'Great effort' leads to much-needed win
MOSCOW — The effort was there, and not coincidentally, so was a victory for the Idaho Vandals on Saturday afternoon.
It wasn’t a pretty win, but coming off a disappointing loss at UC Davis the week before when coach Paul Petrino said the effort was lacking, the Vandals will take it.
Idaho did all of its scoring in the first half, and made the key plays in the second half to keep the lead in a 20-7 victory over the Portland State Vikings in Big Sky Conference play before 10,566 at the Kibbie Dome.
“I don’t care about stats. I want to win,” Petrino said. “I thought guys played with great effort today, and fought. And our competive greatness was way better today than it was last week. What was great to see was our defensive guys running around.
“I’m just happy for the players, because we had some long, one-on-one meetings last week. But that’s life — when things go wrong, you either respond to them, make things better or you keep going the wrong way.”
In its first Big Sky home game since 1993, Idaho (2-2, 1-1 Big Sky) seized control in the first half, taking a 20-0 lead after two quarters.
Idaho scored on its first three drives and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown before halftime. The Vandal defense limited Portland State (1-4, 0-2) to 3 of 13 on third-down conversions and recorded eight tackles for loss.
The Vandals held the Vikings to just 74 total yards in the first half.
“I thought that was a great team win,” Petrino said. “That first half we wanted to stay on the field, control the ball, keep our defense on the sideline. We had a 13-play drive, and 18-play drive and I think, a 15-play drive. You can’t have those first two end in field goals, but if you can control the ball like that, and keep your defense on the sideline, they’re going to play good.”
Idaho’s first two drives ended in field goals. Cade Coffey, a sophomore from Lakeland High, made both of his attempts on the day, converting from 29 and 44 yards. They were Coffey’s first two made field goals of the season. He is now 2 for 4.
Portland State flipped the script in the second half, holding the Vandals to just 91 yards of offense and zero points.
“In the second half, I probably got a little too conservative, to be honest with you. But the defense was playing well, I wanted to run some clock.”
Portland State found the end zone on the opening drive of the second half, when Davis Alexander hit Davis Koetter for a 10-yard touchdown pass to get within two scores. The Vikings put together a 12-play drive the next time they had the ball, but the series ended with a missed field goal. Idaho limited the visitors to 60 yards of offense the rest of the way to hold on for the win.
Isaiah Saunders led the Idaho offense with 99 rushing yards, while Jeff Cotton hauled in four catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. Cotton has caught a touchdown pass in each of Idaho’s first four games this season.
Jalen Hoover, who blocked the punt that resulted in a Lloyd Hightower 32-yard touchdown return, led the Vandals with seven tackles. Kaden Elliss recorded a game-high 1.5 sacks.
It was Idaho’s first Big Sky win since leaving the conference after the 1995 season to move up to the FBS ranks.
Mason Petrino played the whole way at quarterback, passing for 166 yards. Colton Richardson, who usually shares time at QB with Petrino, was ready, but didn’t play after suffering a sprained wrist at UC Davis. He missed two days of practice this week.
“Let’s get Colton a whole week of practice next week, and Colton will play next week (at Idaho State),” Paul Petrino said. “With the game as close as it was, I didn’t think it was fair to him for me to put him in in that situation. And then if something bad happened, that would be bad on me.”
Idaho 20, Portland St. 7
Portland St. 0 0 7 0 — 7
Idaho 3 17 0 0 — 20
First Quarter
IDHO—FG Coffey 29, 7:09.
Second Quarter
IDHO—FG Coffey 44, 13:13.
IDHO—Cotton 7 pass from Petrino (Coffey kick), 8:36.
IDHO—Hightower 32 blocked punt return (Coffey kick), 3:47.
Third Quarter
PRST—Koetter 10 pass from Alexander (Williams kick), 10:16.
PRST IDHO
First downs 16 18
Rushes-yards 35-128 41-123
Passing 133 166
Comp-Att-Int 12-23-0 17-24-1
Return Yards 0 74
Punts-Avg. 4-27.0 3-38.7
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 2-0
Penalty-Yards 4-36 4-25
Time of Possession 27:23 32:37
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Portland St., J. Eason 6-45, B. Niesner 1-27, D. Green 6-12, D. Alexander 7-11, S. Hoffman 8-9, C. Martin 5-7, B. Kelly 1-3. Idaho, I. Saunders 22-99, T. Walker 8-37, M. Petrino 11-(minus 13).
PASSING—Portland St., D. Alexander 12-21-0-133, J. Eason 0-1-0-0, D. Koetter 0-1-0-0. Idaho, M. Petrino 17-24-1-166.
RECEIVING—Portland St., C. Taumoepeau 3-44, A. Ruffin 2-32, M. Talalemotu 2-22, B. Kelly 2-12, D. Koetter 1-10, D. Green 1-8, C. Martin 1-5. Idaho, J. Cotton 4-41, C. Haywood 4-40, D. Ungerer 4-31, D. Lee 1-27, I. Saunders 3-23, T. Walker 1-4.