Sports
Column: Chase Williams leads St. Bernard's return for its first football game since 2021
From the football field at St. Bernard High in Playa del Rey, you can watch one jumbo jet after another taking off from LAX with a burst of engine thrust so loud that it feels like the ground is about to shake.
“You get used to it,” senior receiver Chase Williams said.
No teenager has demonstrated more skills to adjust and adapt to his environment than Williams. He showed up at St. Bernard in the fall of 2021 as the pandemic was ending. He wanted to be a multisport athlete playing football and baseball. He was welcomed with the news St. Bernard was dropping its football program after an exodus of players following the resignation of coach Manuel Douglas in the spring.
As the son of College Football Hall of Famer David Williams, a star receiver at Illinois and in the NFL, Chase decided to focus on baseball, becoming a starting center fielder as a freshman. Each year he was told St. Bernard would restart the football program. Twice the school hired new coaches. But nothing happened in 2021, 2022 or 2023.
“It’s traumatizing,” he said.
Last year the new school president, Casey Yeazel, a former principal at St. John Bosco, made a commitment to Williams.
“Chase, we’re going to have a football team. I promise,” Yeazel told him.
“Honestly, I didn’t believe him,” Williams said. “But it’s happening.”
Yeazel hired former Dorsey coach Charles Mincy. The program has close to 30 players and opens the season Friday night at Littlerock in the Antelope Valley.
Chase Williams has a 3.96 GPA and finally gets to play football at St. Bernard.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
“I’m excited,” said Williams, who hasn’t played football since he was a seventh-grader in 2019. “The hitting doesn’t faze me. My father prepared me a long time ago. You get the itch and now you have to go for it. Now it’s on us. Now it’s on the players and coaching staff to give people a show and prove something because we haven’t had a football team for three years.”
No one knows how talented Williams is in football, but there’s plenty of evidence he might be a keeper.
“He’s really good,” Mincy said.
Williams is 6 feet and 175 pounds, has a 3.96 grade-point average and said his father long ago taught him how to catch passes.
“If they get me the ball, I’ll do something with it,” he said.
He’s a shining example of the kind of student-athlete the new St. Bernard wants to attract. Besides a new president, the school has a new principal, new athletic director and other new coaches. Enrollment has dropped below 200, but the superintendent for Catholic Schools in Los Angeles has given marching orders to Yeazel to get St. Bernard back on track.
“It’s a jewel. We’ve got great kids,” Yeazel said.
St. Bernard soon will be surrounded by top athletic facilities through Lulu’s Place, a $150-million athletic and educational complex under construction nearby. It is hoped that will help lead to more students enrolling.
Williams is the go-to student at St. Bernard. Besides being an all-league center fielder — and an example for brother Brady, a highly regarded freshman baseball player — he was the announcer for the girls’ flag football team, and the theater teacher has been lobbying for him to show off his outgoing personality.
What kind of football season St. Bernard will have remains uncertain.
“We’ll do some smoke and mirrors to get things rolling,” Mincy said.
The video board that has stood largely unused for three years is supposed to be working when St. Bernard plays its first home game on Sept. 6.
“Everyone is excited,” Williams said. “My dad is finally going to get to see his son do his thing on the football field.”
Williams has no regrets showing loyalty to St. Bernard and staying for four years despite three with no football team.
“Patience is key,” he said. “But it’s easy to be patient when your environment is great. There’s nothing pushing you to leave because the education and school are great.”
Sports
Anthony Richardson free to seek trade after injury setbacks amid Colts’ shift to Daniel Jones
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Anthony Richardson Sr.’s future in Indianapolis faces more uncertainty than ever.
The Indianapolis Colts granted Anthony Richardson, the team that used the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft on the quarterback, permission to explore a trade. His agent, Deiric Jackson, confirmed the latest development in the 23-year-old’s tumultuous career to ESPN on Thursday.
Veteran quarterback Daniel Jones beat out Richardson in a preseason competition for the starting job. Jones made the most of another opportunity as an NFL starter, helping the Colts win eight of their first 10 games of the 2025 regular season.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson heads off the field after an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 in Denver, Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
However, his season was ultimately derailed by an Achilles injury. The setback came two years after he tore an ACL with the New York Giants. The Colts appear ready to move forward with Jones, clouding Richardson’s future in Indianapolis.
Jones is set to become a free agent in March, meaning the Colts must either use the franchise tag or sign him to a new deal. Richardson has started just 15 games in three seasons with the Colts, his tenure largely shaped by injuries.
A shoulder surgery limited Richardson to four games during his rookie campaign, while a series of setbacks cost him four games in 2024.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) looks for an open receiver during the game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
Richardson suffered what was described as a “freak pregame incident” during warmups last season, landing him on injured reserve after attempting just two passes in two games in 2025. He has thrown 11 touchdowns against 13 interceptions in his NFL career.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard said Tuesday that the vision problems stemming from Richardson’s orbital fracture last October are “trending in the right direction.” He added that Richardson has been “cleared to play.”
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) celebrates his touchdown against the New York Jets during the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
Riley Leonard, a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, is expected to return to the Colts next season.
When asked about Richardson’s standing with the Colts moving ahead, Ballard replied, “I still believe in Anthony.”
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Sports
Prep talk: Freshman golfer William Hudson of St. John Bosco wins Servite Invitational
William Hudson, a 14-year-old freshman golfer, shot 71 on Monday at Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills to win the Servite Invitational.
“It was very important to me and my school,” Hudson said.
Some think it’s the first time a St. John Bosco student won an invitational title.
Hudson is a straight-A student who picked up his first golf club when he was 3. He has a daily routine involving practicing at 6 a.m. before heading to school. He’s also enrolled in a school entrepreneur program that involves taking classes at a junior college that will qualify for college credits.
“They are long days, but I get through it,” Hudson said.
He comes from a family that enjoys golf. His great-grandfather played until his death at 98 last year.
“I love how it can take me to interesting places and meet interesting people,” Hudson said. “I can play for the rest of my life. It’s a lifelong sport.”
It’s looking like another strong year for golfers in Southern California, with several individual champions returning, including Jaden Soong of St. Francis and Grant Leary of Crespi.
Now Hudson has thrust himself into the conversation.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
Sports
Dashcam video shows former WWE executive Vince McMahon rear-ending vehicle on Connecticut highway
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Police have released new video showing former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon speeding before crashing his 2024 Bentley Continental GT into another luxury car on a Connecticut highway last summer.
McMahon appeared to be followed by a state trooper in Westport moments ahead of the eventual collision. McMahon’s vehicle reached speeds of more than 100 mph, state police said.
A trooper’s dashcam video showed McMahon accelerating and then braking too late to avoid rear-ending a BMW. The car McMahon was driving then swerved into a guardrail and careened back across the highway. A cloud of dirt, apparently mixed with vehicle debris, was visible in the immediate area of the crash.
WWE owner Vince McMahon enters the arena during WrestleMania at AT&T Stadium on Apr 3, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports)
“Why were you driving all over 100 mph?” a state trooper asked McMahon after catching up to the wrecked Bentley.
“I got my granddaughter’s birthday,” McMahon replied, explaining he was on his way to see her. The encounter was recorded on police bodycam video.
No serious injuries were reported in the July 24 crash, which happened the same day former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack in Florida.
In an image taken from Connecticut State Police police bodycam video, Vince McMahon is questioned in his car after an accident on July 24, 2025, in Westport, Connecticut. (Connecticut State Police via The Associated Press)
Aside from the damage to the rear of the BMW, another vehicle driving on the opposite side of the parkway was struck by flying debris. The driver of that third car happened to be wearing a WWE shirt, police video suggested.
McMahon was cited for reckless driving and following too closely. In October, a state judge allowed him to enter a pretrial probation program that could erase the charges if he completes it successfully.
He was also ordered to make a $1,000 charitable contribution. His attorney, Mark Sherman, called the crash simply an “accident.”
“Not every car accident is a crime,” Sherman said. “Vince’s primary concern during this case was for the other drivers and is appreciative that the court saw this more of an accident than a crime that needed to be prosecuted.”
Vince McMahon attends a press conference to announce that WWE Wrestlemania 29 will be held at MetLife Stadium in 2013 at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 16, 2012 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Michael N. Todaro/Getty Images)
State police said a trooper was trying to catch up to McMahon on the parkway and clock his speed before pulling him over. They said the incident was not a pursuit, which happens when police chase someone trying to flee officers. They also said it did not appear McMahon was trying to escape.
“I’m trying to catch up to you, and you keep taking off,” State Police Det. Maxwell Robins said in the video.
“No, no no. I’m not trying to outrun you,” McMahon clarified.
An accident information summary provided to the media shortly after the crash did not mention that a trooper was following McMahon.
The trooper’s bodycam video also shows him asking McMahon whether he was looking at his phone when the crash happened. McMahon said he was not and added he hadn’t driven his car in a long time.
After Robins tells McMahon that his car is fast, McMahon replies, “Yeah, too (expletive) fast.”
Fox News Digital submitted a public records request to obtain the police video, which was first acquired by The Sun.
McMahon stepped down as WWE’s CEO in 2022 amid a company investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. He also resigned as executive chairman of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE, in 2024, a day after a former WWE employee filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against him. McMahon has denied the allegations. The lawsuit remains pending.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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