Gridiron Cats back in the win column

“The kick is up and wide left!”

With the Cats leading 24-17 late in the fourth quarter, the Idaho Vandals turned a an unsuccessful reverse-pass play into a touchdown run which looked, at the time, to tie the game with under four minutes on the clock. Fate, as the saying goes, had other plans. The Vandals’ redshirt sophomore kicker Cade Coffey lined up in the north end zone to kick the game tying extra point. The snap came back and Coffey’s kick sailed wide left, leaving the Cats with the 24-23 lead and only 3:07 left on the game clock. Idaho’s ensuing onside kick went out of bounds.

Due to confusion on earlier plays in the half, the Vandals were out of timeouts, meaning the Cats only needed one first down to ice the game. Sophomore quarterback Troy Andersen delivered the needed first down by means of a six-yard, three-yard and a two-yard run to seal a homecoming victory in front of a rowdy, snow-chilled crowd at Bobcat Stadium.

The day started out rough as the Cats watched the Vandals march the opening kickoff down the field, topped off with a four-yard touchdown run. Only five minutes later, the Cats responded via a 35-yard touchdown scamper by Andersen.

Scoring for the Cats fell flat until the third quarter. With the Vandals leading 17-7, Andersen connected with sophomore wide receiver Lance McCutcheon for 37 yards to put MSU in the red zone at the Idaho two-yard line. The next play, freshman running back Isaiah Ifanse punched it in to bring the score to 17-14. After a defensive stop on fourth down, Andersen answered with a 60-yard sprint giving the Bobcats the lead for the first time in the contest. The Cats’ defense intercepted a pass midway through the fourth quarter which led to a field goal to take a 24-17 lead. As mentioned earlier, the following drive played out with a Vandals touchdown run and missed PAT.

Andersen finished the day with an impressive 159 yards on the ground and 91 through the air. He also added two touchdown runs to complete his statline. Ifanse racked up 54 rushing yards and one touchdown.

Next, the Cats travel to Ogden, Utah on Oct. 20 for a juggernaut Big Sky Conference matchup against a 4-2 Weber State team. With a 2-1 conference record, the Bobcats look to create momentum heading into the back half of the season.