Showcase names best Northwest quarterbacks. 5 are from the Mid-Columbia

While there is no prep football to watch this fall in the Washington, we all can get a glimpse of who should be the top quarterbacks when football does come back in the spring.

Taylor Barton is the founder and director of the Northwest 9, which is a showcase featuring the top nine upperclassmen quarterbacks and the top nine underclassmen quarterbacks in the Pacific Northwest.

After holding tryouts, Barton has picked his top 56 QBs, who will be invited to the showcase’s main event on Labor Day Weekend.

Those quarterbacks were selected based on film evaluation, in-person evaluation, college recruitment and feedback, or their performance at the Northwest 9 tryouts.

Five of those invited to the main event are from the Mid-Columbia.

The seniors invited will include Royal’s Caleb Christensen, Hanford’s Easton Wise-Hyde, and Walla Walla’s Ryan Martuscelli.

Two juniors from our region will also be involved: Hermiston’s Chase Elliott, and Chiawana’s JP Zamora.

Basketball

Walla Walla High School graduate Gabe Porter has transferred from Montana State University Northern to Warner Pacific University for his final year of men’s basketball eligibility.

Porter spent two seasons playing at Walla Walla Community College, averaging 22 points a game his sophomore season as the Warriors won the NWAC championship.

He then transferred to MSUN, and he averaged 12 points a game for the Northern Lights before transferring.

Hockey

From the MacBeth Report, which does a great job of keeping up with hockey players now overseas:

• Former Tri-City American Justin Hamonic recently signed a two-year contract extension with the Coventry Blaze, an England team in the UK Elite league.

Hamonic, a defenseman, played in 48 games last season in his only year with Coventry, scoring two goals and 11 assists.

In four seasons with the Tri-City Americans (from 2011-15), Hamonic played 255 games, showing he was durable.

He scored three goals and 43 assists in his career with the Americans.

• Dylan Stanley, a right winger who played for the Americans between 2000-05, signed a one-year contract extension with Feldkirch VEU in Austria, a team that is part of the Alps Hockey League.

It will be the sixth season at Feldkirch for Stanley, who has found a home there.

The 36-year-old will also start a hockey school in the small town for local youths.

Last season with Feldkirch, Stanley scored 17 goals and 52 assists in 36 games. He’s also the team captain.

The Alps Hockey League is expecting to start its season on Oct. 3.

In the past five seasons with Feldkirch, Stanley — who will turn 37 in January — has played in 195 games, scored 103 goals, and had 205 assists.

In his five seasons with the Tri-City Americans, Stanley scored 113 goals and 167 assists in 339 games for the team.

Golf

Congratulations to Carl Thompson, the golf course superintendent at Columbia Point Golf Course in Richland.

For the second consecutive year, Thompson received an award for his environmental work on the golf course.

Earlier this year, Thompson was the national runner-up recipient of the 2019 Healthy Land Stewardship Award, which recognizes effective strategies for efficient use of pesticides and nutrients, as well as pollution prevention.

Last year, Thompson was awarded the 2018 National Resources Conservation Award, presented by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and Golf Digest.

Thompson is always doing something to bring nature together with the golf course, with either he or his staff building bird house, or by building a turtle population on the course, among other things.

Canadian Football League

The Canadian Football League announced last week that it would be canceling its 2020 season.

The CFL couldn’t get financial aid from the Canadian government. It also relies on a ticket base, and there wasn’t a guarantee that fans would be able to watch inside stadiums.

And the league was going to try an abbreviated season, but that wasn’t going to work.

It means that former Kamiakin quarterback Mike Reilly loses a season late in his career.

The standout, who is the starter for the BC Lions, will turn 36 next season.

Baseball

Nick Gatewood played with the Tri-City Dust Devils in parts of two seasons in 2018 and 2019.

But the catcher-first baseman was a victim of numbers when he was released by the San Diego Padres back on May 27, thus ending his career in affiliated professional baseball.

But he already has plans to play in 2021 after he was just recently signed by the Gateway Grizzlies in the independent Frontier League.

It’s tough to get the sport out of the blood of a baseball player.

More signings

• Adrian Tapia of Warden has signed a letter of intent to play men’s golf at Corban University in Oregon.

• Payton Graham will be a senior this school year at Kamiakin, and he already has his college plans set.

Graham will be playing baseball for Gonzaga University in the spring 2022.

• Janelle Almaguer (Hermiston) has decided to play softball next spring for Mount Hood Community College.

• Cristian Martinez (Sunnyside) will be playing men’s soccer next spring for Columbia Basin College.

• Clayton Whitby (Chiawana) has signed a letter of intent to play men’s golf for CBC.