There were plenty of frightful moments for the Idaho Vandals on Halloween afternoon against Louisiana Tech.
There were also a handful of good treats in Idaho’s 35-34 win over the Bulldogs.
Idaho started on fire when Justin Veltung took the opening kickoff and ran 94-yards for a touchdown.
Trey Farquhar, who was perfect on PATs, put Idaho up 7-0 with only 15 seconds taken off the clock.
The rest of the first quarter was all La. Tech as the Bulldogs scored three straight touchdowns and took a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
La. Tech was operating on all cylinders. Offensively it put up 222 yards, 134 through the air, and defensively, it held the Vandals to 49 total yards.
Idaho quarterback Nate Enderle had only completed two passes, his longest an 8-yard pass to Preston Davis.
Things began to pick up in the second quarter as Enderle hit Max Komar with a 36-yard scoring pass, pulling the Vandals within a touchdown, 21-14.
Idaho’s defense then stepped up and forced the Bulldogs to punt for the first time.
La. Tech added one more touchdown in the first half when Ross Jenkins hit Cruz Williams with a 20-yard touchdown pass, and the Bulldogs headed into the locker room with a cushy 28-14 lead.
It was a brutal half for Idaho. It’s defense had been on the field for nearly 18 minutes, La. Tech had 360 yards of total offense to Idaho’s 183, and Idaho only had 59 rushing yards.
The second half was a different story. Idaho’s defense forced the Bulldogs to three-and-out on their first possession, and when the Vandals took over Enderle ran an attack that ended with Komar clutching the football in the end zone off a 32-yard catch.
Farquhar’s PAT narrowed La. Tech’s lead to 28-21, but the Vandals were still struggling to put everything together.
La. Tech didn’t score in the third quarter, but it was on the 1 when the third ended. Three seconds into the fourth quarter Myke Compton scampered in for the touchdown.
Nelson had a clean PAT attempt, but it went wide right, leaving La. Tech with a 34-21 lead with 14:57 left in the game.
With 7:29 left in the game, Idaho took over on the Bulldog 47. Enderle hit Komar with a 16-yard pass, then hit Veltung with a 7-yard shot.
Deonte Jackson picked up 9 yards, and Enderle went back to Komar with a 14-yard throw that looked to be a touchdown. The play was reviewed, and instead of a touchdown, the Vandals had a first down on the Bulldog 1.
Enderle handed off to De’Maundray Woolridge, and the beefy back dove over the pile for the score. Farquhar’s PAT pulled the Vandals within six, 34-28.
La. Tech managed to run the clock down to 3:02 before punting the ball to Idaho.
Enderle took over and missed Princeton McCarty and Preston Davis on first and second down, but he hit Daniel Hardy in the middle of the field for a 13-yard gain. He followed by hitting Komar with a 19-yard strike and a 21-yard laser to Hardy that put Idaho on the 2.
Woolridge got the call and scored from 1, knotting the score at 34-all with 52 seconds left in the game.
Farquhar put the Vandals up by one with a perfect PAT.
The remaining 52 seconds took an eternity.
The Bulldogs took over on their 23, and a pair of completions and a couple of strong runs put La. Tech on the Idaho 39 with a second left in the game.
When the timeouts were over, Nelson lined up for a 56-yard field goal.
His kick had plenty of distance but it went wide left, sealing Idaho’s 35-34 win.
Idaho finished the game 461 yards of total offense, 327 through the air and 134 on the ground. La. Tech finished with 547 yards of total offense.
Enderle finished 25-of-45 with two picks and two touchdown passes for 327 yards while Jackson led the ground attack with 57 yards off seven carries. Komar led the receivers with seven catches for 133 yards.
La. Tech went through two quarterbacks. Starter Ross Jenkins went two and a half quarters before leaving with a possible strain in his throwing arm. He finished with 220 yards with no picks and three touchdown passes. Colby Cameron took over late in the third quarter and finished with 105 yards.
Phillip Livas had 73 yards on the ground while R.P. Stuart had 73 receiving yards for the Bulldogs.
Defensively, Shiloh Keo led the Vandals with 13 tackles, nine solos, while linebackers Tre’Shawn Robinson had 12 tackles and JoJo Dickson had 11. Defensive end Aaron Lavarias had 8 tackles and a sack.
The win moves Idaho to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the WAC. The win practically guarantees the Vandals a bowl berth. Idaho coach Robb Akey said there weren’t any bowl officials that he knew of at the game, and said nothing is guaranteed, but did say it was a big win regardless of bowl dreams.
Idaho will host Fresno State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Vandals Come Back to Beat Louisiana Tech
As reported in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News: