MOSCOW — No. 10 Idaho celebrated homecoming with a 23-17 victory over No. 25 Northern Arizona for its first Big Sky conference win Saturday at the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.

Northern Arizona (3-3, 1-1) had the ball near midfield down by six with under two minutes to play, but Idaho safety Dwayne McDougle got in front of a PJ London fourth-down pass for a deflection to secure the victory in front of over 14,000 in attendance.

“(The win) means everything. I am not from Idaho but this community, this town and this school — (they) mean everything to me,” senior linebacker Mathias Bertram said. “We had to get redemption from last year. There is a different buzz around campus with homecoming.”

It was UI’s third win against a top-25 Football Championship Subdivision opponent this season.

The Lumberjacks outgained the Vandals 314 yards to 313 in the tight contest. Idaho (4-2, 1-1) was strong in the running game and gained 189 yards on 42 rushing attempts. Running back Elisha Cummings had 123 yards on 17 carries. Nate Thomas had 67 yards on 15 carries and scored a touchdown.

“It is critical to win the trenches game, in a game like this,” Cummings said. “Running the ball is a big factor in winning that game and outrushing our opponent.”

NFL Hall of Famer and former Vandal Jerry Kramer was the honorary captain for Idaho and was out at midfield before the game for the coin toss.

Two-man quarterback crew

Freshman quarterbacks Jack Wagner and Nick Josifek shared quarterback duties in the game, seemingly trading off pass-caller duties every two drives.

“I think Nick Josifek earned playing time with how he played last week against UC Davis. Wagner came back and showed some toughness this week and practiced well,” Idaho coach Jason Eck said. “I thought both deserved some time. Those were all planned rotations. Those were no benchings or anything like that.”

Wagner played the first two drives at quarterback. On the second drive, it was the Vandal rushing attack that took over. Idaho ran the ball six straight plays for 60 yards to get within the NAU 10-yard line. On the seventh play of the drive, Wagner pulled the ball back in and found tight end Mike Martinez wide open for a touchdown.

Josifek entered the game on the ensuing drive and led Idaho to back-to-back touchdown drives. The first drive was capped off by a Nate Thomas 13-yard touchdown run through a wide open gap in the right side of the line.

Josifek found wide receiver Jordan Dwyer on the next drive for a 23-yard touchdown strike. Dwyer fought through defensive pass interference to make the catch and the Vandals led 20-10 after the extra point.

The two quarterbacks traded the job every two drives. Wagner finished 2-for-6 for 15 yards and a touchdown and 12 yards on the ground. Josifek was 6-for-7 for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Heavy emphasis on the run

Idaho had 55 plays on offense and ran the ball on 42 of them.

The game plan was very effective in the first half. The Vandals were able to gain yards in bunches on carries by both Cummings and Thomas early. Idaho ran the ball 11 times to just three passes in the first quarter and had 85 rushing yards in the first 15 minutes.

“We prepared really (well) earlier in the week,” Cummings said. “We got real good looks from the coaches to put us in the position to win.”

Idaho took advantage of a Northern Arizona team that began to creep up toward the line to try to slow down the rushing attack. Josifek opened a second quarter drive with a 34-yard strike to freshman wideout Mark Hamper and ended the same drive with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Dwyer.

The plan allowed Idaho to have a balanced attack in the first half. The Vandals had 113 rushing yards on 20 attempts while Wagner and Josifek combined to go 5-for-7 for 104 yards through the air. Cummings and Thomas had eight carries each in the first 30 minutes. Cummings gained 62 yards, Thomas had 40.

“We won the turnover battle, won the rushing battle 189-118,” Eck said. “I think that is a critical thing for who we want to be.”

Pennington goes down

Late in the second quarter, UI defensive end Keyshawn James-Newby got to Northern Arizona quarterback Ty Pennington in the backfield for a sack. Pennington was injured on the play and was taken directly to the locker room. He did not return to the game.

The Lumberjack sophomore finished the game 12-of-17 for 114 yards and a touchdown. There was no update on the severity of his injury following the game.

Sophomore Angel Flores was listed as the NAU backup, but it was London, a junior, who was asked to step into the quarterback role.

Defensive second half

In the second half, it was a pure defensive battle as both teams struggled to move the ball. After Idaho went ball 52 yards on nine plays on its opening drive of the second half, the Vandals did not have another drive where they gained more that 24 yards.

Northern Arizona attempted to take advantage of strong field position, but the Vandal defense stood strong multiple times.

Lumberjack returner J’Wan Evans took a kickoff 63 yards down to the Idaho 37-yard line. After an 8-yard gain, Vandal linebacker Jaxton Eck stepped in front of a pass from London for an interception.

On the very next Lumberjack possession, it was UI linebacker Bertram who intercepted London.

“It was in the air for a while,” Bertram said. “I knew I had to come down with it.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Josifek was hit as he attempted a pass and the play was ruled a fumble. Northern Arizona picked up the loose ball and returned it down to the Vandal 5-yard line.

Idaho stood strong at the line, including two stops from the 1-yard line. NAU running back Seth Cromwell attempted to score on third and fourth down, but each time he was unable to go any further than the line of scrimmage.

“My fault, we got a little too aggressive in the second half and threw it too many times in a row and they ended up getting a strip fumble,” Eck said. “Obviously the defense made us right.”

The Lumberjacks scored late in the fourth quarter on a London 2-yard run to cut the lead to six, 23-17, and they had an opportunity in the final two minutes to win the game, but Idaho’s defense for the third time this season came up with a late-game stop.

First Quarter

IDA: Martinez 9 pass from Wagner (kick missed), 4:27.

NAU: White 50 pass from Pennington (Lye kick), 1:45.

Second Quarter

IDA: Thomas 13 run (Pope kick), 11:20.

NAU: FG Lye 50, 4:43.

IDA: Dwyer 23 pass from Josifek (Pope kick), 2:01.

Third Quarter

IDA: FG Pope 40, 10:24.

Fourth Quarter

NAU: London 2 run (Lye kick), 4:11.

RUSHING: Northern Arizona, Evans 6-35, Eastman 4-29, London 5-16, Hubbard 7-14, Pennington 4-13, Cromwell 5-11; Idaho, Cummings 17-119, Thomas 15-67, Wagner 2-12, Williams 1-8, Josifek 3-(minus-13).

PASSING: Northern Arizona, Pennington 12-17-0-114, London 11-16-2-82; Idaho, Josifek 6-7-0-109, Wagner 2-6-0-15.

RECEIVING: Northern Arizona, White 4-72, Lanier 4-50, Hubbard 4-30, Katsis 3-20, Fleming 4-14, Gerena 2-9, Evans 1-4, Cromwell 1-(minus-3); Idaho, Hamper 3-48, Harste 1-33, Dwyer 1-23, Martinez 1-9, Mini 1-6, Cummings 1-5.

Isbelle can be reached at 208-848-2268, risbelle@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyIsbelle.