Vandals slow Portland State, run to 39-30 victory

HILLSBORO, Ore. — The shootout became a slugfest. 

The Idaho Vandals can play that way too.  

After giving up 181 yards and 21 points in the first half, Idaho limited Portland State and dangerous quarterback Dante Chachere to 133 yards and nine points after intermission in a 39-30 Big Sky Conference football victory Saturday afternoon before 2,581 at Hillsboro Stadium. 

“That was a battle. Portland State is still playing really hard,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “Really proud of how the defense played red-zone defense in the second half, holding those guys to three field goals in the red zone was huge.”

Those “holds” — 3 points instead of 7 — were big, as the Idaho offense, which put 28 on the board in the first half, managed just one field goal until the clinching touchdown in the waning moments. 

With Idaho down to one healthy quarterback, and down its top two running backs, the Vandals (7-3, 4-2 Big Sky) still put up 462 yards on the Vikings (2-7, 2-4). 

Jack Wagner, a redshirt freshman who has started most of the year for the injured Jack Layne, started his seventh game of the season for the Vandals. Layne, who suffered a broken collarbone in the season opener, returned two weeks ago against Eastern Washington. 

Idaho was on a bye last week, but Layne (wrist) and freshman Rocco Koch, a running quarterback, did not play Saturday because of lingering injuries from the Eastern game. 

That meant a few snaps to wide receiver Mark Hamper in the wildcat formation, and a few snaps directly to running back Art Williams. 

Williams and fellow freshman Deshaun Buchanan shouldered the running load on Saturday. Buchanan ran for 212 yards and two touchdowns. Williams, from Rocky Mountain High in Meridian, also ran for two scores — including the clinching touchdown with 1:56 to play, as well as the two-point conversion that essentially put the game out of reach. 

Running backs Elisha Cummings and Nate Thomas did not play due to injury. 

“Our running back room, we like to say, is the strongest position group on the team,” Buchanan said. “We’re all close-knit. When one person goes down, we all want to step up, and bring the whole room up. Me and Art were just playing hard for our brothers.” 

“That’s kind of what our program’s all about,” Eck said. “Both those guys were guys we recruited out of high school, we believed in those guys, we developed them, they’re doing a great job and I don’t think we’ve really missed a beat with our running game, even though we’ve had some guys injured.” 

The game could have gone south for the Vandals midway through the fourth quarter.  

After Idaho missed a field goal, the Vandals forced a punt, but it was so short it hit one of the Idaho players running downfield to block for the return, and Portland State recovered at the Vandal 25. 

“I put our players in a bad situation there. That was a huge, huge stop to hold them to a field goal there, and not let that be a touchdown drive.” 

But the Vikings were unable to get a first down — in part due to pressure by Keyshawn James-Newby on third down that forced Chachere into an incomplete pass — and had to settle for a 48-yard field goal that pulled them within 31-30.  

“You have to focus in and realize, this is why I got brought here to Idaho, is for specific times like this,” James-Newby said. 

Idaho then marched toward the game-clinching score, starting with five straight runs by Buchanan — including back-to-back 21- and 31-yard gains. 

Idaho went for it on fourth and 3 at the Portland State 12. The snap went directly to Williams, who knifed up the middle for 9 yards.  

Idaho ran the same play again and scored. On the PAT, after a Portland State penalty moved the ball to the 1 ½-yard line, the Vandals eschewed the kick and ran the same play to Williams for the two-point conversion. 

Chachere had success scrambling and passing in the first half. But he was also sacked five times in the game, four in the first half. James-Newby, Malakai Williams, Dallas Afalava, Xavier Slayton and Zach Johnson each had one sack. 

“That was our No. 1 thing, to try and stop him,” Eck said of Chachere. “He’s such a great player; in both the games they won, he was the Conference (offensive) Player of the Week, I thought our pass rush did a great job.  

“Our coverage was better in the second half. We tightened up some windows and kept him from having some easy throws. We wanted to force him to beat us throwing the ball, and he threw the ball well (in the first half).” 

“Who knows, you might not tackle him the first time, but you’ve got to get up quick and keep running to the ball, keep pursuing to the ball,” James-Newby said. “That’s hunting relentlessly, that’s what our coaches would say.” 

One play after a Wagner-to-Jordan Dwyer touchdown pass was negated by offensive pass interference, Wagner dropped it in the bucket to Dwyer on a 27-yard scoring play for a 14-7 lead. 

At 14-14, Idaho went for it on fourth down near midfield and failed. Portland State drove 44 yards for a 21-14 lead. 

But Idaho answered with TD runs of 22 and 13 yards from Buchanan for a 28-21 halftime lead. 

Johnson, a redshirt freshman linebacker from Lake City High, had 11 tackles, as did fellow linebacker Jaxton Eck.  

Idaho plays host to Weber State next Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Kibbie Dome. 

Idaho     14    14    3    8    —    39 

Portland State    7    14    3    6    —    30 

First quarter 

IDAHO — Williams 7 run (Pope kick), 10:49 

PSU — Thompson 1 run (Uribe kick), 4:11 

IDAHO — Dwyer 27 pass from Wagner (Pope kick), 1:14 

Second quarter 

PSU — Craig 20 pass from Chachere (Uribe kick), 8:38 

PSU — Alvarez 26 pass from Chachere (Uribe kick), 5:40 

IDAHO — Buchanan 22 run (Pope kick), 2:52 

IDAHO — Buchanan 13 run (Pope kick), :42 

Third quarter 

PSU —  FG Uribe 44, 10:05 

Idaho — FG Pope 25, 5:53 

Fourth quarter 

PSU — FG Uribe 27, 14:11 

PSU — FG Uribe 48, 5:11 

IDAHO — Williams 3 run (Williams run), 1:56 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — Idaho, Buchanan 22-212, Williams 9-43, Hamper 3-19, Team 1-(minus 1), Wagner 2-(minus 16). PSU, Thompson 15-71, Craig 9-40, Chachere 18-25, Grubb 1-0, Spence 1-(minus 2). 

PASSING — Idaho, Wagner 11-17-0-205. PSU, Chachere 15-21-0-180. 

RECEIVING — Idaho, Dwyer 5-109, Hamper 3-62, Mini 1-17, Moore 1-10, Buchanan 1-7. PSU, Alvarez 5-63, Denham 3-27, Lynch 3-21, Thompson 2-33, Craig 1-20, Beaman 1-16. 

    Photo by IDAHO ATHLETICS Keyshawn James-Newby of Idaho applies pressure to Portland State quarterback Dante Chachere (15) on Saturday in Hillsboro, Ore.