MOSCOW - The Idaho Vandals ran 165 plays in the first scrimmage of the young spring season. Paul Petrino, Idaho's third-year head coach, called Saturday's workout, "the best we have been since I have been here."

The offensive unit began the morning with the edge, but as the scrimmage grew older the defense shifted the tides.

"I think there was a bunch of really good things on both sides (of the ball)," Petrino noted. "We are not going to compare ourselves to what we were in the past, ever. We are going to compare ourselves to where we need to be to beat everybody in our conference."

The offense totaled 10 touchdowns on the day, mixing it up in the air and on the ground. Sophomore quarterback Matt Linehan accounted for four passing and one rushing scores. Senior tailback Elijhaa Penny led all rushers with 120 yards on 25 touches, finding the end zone once.

"I thought he (Linehan) played well at times," Petrino said. "When we get down in the critical zone he has to take care of the ball, he needs to be smart. He did a bunch of really good things, but there are some things that definitely need to be corrected."

Newcomer Kaden Elliss led all defenders with 19 tackles. Sophomores Russell Siavii and Jordan Grabski also hit double-digits with 14 and 13 tackles, respectively. Senior defensive end Quinton Bradley broke through the offensive line for a high of three sacks. Grabski and sophomore Dorian Clark both snagged interceptions. Grabski picked off a scrambling Linehan, while Clark stepped in front of pass from Gunnar Amos, a grayshirt freshman from Coeur d'Alene High.

"I saw him (Eliss) flying around making a ton of plays," Petrino said with a smile. "He played really well. That kid is going to be a stud."

Dezmon Epps, returning to live action for the first time since 2013, led the receiving corps with eight catches for 179 yards and a touchdown. Junior Jacob Sannon pulled in six passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. Overall, the passing game accounted for 442 yards and five touchdowns.

Junior tight end Deon Watson, the former Coeur d'Alene High standout who played wide receiver his first two seasons, had six catches for 28 yards.

The ground game totaled 331 total yards on 86 plays. Aaron Duckworth wheeled off a 30-yard scamper, finding paydirt on the longest carry of the day. The sophomore running back finished the day with 53 yards and two touchdowns.

SCORING PLAYS

Penny 1 yard run

Duckworth 30 yards run

Mwehla 29 yards pass from Linehan

Sannon 23 Yards pass from Linehan

Duckworth 1 Yard run

Linehan 4 yards run

Epps 45 yard pass from Linehan

Coman 14 yard pass from Linehan

Hightower 38 yard pass from Luton

Coman 9 yard run

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Watson 6-28, Epps 8-179, Ungerer 6-51, Mwehla 4-53, Penny 1-5, Garner 1-6, Sannon 6-64, Duckworth 3-4, Cowan 1-14, Hightower 1-38.

PASSING - Amos 6-11-1-33, Luton 12-16-0-170, Linehan 19-35-1-239.

RECEIVING - Cowan 6-32, Garner 1-2, Amos 10-14, Penny 25-120, Luton 8-7, Duckworth 10-53, Lemke 2-8, Saunders 15-52, Linehan 9-43.