Sept. 28, 2002
Box Score
Quotes
Pocatello, ID---Idaho State's defense rose to the occasion, tallying six sacks, recovering two fumbles, and picking off a pass as Idaho State rallied from an early 14-0 hole to defeat Sacramento State 32-24, pushing ISU to 1-1 in the Big Sky Conference.
The Bengals are now 2-2 overall, and 2-0 at home, while Sacramento State drops to 1-3, and 0-1 in the league.
The Bengals picked up five of their sacks in the second half, and all three takeaways as well. Idaho State held the Hornet to just seven second half points, those coming on a gadget play, a pass from wide receiver Kenan Smith to wideout Fred Amey that covered 52 yards.
The Bengals found themselves down 14-0 just 5:01 into the game when after a 50-yard Sacramento State drive resulted in a touchdown, Ernie James fumble the ensuing kickoff, which Sacramento recovered at the ISU 17. Five plays later Amey caught his first touchdown pass to make it 14-0.
The Bengals started the comeback with a 13-play 76-yard drive. Shedrack Okoebor caught a pair of passes to open the drive, and then Isaac Mitchell and Troy Bell tag teamed for the 36 yards on the ground, with Mitchell going over on third-and-goal at the 2-yard line.
Bret LeVier and Jeremy Hershey traded field goals to make it 17-9 (Hershey missed the extra point after the Mitchell touchdown), and then with 1:28 to go I the half, Baughman engineered a 74 yard scoring drive, capped by an 11-yard pass to Sale' Key for a touchdown with five second left. The key play was the one previous, where on 3rd-and-10 at the 49, a scrambling Baughman hit Eugene Mirador for a 38-yard gain.
ISU missed the two-point conversion, and trailed 17-15 at the half. ISU then scored twice in the opening five minutes of the second half, as Jermain Anderson scored from 24 yards out on a Baughman pass, and then after Josh Whitworth returned an interception to the 3-yard line, Mitchell ran it in from there for a 29-17 lead.
Sacramento closed the gap to 29-24 on the double-pass play, and twice got inside ISU territory in the fourth quarter, but Ernie James force a fumble at the ISU 25 that was recovered by Daniel Pryor, who raced 55 yards downfield from his defensive line position, and then on a 3rd-and-1, Jared Allen forced a Ryan Leadingham fumble on an option run, and Mike Rose rumbled 49 yards to the Sacramento 11. Jeremy Hershey capped the scoring with a 27-yard field goal.
The Bengals totaled 24 first downs and gained 408 yards of offense in the win. The committed a season-high 12 penalties for 89 yards. Idaho State heads to Eastern Washington next weekend for another important conference game.
