that went down, they were in our backyard. If you’re going to do the transfer thing, do it right. I feel some sense of relief. The future of football in this area, we want to be competitive and fair.”

Former Gardena coach Monty Gilbreath said, “I think it turned out to be good because we were able to bring attention what was going on and caused the City Section to take a closer look. We knew as coaches it was a fact. We didn’t have the means to prove it.”

Christensen retired, Gilbreath resigned as did Grajeda, who now spends his time watching his freshman daughter play flag football for Banning.

Only San Pedro coach Corey Walsh kept coaching this season.

“I do not care at all,” Walsh said of the reaction to the booster accepting responsibility for the illegal payments. “We’re playing Great Oak this week. I was trying to see the bigger picture. I knew where this was headed if something didn’t change.”

Christensen said last January he was attending a coaches’ convention when several coaches came up to him and thanked him for taking a stand last fall.

“This has to stop,” he said.

Brett Steigh, a Narbonne High graduate, booster, local businessman and gambler, claims he violated City and Southern Section rules by paying parents of high school football players to help level the playing field.

Steigh said during a Monday night appearance on the “Fattal Factor” podcast that he paid parents to secure transfers for Narbonne and St. Bernard before currently “helping” Bishop Montgomery. Narbonne in Harbor City is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, while the Archdiocese of Los Angeles operates St. Bernard in Playa del Rey and Bishop Montgomery in Torrance.

While name, image and likeness policies allow for payment of players, recruiting transfer athletes and paying their parents as much as $50,000 remains a violation of the California Interscholastic Federation’s undue influence rules.

“I ain’t doing nothing that others aren’t doing,” Steigh said, alleging Orange County private schools, including national powerhouse Mater Dei, paid to secure transfer players.

A Mater Dei spokesperson has not yet responded to a request for comment in response to the allegation.

Steigh said he recruited players in 2018 and 2024 to Narbonne without the knowledge of the head coaches while paying parents to move. Both times, Narbonne was sanctioned by the City Section for rule violations.

He said he met with St. Bernard President Carter Paysinger in 2020 and agreed to support that school after former Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas took over the program. Douglas told The Times on Tuesday the payments reached close to $1 million between funding tuition for incoming freshman football players and improvements at the school. Douglas said school administrators were aware of the contributions.

Douglas and Steigh became the subject of FBI and IRS investigations after Douglas failed to report donations from Steigh and didn’t pay taxes on them. Steigh said they didn’t face any charges. Douglas resigned in 2020 and St. Bernard shut down its football program in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Steigh said he has now been “supporting” Bishop Montgomery with the knowledge of the school’s president, Patrick Lee.

Bishop Montgomery had five transfers declared ineligible by the Southern Section and has received more than 20 transfers in its football program entering this school year. The school fired its head coach, Ed Hodgkiss, on Saturday.

In a text message to The Times, Lee denied any connection to Steigh.

“What he said was an outright lie,” Lee said. “Neither the principal nor I ever met this man, spoke to him, emailed him, texted him — nothing.”

The City and Southern Section commissioners are aware of the statements Steigh made during the podcast, with one telling The Times they are reviewing them.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is investigating why five Bishop Montgomery transfer students were declared ineligible for two years by the Southern Section for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves submitting false information. The archdiocese declined to address questions about Steigh’s allegations.

“The Archdiocese of Los Angeles does not discuss details of an ongoing investigation,” a spokesperson told The Times. “Once we have more information, we’ll share that with you.”

Bishop Montgomery canceled the game it was scheduled to play Friday against Leuzinger High, the second consecutive week the team forfeited a game after calling off a contest against Mater Dei last week. If Bishop Montgomery cancels the remainder of its football season, the players on the roster might be free to immediately transfer to other programs if they get a hardship waiver.

Steigh said he agreed to appear on reporter Tarek Fattal’s podcast because he felt it was wrong that Hodgkiss — the Bishop Montgomery football coach — was fired.

“Pat knew what the deal was and now he’s backing away. Not fair,” Steigh said, referring to the Bishop Montgomery president.

Hodgkiss told The Times he has been advised by legal counsel not to answer any questions.

A Bishop Montgomery parent wrote in a letter to The Times that an influx of football transfers joining the program was given preferential treatment.

“Returning players were demoted, excluded from trips or quit,” the parent wrote. “Archdiocesan Catholic values appear secondary to short-term athletic exposure. Despite my June outreach to the school, no reply ever came.”

In the spring, The Times asked new Bishop Montgomery Principal Michele Starkey if she was aware of any involvement by Steigh in Bishop Montgomery’s program. She said no.

