harvard-westlake

Caleb Sanchez, a Cali boy, packed his memories of sunshine, beaches and In-N-Out burgers to get an Ivy League education and football experience at Columbia University in New York.

He became one of the most talked about freshman quarterbacks at the end of last season, passing for 241 yards and three touchdowns in a 21-12 win over Brown and passing for 201 yards in a 19-11 win over Cornell that helped Columbia win the Ivy League title.

Then came the real challenge — snow, a blizzard and freezing temperatures.

“I was very shocked,” he said. “I was warned every day the winter would be hard. I didn’t expect it to be as cold as it was.”

It wasn’t cold enough to discourage Sanchez from continuing his quest to balance athletics and academics. He began his sophomore season on Saturday as the backup quarterback in Columbia’s 38-14 loss to Lafayette. It’s another experience that he got used to at St. John Bosco, waiting until his senior year to become the starting quarterback and prove his ability,

Quarterback Caleb Sanchez of St. John Bosco.

(Craig Weston)

He’s one of 39 graduates of Southern Section schools to be playing Ivy League football this season. Harvard-Westlake and Loyola have the most with five players each.

There’s going to be standouts, such as Princeton defensive back Tahj Owens (Loyola), heading into his fourth season, and Yale receiver Nico Brown (Edison), who had five catches for 119 yards and one touchdown in his season debut against Holy Cross on Saturday.

Sanchez was able to redshirt last season as a freshman, having played only in the final three games, and the goal is to be a standout the next three seasons, earn his valuable Columbia degree and spend a fifth year at perhaps a big-time college program.

He has no regrets of seeking out an Ivy League experience after helping St. John Bosco reach the Division 1 championship game in 2023.

“I’ll leave here with one of the top degrees in the world,” he said.

That’s the attraction in a league where the eight schools don’t participate in NIL revenue sharing with students but will finally let football teams participate in the FCS playoffs this season.

The students have to be all in for academics and athletics.

“We’re 100% in school, 100% in football,” Sanchez said. “There’s no help for football players. Professors don’t care. They treat you as normal students.”

Sanchez, 20, rarely has free time. It’s classes, meetings, homework, practices, watching film, then sleep. His transition last year was challenging in that the Columbia offense was much different than that of St. John Bosco. He had to learn plays needing 20 to 30 words to call from a listening device in his helmet where just four words were used to call plays at St. John Bosco.

He’s 6 feet 3½ and 217 pounds, and could be preparing to have a season that will draw lots of attention. Certainly looking on and rooting from home will be his younger brother, Ryu, a seventh-grader with a future in football and academics.

Look for lots of good news from the Sanchez brothers in the coming years.

As for the coming weather change, Sanchez said he’s ready.

“I’m prepared now. Winter is not going to shock me.”

Can anyone deliver In-N-Out to New York?

Brown: DB Elias Archie, St. John Bosco; OL Kai Faucher, Harvard-Westlake; DL Mitch Mooney, San Marino; DL Caden Harman, Sierra Canyon.

Columbia: WR Caden Butler, Chaparral; DB Ethan Fullerton, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame; QB Caleb Sanchez, St. John Bosco; LB Patrick Sodl, Loyola; DL Will Matthew, Orange Vista; TE Santiago Hernandez, Harvard-Westlake; WR Elliot Cooper, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame; DL Shawn Lin, Loyola; DL Austin Coronado, Glendora.

Cornell: DB Rayjohn White, Bishop Amat; DB Brayon Crawford, Village Christian; WR AJ Holmes, Harvard-Westlake; QB Cameron Shannon, Riverside North; LB Darryl Davis, Culver City; LB Connor Klein, Loyola; TE Brandon Gilbert, Murrieta Valley.

Dartmouth: RB Desmin Jackson, Orange Lutheran; OL Ryan Turk, Loyola.

Harvard: K Dylan Fingersh, Capistrano Valley.

Pennsylvania: RB Julien Stokes, Grace Brethren; DB Alec Wills, Los Alamitos; LB Trevor Pajak, Mater Dei; WR Dylan Karz, Brentwood; K Josh Barnavon, Harvard-Westlake.

