Denim Millward
Sports Editor
There was apparently no bucket of Gatorade available, so the Idaho State football players improvised.
In the waning seconds of the team’s 44-24 homecoming victory over Sacramento State, a handful of Bengals, each armed with a water bottle, snuck up on beaming head coach Mike Kramer and doused him with water. For the Bengals and their fans, it was a great ending to a great game.
“It’s great for us to hold the fort at home and it gives us a good exclamation point,” Kramer said to the media in the postgame press conference following ISU’s conference-opening victory. “We’re 1-0 in the Big Sky.”
Bengal quarterback Justin Arias was able to shake off a first-quarter interception in the end zone and have arguably his best overall game at Idaho State, consistently finding open receivers for huge chunks of yardage and completing 30 of 42 passes for 413 yards and two touchdowns.
ISU wide receiver Madison Mangum continued his stellar season, hauling in eight passes for 174 yards and a breathtaking touchdown catch in the back corner of the end zone.
The catch, arguably the best of the game for either team, wasn’t even Mangum’s most memorable play.
With just under seven minutes left in the second quarter, Arias threw a backwards pass to Mangum, who then threw a strike to a streaking KW Williams for a 35-yard touchdown.
“You always kind of hold your breath when you call those things,” said associate head coach and offensive coordinator Don Bailey, who stated the Bengal offense had been working on the play in practice for two weeks. “Hopefully it’s going to work out, and tonight it did.”
Idaho State running back Xavier Finney complemented Arias’ passing attack well, rushing 26 times for 138 yards and three touchdowns.
Following a scoring drive by Sac State that cut the Bengal lead to 13, the Bengals relied heavily on Finney and redshirt senior Daniel McSurdy to respond on the following drive.
And respond they did.
Finney and McSurdy’s rushes accounted for all but 22 of ISU’s 75-yard scoring drive, rushing on six of the eight plays in the drive that culminated in Finney punching it in the end zone from three yards out.
The Bengal defense had its hands full with a very potent Sacramento State offense featuring Hornet quarterback Garrett Safron.
An equally dangerous runner and passer, Safron completed his first 18 passes on his way to a 33-of-49 passing performance for three touchdowns. Safron also utilized the read option effectively and led the Hornets in rushing with 92 yards on 13 carries.
Despite the potent production, the Bengal defense came up big by forcing three turnovers, two of which were momentum-shifting interceptions.
ISU defensive back Cody Sorensen took advantage of an uncharacteristically errant Safron throw, making the interception and returning it to the Sacramento State three-yard line.
On a later drive that had seen Safron march his team methodically down the field, cornerback Erik Collins, who had only recently replaced Vai Peko in the Bengals’ starting lineup, jumped in front of Safron’s intended receiver and intercepted the ball in the end zone.
“He’s been competing and doing a really great job,” said co-defensive coordinator Spencer Toone, referring to Collins. “He gives us a little more length, a different look. He came up in a big way in the red zone on that interception.”
“That’s a huge swing, a huge swing for the defense,” he added.
The win was the first homecoming victory for Idaho State since 2011 and the first conference victory over a team other than Northern Colorado since 2009.
While some would argue the victory is the biggest win for Kramer, the third-year head coach would disagree.
“My best win is yet to come,” Kramer said.
The game began with a somber moment when the ISU Marching Band dedicated the traditional playing of the school fight song to Kassi Schroeder, a former Bengal cheerleader and Century High School graduate.
Schroeder, who had been battling leukemia and was reportedly awaiting her second bone marrow transplant, passed away from the disease on Friday.
A beloved and respected Idaho State alumnus, Schroeder’s ties to the university were stronger than just her affiliation with the cheerleading squad. Schroeder’s husband is David Schroeder, a former Idaho State University student and member of the basketball team.
