FCS second round: Vandals put away Lehigh; Former Lake City star Johnson has pick-6 for Idaho

MOSCOW – After playing a couple of nailbiters in the FCS playoffs last year, the Idaho Vandals eliminated the drama Saturday night. 

Jack Layne threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns, two to Jordan Dwyer, as eighth-seeded Idaho eased away from the Lehigh Mountain Hawks 34-13 in a second-round playoff game before 7,346 at the Kibbie Dome. 

“I like the way we put them to bed,” third-year Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “We didn’t let them hang around.” 

Zach Johnson, a redshirt freshman linebacker from Lake City High, returned an interception 74 yards in the third quarter to pretty much seal it for Idaho (10-3), which will play at No. 1 seed Montana State (13-0) on Friday (6 p.m. PST, ESPN) in the quarterfinals. 

Idaho kept Lehigh (9-4) out of the end zone until the final minute of the game.  

“Our defense was excellent, holding them to two field goals, and with three fourth-down stops,” Eck said. 

Dwyer’s first TD came 9 minutes into the game, when he made a leaping catch and got a foot down in the back right corner of the end zone on a looping 5-yard touchdown pass from Jack Layne. 

“I barely got a foot in,” Dwyer said. “Jack hung it up and gave me a great ball.” 

Early in the second quarter, Dwyer got behind the defense and hauled in a 62-yard TD toss from Layne. 

On the play before, a tunnel screen to Mark Hamper on third and 10 at the 10 gained 28 yards. 

Idaho made it 19-3 late in the first half when Layne hit a wide-open Hamper on a 42-yard TD strike. The score came one play after a 28-yard punt return by Andrew Marshall.  

Dwyer caught seven passes for 166 yards. Hamper caught five balls for 97 yards.  

“Our passing attack was outstanding,” Eck said. “They hadn’t seen receivers like ours; I thought that was a good matchup.” 

Nick Garrido’s second field goal of the half, a 39-yarder as time expired, pulled Lehigh to within 19-6 at halftime. 

Idaho scored on the first possession of the second half on Deshaun Buchanan’s 2-yard run. The two-point conversion made it 27-6. 

Midway through the third quarter, Johnson, playing zone, read the quarterback and picked off a pass on a slant route, then raced down the sideline to the end zone and a 34-6 lead. 

“Takeaways like that is a whole defense type of thing,” Johnson said. “The D-line affected the throw. That was just a practice drill; I was sitting in the window. I just did my job.” 

Idaho finished undefeated at home for the first time since 1996, and reached 10 wins for just the third time in school history, and first since 1993. 

Lehigh    0    6    0    7    --    13 

Idaho    6    13    15    0    --    34 

First quarter 

IDAHO – Dwyer 5 pass from Layne (kick failed), 6:05 

Second quarter 

IDAHO – Dwyer 62 pass from Layne (pass failed), 11:50 

LEHIGH – FG Garrido 35, 6:26 

IDAHO – Hamper 42 pass from Layne (Pope kick), 1:33 

LEHIGH – FG Garrido 39, :00 

Third quarter 

IDAHO – Buchanan 2 run (Dwyer pass from Layne), 10:59 

IDAHO – Johnson 74 interception return (Pope kick), 6:30 

LEHIGH – Perri 1 run (Garrido kick), :28 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING – Lehigh, Yoder 11-74, Johnson 12-69, Green 14-14, Crossley 2-6, Perri 2-5, Machalik 1-1. Idaho, Buchanan 15-42, Cummings 7-21, Williams 7-20, Layne 3-8, Hamper 1-1 

PASSING – Lehigh, Johnson 13-27-0-143, Perri 4-4-0-59. Idaho, Layne 16-22-0-318. 

RECEIVING – Lehigh, Humphrey 6-98, Jamiel 4-67, Green 2-(minus 4), D’Avino 1-16, Harden 1-15, Galletta 1-9, Hilling 1-1, Yoder 1-0. Idaho, Dwyer 7-166, Hamper 5-97, Cortez-Menjivar 2-26, Buchanan 1-21, Martinez 1-8.