Princeton: DB Tahj Owens, Loyola; RB Kai Honda, Gardena Serra; DB D’Shawn Jones, Sierra Canyon; LB Jalen Jones, Santa Margarita; DB Justice Croffie, Los Alamitos.

Yale: WR Nico Brown, Edison; QB Marshall Howe, Harvard-Westlake; DL Ezekiel Larry, Sierra Canyon; DB Dillon Rickenbacker, St. John Bosco; TE Scott Truninger, Corona del Mar; WR Davis Wong, Brentwood.

Angel City winger Alyssa Thompson left for London on Wednesday afternoon as negotiations continued on a transfer that would send her from the NWSL to Chelsea of the Women’s Super League. But she might be running out of time since the WSL transfer window closes at 3 p.m. PDT Thursday, less than 24 hours after she boarded her flight.

“She wants to go to Chelsea and made it very clear she wants to leave,” said a person close to Thompson, who would speak only on condition of anonymity for fear of disrupting the delicate negotiations. “The rest is out of our hands.”

Thompson’s agent, Takumi Jeannin, declined to speak about the negotiations on the record while Angel City did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The speedy Thompson, 20, has already said goodbye to her Angel City teammates and did not suit up for the team’s win over Bay FC on Monday. She reportedly spent two days waiting to fly to London, where the transfer would be announced, only to repeatedly be told the deal had hit a snag.

If the transfer is agreed to, the fee for the U.S. international and World Cup veteran is expected to top $1 million and could smash the record $1.5 million the Orlando Pride paid Mexico’s Tigres for Lizbeth Ovalle last month.

USWNT defender Naomi Girma was the first $1-million transfer in women’s soccer history when she went from the San Diego Wave to Chelsea last January. Canadian Olivia Smith broke that record in July, going from Liverpool to Arsenal for $1.3 million.

Thompson was still an 18-year-old senior at Harvard-Westlake High when she became the youngest player taken in the NWSL draft, going to Angel City with the No. 1 pick in January 2023. That summer she became the second-youngest player to appear in a World Cup game for the U.S.

Thompson signed a three-year contract worth an estimated $1 million after the draft in 2023, then agreed to a three-year extension in January. She is the club’s all-time scoring leader with 21 goals in all competitions and she ranks sixth in appearances with 74. Her six goals in 16 games this season ranks second behind Riley Tiernan’s eight and she also has three goals and three assists in 22 games with the national team.

Thompson leaving Angel City would also mean leaving her sister and roommate Gisele, 19, a national team defender who was signed by Angel City in December 2023.

For Angel City, meanwhile, losing Thompson would strike a significant blow to the team’s playoff hopes. The club, which has won two straight and is unbeaten in its last four, is a point out of the league’s eighth and final postseason berth with eight games to play. But Angel City already lost two players — midfielders Alanna Kennedy and Katie Zelem — on transfers to London City of the WSL for undisclosed fees last month. And the week before that it traded forward Julie Dufour to the Portland Thorns for $40,000 in intra-league transfer funds and an international roster spot.

In addition, the club is without Scottish international Claire Emslie, who is on maternity leave, defender Savy King, who is on medical leave, and U.S. World Cup champion Sydney Leroux, who has stepped away from soccer to deal with her mental health.

After Monday’s win over Bay FC, Angel City coach Alexander Straus said the uncertainty over Thompson’s future with the team has been distracting.

“If I’m being honest, the last couple of days, it’s been difficult,” he said.

Straus said he learned Thompson would not be available just a day before the game.

“It’s been hard for me in my position when things change,” he said. “It changes our plans and changes the plans for the players.”

“But none of us is bigger than the club,” he added. “We focus on that, what is our value together. And if somebody leaves at some point — or somebody has left a couple of weeks ago — I think it does something to a group. It’s not easy, but it’s how you manage it.”

