Bengals Take Down No. 21 Cal Poly, 30-28

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POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State football team remains in the hunt for a Big Sky Conference championship after a 30-28 win over No. 21 Cal Poly in front of a crowd of 9,323 at Holt Arena.

Madison Mangum led the Bengals aerial assault with 10 receptions for 159 yards and a touchdown. Mitch Beckstead and Cody Sorensen led the Bengal defense with 18 and 17 tackles respectively.

Idaho State improved to 7-3 overall, and 5-1 in Big Sky Conference play. The Bengals are one of only four teams in the conference with one loss. Eastern Washington is 6-1 while ISU, NAU and Montana State are 5-1.

The Bengal offense was efficient and scored on six of their 12 possessions. The Bengals tallied 140 yards on the ground and another 292 through the air.

Xavier Finney led the ground game with 125 yards on 26 carries. ISU tallied 432 total yards while Cal Poly finished with 526. Justin Arias completed 22 passes on 40 attempts with three touchdown passes and two interceptions. The Mustangs carried the ball 77 times for 425 yards. The Bengals were three-of-three on fourth down conversions while Cal Poly was one-of-five.

The Bengals jumped out to an early lead when Arias threw a 21 yard pass to Hagen Graves on the opening drive of the game with 13:17 remaining in the first quarter. Idaho State stretched its lead to 14-0 on a 30-yard strike to KW Williams with 6:51 remaining in the first.

The Bengals took a 17-0 lead with 8:51 left in the first half thanks to a 35-yard field goal from Zak Johnson. Cal Poly put together a drive late in the second and scored on a 10-yard rush from quarterback Chris Brown with 26 seconds remaining in the half. The Bengals led 17-7 at halftime.

Despite two third quarter touchdowns from Cal Poly, ISU never relinquished the lead thanks to the leg of Johnson who hit on field goals of 39 and 27 yards. The Bengals led 23-21 at the end of the third quarter.

Idaho State struck first in the fourth quarter when Arias completed a 24-yard touchdown pass to Mangum with 6:00 left on the clock. Cal Poly countered on its next drive via a two-yard Brown run with 2:14 on the clock. The Bengals were able to hold Cal Poly on a last second drive and earned the 30-28 victory.

Idaho State returns to action in Bozeman, Montana against Big Sky rival Montana State on Saturday November 15 at 1:30 p.m. The Bengals then return home to the Holt Arena to close out the regular season against Weber State on Saturday November 22 at 2:35 p.m.

Game Notes
- This is Idaho State's first five-game winning streak since 1995 when the team started the season 5-0.
- This is Idaho State's first win over ranked opponent since beating No. 5 Eastern Washington 34-30 in 2005 at Holt Arena. The Bengals had lost 24 straight games against a ranked team before Saturday's win over Cal Poly.
- Xavier Finney rushed for 125 yards. It is the eighth time this season he has rushed for over 100 yards.
- Justin Arias had thrown 231 passes without an interception before throwing a third-quarter pick.
- KW Williams caught his 10th touchdown pass of the season. That mark is tied for fourth on the single-season touchdown receptions Top 10 List.
- The Idaho State offense has rushed for 2,016 yards this season, the seventh best single-season mark in program history. The single-season record for most rushing yards in a season is 2,442 by the 1957 team.
- The Bengals three touchdowns today set the single-season record for most touchdowns in a season. ISU now has 53 touchdowns and the record was 52 by the 1981 National Championship team.
- Justin Arias set the single-season and career touchdown record for passing touchdowns. He now has 58 touchdown passes and 32 touchdown passes this season.
- The crowd of 9,323 was the fourth largest crowd since the 2005 season.
- Four Bengal defenders finished with a career-high in tackles. Cody Sorensen had 17, PJ Gremaud 14, Austin Graves 12 and Hayden Stout 11.

Mike Kramer Post Game Quotes
"Wow. Our crowd came. They were entertained and then found themselves involved. It is kind of rare you go to a movie and then find yourself being a part of the movie at the very end. It was a very interactive sporting event and I am proud."

"It was a great job by Cal Poly. They are extremely mentally tough and well-coached. They are resisilant and pounded away at us and they tried to fracture us. Defensively we did not fracture. 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 four years."

"Offensively we ended up kicking field goals. That wasn't scoring touchdowns but it was enough field goals to win. It was important. We would have liked to score 56 points to win. We didn't but we kicked field goals to win. Zak Johnson did a nice job of banging them in when we got in close. Credit Cal Poly's defense against our offense but in the end the mark of a quarterback is not necessarly how many yards you threw for or how many touchdown passes it is how many big games you have won. Justin Arias is putting a stamp on this program in an indelible way. He leads us on both sides of the ball as a humble, efficient, effective team leader in the ultimate team sport. I am proud of all of our guys. I am proud of our seniors."

"I am really proud of my coaching staff and I am extremely happy by the way our team played in every facet."