Vandals’ Defense Steps Up

The University of Idaho football team will be on the road seven times this fall so what better way to prepare the Vandals than to take them down the street for their first full scrimmage of the spring.

And head coach Chris Tormey liked what he saw in Saturday’s 2 hour workout at Lewiston High School’s Bengal Field. The scrimmage differed greatly from last week’s mini-scrimmage in the Kibbie Dome.

“It was more of a defensive day,” Tormey said, although there certainly were a number of offensive highlights as well. “It’s been my experience that if one week one side performs well the next week the other side comes back and has a good day.”

Lewiston High product Ryan Skinner was a stalwart for the defense with six tackles, although Whitney Mayer from American Falls was the leader for the day with eight in a scrimmage that most often sent the No. 1 offense against the No. 1 defense and the No. 2 offense against the No. 2 defense.

Offensively, one of the top efforts was that of Nampa sophomore Willie Alderson, who carried the ball 18 times for 79 yards and one touchdown.

“He ran tough,” Tormey said. “We always knew he had the speed but today he got the tough yards.”

Three Vandals quarterbacks combined for only 23 pass attempts during the 2 hours, which were dominated by the backs who combined for 184 yards on 59 carries. In addition to Alderson, senior Jerome Thomas had 19 carries for 57 yards and junior-college transfer Michael Moody carried 17 times for 57 yards. Senior Joel Thomas has not participated in contact drills and sophomore Laki Ah Hi is also out of contact with a hand injury.

The top passing effort was that of freshman John Welsh, who completed 6 of 8 passes for 98 yards. He polished off his day with a dazzling 65-yard connection with sophomore Jeffrey Townsley. Ed Dean, the player to beat for the starter’s job, was 4 of 7 for 49 yards and junior-college transfer Greg Robertson was 5 of 8 for 68 yards.

“Overall, I’m pleased with the quality,” Tormey said. “It was a pretty clean scrimmage and there were very few mental mistakes.”

Track and field

Idaho’s women had a third-place finisher at the Bob Gibb Classic in Boise on Saturday in Althea Belgrave. She ran the 800 meters in a time of 2 minutes, 14.7 seconds.

Anna Deery, fourth in the 400 at 58.18, and Jamie Stone, fifth in the 1,500 at 4:43.57, ran personal bests for Idaho.

Idaho’s Melanie Kreizenbeck won the women’s pole vault at 9-1/4. She was the lone competitor in the threewoman field to clear the bar.

The Vandals’ John Kayler placed second in the long jump at 21-8-3/4.

Heidi Tweedy of North Idaho College won the women’s 100 and 200 at the Whitworth Warm-up Open.

Tweedy ran 13.0 and 26.36, holding off the host Pirates’ Alisha Simchuk in both.

Baseball

Jeremy Iverson finished the day 6 for 7 with five RBIs as Community Colleges of Spokane swept Columbia Basin 7-2, 19-9 at Spokane Falls CC.

Jesse Doenz’s bases-clearing double in the fourth gave CCS a 7-2 lead in the opener. Aaron Vandarwarka went 4 for 5, with two RBIs and two runs, to help Matt Caston (4-0) earn the second-game win.

The Sasquatch are 16-7 overall, 10-3 in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges.

Softball

CCS won twice to advance to the semifinals of its eight-team crossover tournament at Liberty Lake Sports Complex.

Shannon Zahrowski went 4 for 5, including a two-run double in the sixth, and Wendy Stredwick scored three runs as CCS defeated Grays Harbor 12-3.

The Sasquatch defeated Bellevue 12-9 as Candi Russell went 4 for 4, with three triples and five RBIs. Stredwick’s RBI double in the sixth gave CCS a 10-9 lead, and Russell followed with a triple.

The Sasquatch open at noon today against Wenatchee. The championship game is set for 3 p.m.