While the loss of a player like Thompson would hurt Angel City on the field, the likely seven-figure transfer fee would help ameliorate that. The same might not be true for NWSL, whose success and its marketing has long been built around the personalities playing in the league.

Yet in recent years it has lost Alex Morgan to retirement while national team stars including Girma, Crystal Dunn, Emily Fox, Lindsey Heaps (nee Horan), Catarina Macario and Korbin Shrader (nee Albert) have left to play in Europe.

Losing Thompson would be another blow.

As for Chelsea, it is the most successful club in the WSL, having won a domestic treble last season in Sonia Bompastor’s first season as coach. Bompastor replaced Emma Hayes, who left to take over the U.S. national team.

Chelsea will open its WSL season on Friday against Manchester City.

When Harvard-Westlake grads Max Fried of the New York Yankees and Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs are introduced on July 15 at the MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta, their former high school coaches, Matt LaCour and Jared Halpert, will be in the stands celebrating the historic moment.

“We’re all proud on campus,” said LaCour, now the school’s athletic director and former coach of Fried.

“It’s kind of everyone wins if Max faces Pete,” Halpert said.

Harvard-Westlake has received attention for its success sending pitchers to the majors with Fried, Lucas Giolito and Jack Flaherty, all of whom were members of the 2012 team and first-round draft picks.

Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong.

(Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)

Crow-Armstrong, a first-round draft pick in 2020 who was selected by the fans to start in center field, is a breakthrough hitter for the Cubs.

“We’ve got a couple hitters coming through, so maybe we’ll change the pitching narrative,” LaCour said.

But who will the coaches root for if Fried is on the mound and Crow-Armstrong is at the plate?

“That definitely would be cool,” LaCour said. “I’ll root for Max and Jared will root for Pete.”

LaCour is in Atlanta this week coaching a youth team and will stay an extra two days to watch the All-Star Game. Halpert is flying out next Tuesday morning, then taking a rideshare to the ballpark.

They shouldn’t have any trouble getting tickets because they know an all-star.

Years from now, when Seth Hernandez is pitching in the major leagues and pro baseball commentators are debating just how good he might become, those who saw him throw during his two years of high school baseball at Corona High will gladly offer their fondest memories.

The statistics are impressive enough: In 53 1/3 innings this season, he struck out 105, gave up 19 hits and three earned runs for an ERA of 0.39. The most impressive statistic was walking only seven batters while using a 99-mph fastball. It showed his pinpoint control and how much he had improved over his junior season, when he walked 15 in 56 innings.

“That was his goal,” coach Andy Wise said. “What are we going to do to get better?”

His pitching mechanics became more consistent, generating the kind of power and accuracy to cause people to repeatedly use the word “special” in describing him on the mound. There also was the time he hit two three-run homers in the Panthers’ Southern Section Division 1 playoff victory over Los Osos.

Seth Hernandez of Corona.

(Nick Koza)

He wasn’t perfect, though, losing 2-0 to St. John Bosco in the Division 1 semifinals, finishing his high school career with an 18-1 pitching record for two seasons. He didn’t mope. He didn’t make excuses afterward. He knew there would be more challenges ahead.

“I’m still a kid,” he said.

For a season of excellence, Hernandez has been named The Times’ baseball player of the year for the second consecutive season. He’s expected to be a high pick in next month’s amateur draft. He also was named the Gatorade national player of the year.

One of his strengths for years has been his ability to perform while being watched by scouts, fans and opponents. He’s comfortable in his environment, used to the attention and is particularly ready to begin his pro career and keep on a path toward pitching in the big leagues.

With Southern California having produced first-round draft picks such as Paul Skenes (El Toro), Gerrit Cole (Orange Lutheran), Trevor Bauer (Hart), Max Fried (Harvard-Westlake) and Jack Flaherty (Harvard-Westlake) in recent years, it’s pretty clear that Hernandez’s resume fits in well and offers confidence in his abilities.

He’s also glad he decided to play high school baseball after being home-schooled.

“At the end of the day, I have brothers for life and I’ll never forget the memories I spent with them,” he said of his high school days.