When Steigh was asked during the podcast why he would risk players’ eligibility by getting involved at Bishop Montgomery, Steigh said he felt previous administrations he worked with didn’t have the backbone to succeed at recruiting players.

“They told us it wouldn’t be … sorry I shouldn’t say that,” Steigh said of Bishop Montgomery’s leadership. “They’re basically supporting to win right now.”

When pressed for more details, Steigh said, “I can’t comment on any players at Bishop Montgomery.”

He said he has now decided to retire from supporting high school football programs.

Steigh said he previously was a traditional booster at Narbonne, making donations to help pay for helmets, uniforms and a washing machine.

“In 2018, I decided to play the game that everyone else was playing,” Steigh said. “The head coach at the time did not want to do this. It was all on me. I lied to him. These players just showed up. Why? I wanted to compete with the private schools. I felt it was unfair public schools being left behind.”

Four coaches of Marine League schools forfeited games against Narbonne last season while demanding a City Section investigation into whether transfers were paid to play for the school.

“All these rumors through all these years, it’s all true,” Steigh said. “It was all me.”

There’s another Catholic school sports scandal under way, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles apparently was the only one who didn’t see it coming.

On Saturday, Bishop Montgomery in Torrance announced football coach and co-athletic director Ed Hodgkiss was no longer employed by the school.

In other words, he was fired.

He’s apparently going to be the fall guy for five Bishop Montgomery transfer students being declared ineligible by the Southern Section, multiple Bishop Montgomery suspensions imposed after players left the bench with 24 seconds left in a loss in Hawaii and Bishop Montgomery having to forfeit to No. 1 Mater Dei on Friday because of lack of players.

People in the Southern California football community have been talking about Bishop Montgomery for months as they saw one transfer after another welcomed to the school. Southern Section officials waited for weeks to receive the transfers’ paperwork. Five players were declared in violation of CIF bylaw 202, which includes providing false information.

If a school trying to rapidly improve its football program with short cuts sounds familiar, it is.

In 2020, St. Bernard turned to former Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas, who won eight City titles. Douglas was forced out at Narbonne and didn’t coach in 2019 after a nine-month Los Angeles Unified School District investigation. Narbonne was banned from the 2019 playoffs and forced to forfeit its 2018 City title for use of an ineligible player.

Douglas later resigned in the spring of 2020 when he came under an FBI and IRS investigation over money received from a Narbonne booster to pay for a trip to Hawaii while coaching at Narbonne.

St. Bernard proceeded to drop its football program in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

This past week, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese wrote in an email in response to a request for an update about Bishop Montgomery, “The investigation is ongoing and there are no developments to share at this time. The school and the Department of Catholic Schools are in communication with the CIF Southern Section office as the investigation continues.”

Last spring, Bishop Montgomery’s new principal, Michele Starkey, was asked by The Times in a phone call, whose participants included new school president Patrick Lee, if she was aware of any involvement by the same Narbonne booster tied to Douglas’ resignation in Bishop Montgomery’s program. She said no.

The archdiocese should start its investigation right there. Players don’t start suddenly showing up from all over Southern California with no reason.

Lessons were not learned. Players from last year’s Bishop Montgomery team saw what was happening and transferred out. Maybe the Archdiocese should ask them what was happening.

A Bishop Montgomery parent wrote in a letter to The Times, “Returning players were demoted, excluded from trips or quit; Archdiocesan Catholic values appear secondary to short-term athletic exposure; despite my June outreach to the school, no reply ever came.”

Messages left for Hodgkiss and Lee on Saturday were not returned.

It’s another big mess for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to clean up, and it was very much preventable if lessons from the past had been learned.

There was a large trash can obstructing the view of a Narbonne Gaucho sign on the gym wall, so King’leon Sheard simply picked up the container and moved it out of the way in an impressive display of strength like a WWE wrestler flicking away an annoying opponent.

At 6 feet 2 and 220 pounds, Sheard had two sacks in last year’s City Section Open Division championship football game against San Pedro. On Friday night, he had two sacks in Narbonne’s 42-6 loss to Los Osos. The fact he’s still walking around Narbonne’s campus in his senior year is a story itself.

After the program was placed on probation and banned from the playoffs for three years for rules violations, there was an exodus of players and coaches. This also happened after the 2019 season when Narbonne was punished for similar circumstances — an ineligible player.

“Now it’s been two rebuilds since I’ve been here,” he said, remembering a 2-9 season in 2022 when he arrived as a freshman.

