Vandals deliver Ford first win

From wire and news services and local reports 

MOSCOW — Going by the nickname Fightin’ Taters this week, the Idaho Vandals did a little mashing on Saturday afternoon. 

Joshua Wood threw three touchdown passes and ran for a 59-yard score late in the fourth quarter to help Idaho beat the University of St. Thomas of St. Paul, Minn., 37-30 before 8,065 at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome. 

Wood hit Jake Cox for a 4-yard score with 3:03 left in the second quarter and then connected with Tony Harste for a 21-yard touchdown with 16 seconds left as Idaho (1-1) turned a three-point deficit into a 23-13 lead at halftime. 

Wood fired a 42-yard scoring strike to Ryan Jezioro 8 seconds into the fourth quarter to put the Vandals up 29-16. Wood's long TD run came with 2:19 remaining after St. Thomas (1-1), in its fourth year in Division I, and first year eligible for the FCS playoffs, had pulled within 29-23. 

Wood completed 20 of 25 passes for 281 yards and rushed five times for 96 yards. Rocco Koch had a short touchdown run. 

Wood passed for just 33 yards in his Idaho debut last week, a 13-10 loss at WSU. 

“What made me feel more comfortable was coach (Matt) Linehan’s play calling, my O-line protecting me and our receivers doing their job, making plays and getting open,” Wood said. “It started with the run, and opened up from there. 

Andy Peters who played the last three seasons at NAIA College of Idaho in Caldwell, totaled 264 yards on 21-of-29 passing with three touchdowns for the Tommies. He also rushed for 94 yards on 11 carries. Mariano Birdno, Patrick Wagner and Quentin Cobb-Butler each had a touchdown catch, and Pat Bowen had a 38-yard touchdown run. 

“I know there’s some plays we want back, I know we’ve got to do a lot better job in terms of playing cleaner football, but I’m excited that we were able to get out of there with a win,” said Idaho coach Thomas Ford Jr. ”In a lot of ways, I think my team overlooked this group.” 

It was the first head coaching victory at Idaho for Ford, an assistant for the Vandals in 2022 and ‘23. 

“Coach Ford is an amazing coach,” said Idaho linebacker Dylan Layne, who had a game-high and career-high 12 tackles. “We have an unbelievable culture here, guys that show up every day to grind, exactly what he’s done in his coaching career, too.” 

Matyus McLain, a redshirt sophomore from Priest River High who had a key forced fumble last week at WSU, had 1.5 sacks for the Vandals on Saturday. He had seven tackles, including three tackles-for-loss. 

Trevor Miller, a redshirt sophomore from Post Falls High, had two tackles. 

Idaho plays host to future Big Sky Conference member Utah Tech next Saturday.

St. Thomas     7    6    3    14    —    30 

Idaho    3    20    0    14    —    37 

First quarter 

ID — FG Pope 33, 5:13 

ST — Cobb-Butler 17 pass from Peters (Huether kick), :57 

Second quarter 

ID — R. Koch 4 run (Pope kick), 11:40 

ST — Birdno 27 pass from Peters (run failed), 8:08 

ID — Cox 4 pass from Wood (Pope kick), 3:03 

ID — Harste 21 pass from Wood (run failed), :16 

Third quarter 

ST — FG Huether 44, 1:33 

Fourth quarter 

ID — Jezioro 42 pass from Wood (kick failed), 14:52 

ST — Bowen 38 run (Huether kick), 10:10 

ID — Wood 59 run (Cox pass from Wood), :55 

ST — Wagner 6 pass from Peters (Huether kick), :11 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 

RUSHING — ST, Peters 11-79, J. Koch 9-72, Bowen 9-61, Todd 1-2, Cobb Butler 1-1, Rockow 1-0, Paulson 1-(minus 7). ID, Wood 5-87, Williams 15-47, Cummings 4-34, Thomas 5-26, R. Koch 2-4, Kincheloe 1-2, Harm 1-(minus 14) 

PASSING — ST, Peters 21-29-0-264, Todd 0-1-0-0. ID, Wood 20-25-1-281. 

RECEIVING — ST, Wagner 6-59, Cobb-Butler 5-58, Birdno 3-59, Todd 3-32, Paulson 2-24, J. Koch 1-24, Bowen 1-8. ID, Jezioro 6-83, Harste 5-92, Cortez-Menjivar 5-78, McWilliams 2-13, Williams 1-11, Cox 1-4.