Alertness On Loose Balls Key To Idaho Earning Tie

MOSCOW — The University of Idaho Vandals gained a 12-12 tie with the San Jose Spartans in an intersectional football game at San Jose Saturday night because they were more alert in recovering fumbles, Coach Dee Andros said here Sunday after the team returned home. The game was played on a muddy field in almost constant rain.

“It is a tremendous tribute to the squad that of the 12 times there was a loose ball on the ground we came up with it eight times,” Andros said.

He also was pleased when the Vandals came up with the tying touchdown on their last chance to turn the trick.

“Quarterback Gary Gagnon went in and hit one pass to start us off,” Andros said. Later, with a fourth down and four yards to go situation, Gagnon “shotputted” the ball to Cary Smith who took it to the four.

After a penalty put the ball on the 2½-yard line “we sent in word to run (Galen) Rogers until he scored.”

Two Cracks To Score

The Clarkston High School graduate needed two cracks at the line to break into the end zone for his and Idaho’s second touchdown.

Andros said the ball was so slippery Gagnon had trouble spotting it on the kicking tee for John Siath’s conversion kick and didn’t have it set when the kick was made. The ball was straight, but went under the crossbar.

The coach said Rogers, Idaho’s leading ball carrier going into the game, gained 27 yards in 15 carries Saturday night. “His attitude and his extra effort have certainly been an asset to our ball club. Every coach would love to have him because of the effort he puts out both in practice and in the game, both offensively and defensively.”

Andros said he “was really pleased with the hitting of the squad defensively. I thought our defense really rose to the occasion. They were tackling better than in earlier games.”

The coach said that no one suffered any serious injuries in the game and that he hoped both Quarterback Gary Mires, who missed the San Jose game with a split finger, and Guard Denny Almquist would be back in action for Saturday’s game against Montana State College at Bozeman.

The coaches spent most of Sunday night reviewing the game movies taken at San Jose and those of the Montana State-Idaho State game of Saturday.

The Vandals return to practice Monday afternoon to begin preparations for the Montana State contest.

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QUAGMIRE OF MUD

The University of Idaho Vandals and the Spartans of San Jose State played a 12-12 football game in a quagmire of mud at San Jose Saturday night, Eugene A. Hamblin, co-owner of radio station KOZE, Lewiston, said yesterday.

Hamblin returned yesterday afternoon with Bob Curtis, Colfax, after broadcasting the game on a state-wide radio network.

“It was terrible for playing,” Hamblin said. “Except for a few brief intervals there was a steady downpour of rain during the entire game.”

‘Like A Lake’

Hamblin said the edges of the field were “like a lake.” The center of the field, raised slightly, was a seething mass of mud.

“You couldn’t even tell it was a playing field,” Hamblin said. “After the first three or four minutes it was difficult to identify the players. By the fourth quarter we could only tell who they were by trying to recognize the way they looked or ran.”

Hamblin said the rain might have given the Idaho team a slight advantage, since they are more accustomed to rainy weather. It was the first time in 16 years it had ever rained during a game at San Jose.

When the Vandal plane left San Jose yesterday morning en route to Spokane it was “sunny and bright,” Hamblin reported.

This story was published in the Oct. 15, 1962, edition of the Lewiston Tribune.