The Narbonne football team returned to action Friday after going nearly 50 days without playing a game.

The Gauchos, who are the top seed in the L.A. City Section Open Division playoffs, easily handled Dorsey 47-13 to advance to the semifinals.

Narbonne was without seven players — receivers Allen Blaylock and Xavier Owens, defensive backs/receivers Hakim Frampton and Nazarus Williams, linebacker Mark Edwards, athlete Damari Hall and defensive lineman Keytrin Harris — who were declared ineligible earlier in the day Friday after an investigation into the football program by the L.A. Unified School District and L.A. City Section.

Coach Malcolm Manuel confirmed the names to the Daily Breeze before Friday’s game. City commissioner Vicky Lagos confirmed the investigation Saturday evening.

The Narbonne administration was notified Friday regarding the status of the seven players.

According to City Section Bylaw 202, since the players were found to be ineligible after the playoff seedings were made, the Gauchos are eligible to continue in the playoffs, but the seven players are ineligible for the remainder of the season.

Also, according to the bylaw, “the team will be restricted from participation in the playoffs for the next year.”

Although the final punishment hasn’t been delivered, the football team will likely have to forfeit any wins the seven players participated in.

The football team isn’t the only program at Narbonne under the microscope. The school’s girls volleyball team had to forfeit 14 matches during the recently completed season due to the use of an ineligible player. Six of those matches were in the Marine League. That’s a majority of the Gauchos’ league matches, which led the team to being banned from the playoffs this season.

Prior to the start of play in the Marine League, the coaches from San Pedro, Carson, Banning and Gardena signed a letter stating they wouldn’t play their league games against Narbonne due to what they believed were alleged violations at the school amid a rising number of football transfers.

All four of those league games went into the books as forfeit wins for Narbonne.

This is the second time since 2019 that Narbonne has been investigated for ineligible players. The last time, it led to Narbonne’s 2018 City Section title being vacated, games had to forfeited and the team placed on a two-year playoff ban (2019 and 2020). The athletic program was also placed on probation through the 2022-23 school year.

Narbonne will host Birmingham on Friday in the semifinals. If it wins, Narbonne would finally face a Marine League team — either San Pedro or Carson — in the final.