MOSCOW - Paul Petrino said his vision of an ideal scrimmage was neither side dominating. That's what he had Saturday in the Idaho Vandals' first spring battle between the offense and defense.

"Overall," he said, "for a first scrimmage, I was happy. With that many touchdowns, you'd probably have to say the offense (was the winner), but there were times when the defense got after them pretty good."

He saw more than just improvement in Xs and Os during the 190-play session.

"There were a lot of things that seemed a lot better," Petrino said. "There was a better attitude, better environment. Everybody played hard."

The offense wound up tallying 20 touchdowns in the scrimmage that initially was dominated by the defense. Once the offense started to click, Petrino said he liked the response of the defense when he challenged the unit.

"I liked it when I went over there and challenged the defense," said Petrino, noting the successive three-and-outs that followed. "There were a lot of defensive guys flying around, hitting, playing with great effort."

Eight players tallied double-digit tackle efforts with newcomer Irving Steele and returners Russell Siavii, Jayshawn Jordan and Eric Tuipulotu totaling 13 each. Broc Westlake had 12, Bradley Njoku had 11, and Jordan Grabski and Marc Millan had 10 each. Defensive end Quinton Bradley proved he is back at full strength with four tackles for loss. Siavii and Jordan intercepted two passes each.

Josh McCain, the Vandals' quarterback-turned-receiver, caught eight passes for 218 yards and five touchdowns, while former Coeur d'Alene High standout Deon Watson and Dezmon Epps both had 11 catches with Watson covering 199 yards and Epps 147.

That was part of an air assault the included 96 passes with 62 completions for 878 yards between the two players - sophomore Chad Chalich of Coeur d'Alene High and redshirt freshman Matt Linehan, battling for the starting nod. Chalich was 22 of 34 for 395 yards, and Linehan went 40 of 62 for 484 yards. Each was intercepted twice.

The run game, which netted 341 yards, was led by senior Jerrel Brown with 22 carries for 106 yards with sophomore Richard Montgomery carrying 17 times for 65 yards.

"You see a lot of skill on offense that can make big plays," Petrino said. "There are little groups on both sides that have to improve."

SCORING PLAYS

Olugbode 1 run

Saunders 1 run

Brown 4 run

Epps 32 pass from Linehan

McCain 50 pass from Chalich

Montgomery 1 run

McCain 24 pass from Chalich

Brown 2 run

Brown 35 run

Klingenberg 11 pass from Linehan

Epps 10 pass from Chalich

McCain 10 pass from Chalich

McCain 65 pass from Chalich

Montgomery 2 run

McCain 15 pass from Chalich

Brown 15 pass from Linehan

Featherstone 16 pass from Chalich

Brown 1 run

Olugbode 2 run

Watson 33 pass from Linehan

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

PASSING - Chalich 22-34-2-394, Linehan 40-62-2-484.

RUSHING - Montgomery 17-65, Brown 22-106, Saunders 12-66, Chalich 13-0, Linehan 5-(-2), Olugbode 19-94.

RECEIVING - Brown 7-82, McCain 8-218, Montgomery 2-13, Watson 11-199, Sannon 4-47, Pastras 1-9, Podrabsky 2-21, Epps 11-147, Featherstone 2-34, Olugbode 5-27, Klingenberg 1-11, Asencio 1-9, Strodtbedk 1-13, Cowan 3-28, Saunders 1-13, Lemke 1-7.