PHOTO GALLERY
POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State football team opened the 2018 season with a 45-10 win over Western State on Friday evening in Holt Arena.
The Bengals tallied 479 yards of total offense while holding Western State to 135.
Tanner Gueller was 17-27 for 213 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
James Madison carried the ball 19 times for 114 yards and three touchdowns while
Mitch Gueller had four catches for 81 yards and one touchdown.
Ty Flanagan had 21 carries for 79 yards and one touchdown.
Paea Moala had 13 tackles and one sack.
Caleb Brown had a 28-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Kennon Smith also tallied an interception.
The Bengals never trailed and the defense forced a punt on Western States opening position. On the return,
Kieran Yancy returned the ball 58 yards to the Mountaineer 10-yard line and Madison scored on the offense's first play to give ISU a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
The Bengals led 14-0 with 2:12 left in the first, following a two-yard run by Flanagan. A 26-yard field goal by
Campbell Sheidow upped the Bengal lead to 17-0 with 12:32 left in the first half.
Western State tallied a field goal with 2:28 left in the second quarter but the Bengals scored two touchdowns in the final 1:36 of the first half to lead 31-3 at the break.
Mitch Gueller scored the first touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Tanner with 1:36 left and Brown then had his 28-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:19 to play.
Madison upped the Bengal lead to 38-3 with a seven yard touchdown run with 11:44 left in the third quarter. Western State scored a touchdown with 5:57 left in the third but Idaho State had the final points of the game when Madison scored on a one-yard run with 2:35 remaining in the third quarter.
Idaho State has a week off before traveling to play at Cal from the Pac 12 on Saturday, Sept. 15.
Game Notes
- Paea Moala had a career-high 13 tackles.
- Caleb Brown and Kennon Smith had their first career interceptions. Brown scored his first career touchdown on a 28-yard interception return.
- Matt Peterson, Isaiah Brimmer and Demonte Horton caught their first career passes. As a true freshman Horton caught four passes for 47 yards.
- Freshman kickers Kevin Ryan and Campbell Sheidow saw their first action as Bengals. Ryan had four punts for an average of 41 yard a kick while Sheidow was perfect on extra points and made a 36-yard field goal.
- Tanner Gueller surpassed the 6,000 yard mark for career passing yards. He now has 6,173 yards and trails Kevin Yost, who is in fourth place in the ISU career record books, with 6,663 yards.
- Caleb Brown's interception return for a touchdown was the first since Nikko Taylor on Sept. 4, 2016. It was a four-yard return vs. Sacramento State.
- Prior to James Madison's three touchdowns, the last time a Bengal had exactly three rushing touchdowns in a game was Daniel McSurdy on Oct. 25, 2014 at Northern Colorado.
- Prior to James Madison's 114 rushing yards the last time a Bengal rushed for over 100 yards was Madison's 160 and Ty Flanagan's 108 vs. Portland State in 2017.
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