MOSCOW - If Friday night's Silver and Gold game is any indication, junior Deon Watson's transition from wide receiver to tight end is going pretty well.

The former Coeur d'Alene High standout caught eight passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns as Idaho capped its spring football season at the Kibbie Dome.

"Deon did some great things," Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. "Moving him from receiver to tight end really makes him faster, more athletic, and just gives him a chance to get better and better. I was really happy with Deon."

Watson, who was whisked to a booster function after the game and unavailable for comment, caught a 68-yard touchdown pass from No. 1 quarterback Matt Linehan, and a 4-yarder from backup QB Jake Luton.

On the longer TD, Watson caught a pass on a deep crossing pattern, turned upfield and showed some speed in outracing the defenders down the sideline for a score.

Petrino said Watson looks faster than he did the first two seasons, when he caught a total of 61 passes for 622 yards and two touchdowns.

"Sometimes kids convince themselves to try to stay leaner, and actually when you get stronger, and put on more weight, you get faster," Petrino said. "And he got stronger this offseason, put on more weight, and he got faster."

"I love Deon out there," Linehan said. "Deon has transitioned to tight end really well. It was a little different for him at first, being on the line, tight like that, but he's made a lot of improvements ... you can see it in his route-running. He was already a great athlete before, and he's added some weight, and really gotten better with his blocking.

I think he'll continue to be a weapon for us, a great asset for our offense as the year goes on."

Petrino said Watson, listed at 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, needs to get bigger, "but he will. He's big boned. He's got a big body. He'll put on 12 more pounds, piece of cake."

For those keeping score at home, the Silver, comprised mainly of the starters, beat the Gold 76-21.

The format was mostly No. 1 offense vs. No. 2 defense, and No. 2 offense vs. No. 1 defense, though a few players took snaps with both teams.

The game was called with 9:41 left in the fourth quarter.

The Silver scored on all seven first-half possessions. Receiver Dezmon Epps, who missed last season due to a violation of team rules, showed his speed and quickness will be a welcome addition this year. He caught four TD passes, all from Lineman, and finished with 10 catches for 240 yards.

"If we keep playing like we're playing, there's not going to be too many people in our conference that can cover Dez," Petrino said. "That's a little different breed of cat they're trying to cover right there."

While playing the offensive starters vs. the defensive starters would have made for a more competitive game Friday night, Petrino opted to keep all the No. 1s on the same team.

"We've gone 1s against 1s all camp," he said. "I just wanted them to come together and be on the same team for one time, so they're used to fighting together for Ohio (Idaho's season-opening opponent, Sept. 3 at home)."

Linehan threw six touchdown passes and rushed for one. He was 22 of 24 (91.7 percent) for 467 yards.

"He was on fire," Petrino said. "I don't know if he missed many throws, if he missed any, to be honest with you."

Though he was going against second-string defenders, "he still put every throw right on the money," Petrino said.

Defensive standouts included freshman linebacker Kaden Elliss, who had 11 tackles, two for loss, two "sacks" (quarterbacks were not "live"), and one pass breakup, and senior defensive end Quinton Bradley, who had three "sacks."

While Linehan, a redshirt sophomore, and Luton, a redshirt freshman, got most of the reps at QB, Gunnar Amos got in for a few series as well. Operating mostly from the spread, the former Coeur d'Alene High standout who grayshirted last year, ran 12 times (some on scrambles) and passed six.

"I thought Gunnar did some good things when he was in there," Petrino said.

Notes: Colton Butcher, a redshirt freshman safety from Lakeland High, did not play because of injury. Others who did not play due to injury included senior linebacker Chris Edwards and sophomore safety Russell Siavii. "And one of the guys who had the best spring all spring (senior running back Elijhaa Penny) wasn't out there," Petrino said.

Silver 28 21 21 6 - 76

Gold 0 7 14 0 - 21

First quarter

S - Linehan 5 run (Rehkow kick)

S - Epps 48 pass from Linehan (Rehkow kick)

S - Duckworth 29 run (Rehkow kick)

S - Ungerer 45 pass from Linehan (Rehkow kick)

Second quarter

S - Watson 68 pass from Linehan (Rehkow kick)

G - Watson 4 pass from Luton (Rehkow kick)

S - Epps 42 pass from Linehan (Rehkow kick)

S - Duckworth 7 pass from Linehan (Rehkow kick)

Third quarter

G - Hightower 26 pass from Luton (Rehkow kick)

S - Duckworth 1 run (Rehkow kick)

S - Epps 3 pass from Luton (Rehkow kick)

G - Hightower 11 pass from Luton (Rehkow kick)

S - Epps 69 pass from Linehan (Rehkow kick)

Fourth quarter

S -Saunders 10 run (kick failed)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Silver, Saunders 5-49, Linehan 4-6, Duckworth 15-118. Gold, Saunders 5-0, Luton 3-(minus 5), Smith 2-5, Amos 12-(minus 3), Coman 12-15.

PASSING - Silver, Linehan 22-24-0-467, Luton 7-10-0-107. Gold, Amos 3-6-0-17, Luton 13-22-0-140.

RECEIVING - Silver, Watson 3-91, Epps 10-240, Ungerer 5-126, Cowan 2-30, Mwehla 1-9, Sannon 5-61, Duckworth 3-17. Gold, Watson 5-84, Ungerer 2-17, Coman 3-2, Hightower 4-41, Johnson 2-13.