Denim Millward
Sports Editor
The Idaho State Bengal football team rode a balanced offensive attack and a gritty performance by the Bengal defense to down the Cal Poly Mustangs 30-28 Saturday, Nov. 8 at Holt Arena.
In front of a season-high crowd of 9,323, the Bengal defense came up big when it mattered, holding the Mustangs to just 1-5 on fourth-down conversions.
Conversely, the Bengals were a perfect 3-3 on fourth downs, two of which were fourth-and-shorts that were converted on long fade passes from quarterback Justin Arias to wide receiver Madison Mangum.
“I am really proud of my coaching staff and I am extremely happy by the way our team played in every facet,” Bengal Head Coach Mike Kramer said in a post-game press conference.
Though they led the entire game, the contest was within a single score for the bulk of the second half. After ISU roared out to a 17-0 lead, the Mustangs got on the board just before halftime with a 10-yard touchdown run by Cal Poly quarterback Chris Brown.
The Mustangs cut the lead to 3 on their first possession after halftime when Brown found wide receiver Kyle Lewis for a 44-yard touchdown.
After two more field goals by ISU kicker Zak Johnson, who was a perfect 3-3 on the day, Brown scampered 33 yards for a touchdown, bringing the score to 23-21, Bengals.
Shortly after one of the aforementioned fourth-down fades to Mangum, Arias found his favorite target once again, this time in the end zone to give the Bengals another touchdown and some breathing room at 30-21.
The Mustangs closed the gap back to 2 after Brown scored from two yards out with 2:14 to play in the game.
After the Bengals spent their next possession bleeding the clock and forcing Cal Poly to burn their final timeouts, the Bengals punted back to Cal Poly with just over a minute left. The Mustangs marched to midfield, but the Bengal defense came up huge and forced a turnover on downs.
“It was a great job by Cal Poly,” Kramer said. “They are extremely mentally tough and well-coached. To have held that rushing attack to that many points without a turnover is a testimony to mental toughness, pad level, footwork and doing the things we have talked about for years.”
Arias connected with wide receiver Hagen Graves on a 21-yard pass for the first score of the game.
In addition to putting the Bengals up 7-0, it broke both the all-time and single season passing touchdown record at Idaho State.
Arias would also find KW Williams and Mangum for touchdowns later in the game, putting his touchdown total for the season at 32 and counting.
As a team, the Bengals broke the school record for touchdowns in a season with 53, breaking the previous record of 52 set by the 1981 national championship team.
The defeat of Cal Poly is the first win for the Bengals against a nationally-ranked team since 2006.
Junior running back Xavier Finney once again led the rushing attack for the Bengals, gaining 125 yards on 26 carries including 48 on ISU’s first drive.
Mangum led the Bengals in receiving with ten receptions for 159 yards and a touchdown.
Next week, the Bengals head to Bozeman, Montana for an enormously important showdown against Montana State.
Along with Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona, the Bengals and Bobcats each have a single conference loss and have high hopes of winning the Big Sky Conference championship.
