Locally: Colton’s Josh Straughan signs with Winnipeg of Canadian Football League
Josh Straughan, who went from tiny Colton High School to have a standout college career, has signed with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.
Straughan, who completed his college career in 2016 as MVP of the FCS Bowl Game, was signed to the practice roster by Winnipeg on Oct. 4 when CFL teams could expand their practice squad rosters.
“I worked out for them in February, and several other teams in the CFL,” Straughan is quoted by the Prairie State Pigskin. “(I) just waited for the call and right opportunity.”
Former Eastern Washington quarterback Matt Nichols is the Blue Bombers’ starter and leads the league in touchdown passes. Winnipeg is second in the CFL West Division.
“I feel like as a pure passer and someone who extends plays, my game translates well,” Straughan said. “I want to work my way up, learn from the QBs in place right now as much as I can and eventually earn a starting role.”
After playing three seasons at Division II Stillman College, Straughan transferred to Division I Southern Illinois as a fifth-year senior. He was on pace to threaten SIU single-season passing records – 2,429 yards and 15 touchdowns in eight starts – when the Saluki coaches, with the team out of the playoff picture, replaced Straughan with a sophomore to build for the future.
In the FCS Bowl Game, he completed 19 of 30 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns.
College scene
Brittany Tackett, a senior at Lewis-Clark State from Coeur d’Alene High School who was instrumental in the Warriors’ runner-up national finish last season, has been voted by Frontier Conference coaches the preseason Player of the Year in women’s basketball.
As the Warriors went 35-2, the junior post/forward led the NAIA in field-goal percentage, hitting 65.3 percent of her shots, to earn NAIA second-team All-America honors and first-team All-Frontier for a second straight year.
Match Burnham, a 6-foot-8 junior forward at Carroll from Liberty, was named to the Frontier men’s preseason all-conference team.
- Community Colleges of Spokane and North Idaho College each collected East Region NWAC player of the week honors in volleyball the last two weeks. Sophomore outside hitter Baylee Gorder of CCS from Blackfoot, Idaho, earned offensive honors for last weekend. The previous week teammate Kendall Collins, a sophomore setter from University, was the defensive choice and NIC freshman Hailee Templeton from Murrieta, California, was honored as setter of the week.
Madison Douglas, a Whitworth middle blocker from Newbury Park, California, was named Northwest Conference Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week in volleyball after leading the Pirates with an average of 1.14 blocks per set with 14 kills as Whitworth beat Pacific and Linfield.
Kaela Straw of Freeman, a 6-1 junior outside hitter at Idaho, had 45 kills, 15 more than her closest teammate, and hit .307 for the weekend as the Vandals swept two matches to be named Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week in volleyball. Straw, who also had eight blocks, is third in the Big Sky with 3.67 kills per set.
Mark Kharchenko, Montana Western’s freshman kicker from Colville, was named the Frontier Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after going 6 for 6 on extra-point kicks on a blustery day to help the Bulldogs knock off fifth-ranked and previously unbeaten Montana Tech 42-35 on Oct. 7.
Janelle Lucas, an Idaho junior from Mission Viejo, California, was the Western Athletic Conference Diver of the Week after collecting two victories and two runner-up finishes in the Vandals’ first two swimming and diving meets of the season last weekend. She won the 3-meter springboard and was second in the 1-meter in both meets.