CALDWELL, Idaho – Playing in front of fans for the first time in nearly 20 months, The College of Idaho football team welcomed over 800 fans to Simplot Stadium for the annual Purple & Gold Scrimmage.
The Coyote defense was stout up front, limiting the offense to less than three yards per carry over 35 of the 37 running attempts in the controlled atmosphere – but the offense broke through with two huge chunk plays – a 68-yard touchdown sprint by
Hunter Gilbert and a 70-yard scoring run by
Ryan Blokker.
"I was really, really impressed," said head coach
Mike Moroski. "I felt our defense really flew around the first couple series when it was the 1s vs. 1s, I think they took it to the offense a bit – though I think the offense had their chances.
All three quarterbacks vying for the starting role –
Jacob Holcomb,
Ryan Hibbs and
Jack Rice – directed three drives, combining to throw for 185 yards, including a Rice 10-yard touchdown pass to
Brock Richardson. The signal callers were off-limits to the defense – with plays stopped once a quarterback was touched.
"In the second half, we made some plays on offense," Moroski said. "What I really was pleased was that we were sound. Sound on the defensive side of the ball – we didn't give up many big plays – though I thought we could have made a few more plays in the pass game, but we looked much better offensively after halftime."
The defense came up with a pair of interceptions – as senior defensive end
Miles Maupin picked off a third down pass in the first half and true freshman
Jonah Sowell jumped an out route in the second half. Freshman linebacker
Jared Lyon also stuffed a 4th-and-1 attempt late in the scrimmage.
Offensively, 15 different Yotes carried the football – led by Gilbert, who rushed six times for 102 yards, while Richardson had a team-high four receptions for 38 yards. In all, C of I ran 67 offensive plays for 431 yards.
C of I will open the 2021 season on Aug. 28 at MSU-Northern in Havre.
SCORING SUMMARY:
Gilbert 68-yd run (Mulderij kick) 5-80
B. Richardson 10-yd pass from Rice (kick failed) 8-75
Alexander 2-yd run (Simons kick) 4-65
Blokker 70-yd run (McKague kick) 4-80
STATISTICS:
Rushing: Gilbert 6-102, Blokker 1-70, Cobb 3-33, Alexander 4-11, B. Richardson 1-11, Fox 2-8, Martin 2-7, L. Richardson 3-6, Calzaretta 1-2, Arms 2-1, Lowrie 2-0, Bailey 1-0, Hibbs 1- (-1), Rice 6- (-1), Holcomb 2- (-6).
Passing: Hibbs 4-7-0-68, Rice 4-9-2-54, Holcomb 5-9-0-46, Bailey 2-5-0-17
Receiving: B. Richardson 4-38, Nadley 3-26, Ozuna 2-17, Clarke 1-40, Stevens 1-16, Alexander 1-15, Kreps 1-14, Gilbert 1-8, Smith 1-4, Juarez 1-2.
Punting: Johnson 2-82, McKague 2-75
Defense: Janney 2-2, 1 PBU; O'Dell 2-2; Moultrie 4-0, 2 PBU; C. Leaf 4-0; T. Leaf 2-1; Batubenga 2-1, 1 PBU; Cushman 1-1; Maupin 0-2, INT; Wallace 0-2; Presto 2-0; Vickhammer 1-1.
