Vandals defense shines at scrimmage

MOSCOW - From the first play to the goal line stand and consistently throughout, Wednesday's first scrimmage for the University of Idaho football team was gratifying for the team's defense.

That first play - a JoJo Dickson interception.

The goal line stand - four pops from the 1-yard line by the offense and no score.

In between - 11 sacks, five passes defensed, four quarterback hurries and another interception, the second by Gary Walker.

"For them to be able to make that stop says something pretty good right there," Idaho coach Robb Akey said. "I was very pleased about that. We're seeing some of the experience. They're executing things better."

With 10 players returning to the defense and only one lineman back for the offense, it stands to reason the defense has had a head start in fall camp. It showed statistically in a collective minus-9 yards rushing - a total reached when the losses via sack and tackle-for-loss negated the 64 yards by the running backs.

Senior quarterback Nate Enderle did account for both interceptions, completing 9 of 15 passes for 149 yards, including a 62-yard score to Armauni Johnson. All four quarterbacks combined to go 26 of 49 for 311 yards.

Eric Greenwood and Mitchell Crockom each had four receptions with Kama Bailey, Daniel Hardy and Daniel Micheletti with three each.

Enderle said the difference in the defense from a year ago was clear.

"They're all older, more mature, they know their stuff better," Enderle said. "They're physically stronger and faster. All those things are going to come together and create a better defense. They played well today.

Defensive captain Jonah Sataraka said the challenge for the defense is to repeat in the next scrimmage.

"The main focus in consistency," Sataraka said. "It's just like our offense had the upper hand last year being together for awhile. That's the case for us this year. We understand what to do, where to go."

One thing stayed the same - the consistency of kicker Trey Farquhar. In addition to PATs, he was good on field goals of 32, 33, 34, 34, 42 and 45. His only miss was just short from 57 yards.

Newcomer Homer Mauga led the defense with eight tackles, followed by Dickson with seven and Robert Siavii with six. Dickson and Andre Ferguson had two sacks each.