Sheard is either a glutton for punishment or determined to prove his worth no matter how many times Narbonne has to start over.

“At the root of it, it’s not just about football,” the outside linebacker said. “I made a lot of connections here. I built a nice family here. At the end of the day, it was more about my story, not what everyone else was doing. I always knew I could prevail.”

Football is what Sheard wants to do in college if he gets a chance. Yet academics has been his focus, with a dream of becoming a lawyer.

“I want to go into law,” he said. “It’s always been one of those things I’ve been interested in since I can remember.”

Sheard clearly knows how to investigate facts and make a judgment call. That’s what he did in deciding to stay at Narbonne with four other holdovers.

“I kept my head down,” he said. “My parents stayed out of it. They knew if I stayed, I’d be able to make it. I started here and was going to finish here.”

Not that Sheard didn’t consider leaving. He said he discussed leaving with several coaches. Their big selling point was having a postseason. But Sherard is guaranteed more games this season without playoffs (10) than he had all last season (eight) because of a coaches’ boycott during league play.

“I will admit I had conversations with other coaches when I heard the news that our coaches wouldn’t be with us,” he said. said. “The main talking point was, ‘We have playoffs, we have playoffs.’ You lose one game in the playoffs, you’re out anyways. I was more concerned how as coaches would you be able to help me make it to the collegiate level. How would you be able to develop me as a player.”

Enter Narbonne’s new coach, Doug Bledsoe, who’s been head coach at North Hollywood, Dorsey, Pasadena and L.A. University. Sheard placed his trust in Bledsoe and his staff.

“I formed a good relationship with coach Bledsoe and the position coaches,” he said.

Said Bledsoe: “He’s got real tenacity to get to the quarterback and a quick first step.”

Bledsoe is using a 3-4 defensive front with Sheard scheduled to be his “mini-Lawrence Taylor,” the NFL Hall of Fame linebacker known for sacking quarterbacks.

There could be tough times for the Gauchos, a team with little varsity experience and some tough early-season games.

Since this is his second rebuild he’s experienced, Sheard was asked how is it supposed to go?

“It’s not up to me,” he said. “Most I can do as a player is keep my brothers close to me and tell them, ‘It will be fine. We can do this.’”

With a new coach and new principal, perhaps Narbonne can rebuild the right way — following City Section rules. Good behavior could lead to a reduction in sanctions.

Clearly, it’s a big change because at this time last season, the Gauchos had 27 transfers in the program. This season the number is zero.

Sheard is just glad he can play four Marine League games this season so he’ll have film to show college recruiters. Last year’s league games were forfeits because schools refused to play the Gauchos.

“I felt a little slighted,” he said. “Outside of everything happening, I didn’t care. It was still my season. It was my opportunity to get stuff on film. I feel it was taken away and I had no control. I kept working.”

When it comes to gaining maturity and learning hard lessons, Sheard and his small group of fellow seniors who stayed are in for a challenging season with no playoffs allowed.

It’s a reminder of the line, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

“Ten games are guaranteed,” he said. “Compared to last year, it’s a blessing.”

Doug Bledsoe has made the rounds as a high school football coach. He’s been head coach at North Hollywood, Dorsey, Pasadena and University. He says his latest coaching position will be his last until his 3-year-old grandson reaches high school.

It’s going to be his most challenging, trying to rebuild a Narbonne program that once again had an exodus of players and coaches after rule violations caused the City Section to impose a three-year playoff ban and make the program vacate its City title. This also happened in 2019 and the team dropped to 2-9 during a similar transition year in 2021.

Bledsoe insists, “The Narbonne Gauchos ain’t dead.”

He has four returning all-league players, including King’leon Sheard, a defensive end who had two sacks in last season’s City Section Open Division final won by the Gauchos. They chose to stay even though there will be no playoffs when the 10-game regular season ends.

“They love the school,” Bledsoe said. “We told them what we could do for them.”

There’s about 30 varsity players. Bledsoe is confident he and his staff can prepare his many new varsity players for the season ahead. Playing 10 games will be better than the eight games played last season when Marine League coaches boycotted playing the Gauchos, resulting in the loss of four games.

A new coach and a new principal give the Gauchos a chance to start over. The harsh penalty imposed also could be reduced with good behavior. One sign of the dramatic change in a year’s time is that the Gauchos had 27 transfers in the football program a year ago. There are currently none in the City Section transfer portal for this season.

The starting quarterback will be basketball point guard Quamare Meadows, who was the JV quarterback two seasons ago but didn’t play last season.

Narbonne opens on the road against Los Osos on Aug. 22. It will play its first league game in two seasons against runner-up San Pedro on Oct. 3.

As City Section 11-man football coaches prepare for the official start of practices on Monday, there’s a noticeable change under way.

They’re not fighting one another. Rather, they are uniting as a group, understanding and embracing their similar challenges while trying to create environments to keep the players and their parents invested in the future.

They still gripe and complain, but it’s part of working in the Los Angeles Unified School District. They are sacrificing, many as walk-on coaches, for “little” victories that inspire them to keep coaching.

Whether they realize it or not, this is the only way forward — helping kids develop as players and students first. Worry about on-field wins and losses later.

All they want is a fair and equitable playing field, though sometimes even that can’t be achieved.

Coaches have had to put themselves out on a limb. There was courage displayed last season when the head coaches at San Pedro, Gardena, Carson and Banning decided to forfeit games against Narbonne while demanding an investigation by LAUSD into alleged rule violations. Families were not happy at losing the opportunity to play games. Purists who believe forfeiting is never acceptable were aghast. Coaches involved received strong criticism by some.

It forced an investigation, resulting in players being declared ineligible and Narbonne vacating its City title and being declared ineligible for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 playoffs.

Every coach who signed on to the protest ended up resigning except for San Pedro’s Corey Walsh. They helped clean up a mess that shouldn’t had been allowed to fester.

When City Section coaches gathered for their annual meeting last month to discuss the season ahead, there were many hugs, handshakes and discussions of identical challenges (academic eligibility, increasing roster numbers, finding assistant coaches, concerns about federal immigration raids). The warmth was real because many of the older coaches have been mentors. Hamilton’s Elijah Asante used to coach L.A. Jordan first-year coach James Boyd.

So many families have left. The days when Carson, Banning, Dorsey and Crenshaw could compete against and beat the best of the Southern Section teams are gone. Remember when Crenshaw played De La Salle in the CIF Open Division state championship game in 2009? Coach Robert Garrett is still around with 290 career victories, but the Cougars’ roster hovers around 25 players with no JV team.

It doesn’t mean the former powers can’t rise again as champions within the City Section. Those who have stayed, from coaches to players, deserve praise for taking on an adventure that can be daunting. There are good, loyal people determined to help along the way.

New facilities have opened. All-weather fields and new grass fields are multiplying. Garfield, Roosevelt and Hamilton debut new stadiums this fall. A strong collection of City Section quarterbacks are ready to let the ball fly, from Eagle Rock’s Liam Pasten to Carson’s Chris Fields. There is no certain dominant team, though the usual contenders — Birmingham, Carson, San Pedro — are teams to watch. So far, 71 schools are playing 11-man football.

There’s a story line certain to provide inspiration — Palisades High trying to rise again after its campus was damaged during the Palisades fire. Even though its football field was largely untouched, the team is starting the season not allowed to play on the field and will be playing at Santa Monica College. Students have yet to return to the campus. TV cameras will be out en force to capture the drama if the Dolphins can put together a dream season.

Southern Section teams also begin practices on Monday. If you think you’re watching the movie “Groundhog Day,” you are correct. Every Division 1 title since 2016 has been won by Mater Dei or St. John Bosco. It’s almost certain to happen again in 2025.

It doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be some outstanding games in the Southern Section, starting with the Aug. 22 matchup of Santa Margarita and new coach Carson Palmer taking on Mission Viejo at Trabuco Hills.

There’s always excitement and intrigue when the pads first come on next week. Teaching kids who have never worn shoulder pads is both comedy and memorable. It will be just one more responsibility for City Section coaches who receive a $5,622 stipend over four months and are expected to be Superman every day.

To all coaches, thank you for your sacrifice and for providing teenagers the guidance, discipline and structure that will be needed when their playing careers are finished.

It’s another case for Tracker, Magnum, P.I. or Columbo.

The City Section perpetual football trophy is missing — again.

The last time this happened was after Narbonne received the trophy in 2018 for winning the Open Division title. Birmingham won the trophy in 2019 but never got to display it because it went missing until discovered in 2021. It was sticking out of a dumpster in Torrance, handed over to the Southern Section office, then presented to the City Section and cleaned up.

Narbonne won the trophy again last fall but was asked to return it in May after having to vacate the title because of rule violations. The City Section is still waiting for it to be returned.

“They said it’s not where it’s supposed to be,” City Section commissioner Vicky Lagos said when asked where the trophy might be.

If the trophy can’t be found, Narbonne will be sent a bill to replace it, Lagos said.

“We’re putting out a call for all good Samaritans,” Lagos said.