Idaho beats Idaho State in front of sellout crowd for Potato State trophy
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POCATELLO — The Idaho State Bengal 2024 football season came to an end Saturday evening in Pocatello as the Bengals fell 40-17 to the Idaho Vandals.
The game was the first official sellout of the renovated ICCU Dome with an announced attendance of 10,033.
The Vandals took an early lead on the Bengals and never looked back. Idaho State was able to close to within three points near the end of the first half, but were unable to close the gap coming out of the locker room in the 2nd half.
How it Happened
Coming in to a packed dome, the Vandals struck first, converting a double reverse trick play 41 yards down the field to open scoring. Idaho followed it up with a 35-yard field goal and after taking a 10-0 lead, the two teams settled down into a back-and-forth battle.
At the start of the 2nd quarter, the Bengal defense stepped up forcing UI to miss two passes before Adrian Rodriguez and Davis Rowe pushed through the Idaho offensive to sack the Idaho quarterback and force the first Idaho punt of the game.
On the next drive, the Vandals were able to snag a ball that was popped in the air for the first interception of the game. The Bengal defense then took advantage of a Logan George sack and a qb hurry by Cortland Horton to force a field goal. Lining up from 36 back, the Idaho kicker missed the attempt and the score remained 10-0.
The Bengals took the ball off of the miss and put together the first scoring drive of the night for the Orange and Black.
The drive started with Hunter Hays getting the ball moving for the Bengals rushing twice before hitting Tsion Nunnally for five yards and the first down. Kobe Tracy then came back in at QB and Idaho State began driving down the field.
With throws to Nunally, Raiden Brown and Aaron Blancas, the Bengals methodically moved down the field. On a critical 4th and one, Hunter Hays hit Donald Austin with the option pitch as Donald powered past the line to gain.
On the next play, Hunter Hays hit Michael Shulikov with the jump ball in the back of the endzone for the first Bengal touchdown of the evening.
The Vandals took advantage of a huge 62-yard kick return to set up a short field and score before the end of the half.
The second half started with a kickoff return touchdown by the Vandals, ballooning their lead to 24-7.
On the next drive, Dason Brooks and Keoua Kauhi took over the drive, helping to move the Bengals down the field, capped by Gabe Panikowski’s 15 made field goal of the season from 27 yards out. Panikowski ends the season a perfect 15-of-15 in field goals.
Despite a huge six-yard tackle for loss by Nathan Reynolds and David Rowe, the Vandals were able to finish out the drive and score again going up 30-10 after a blocked PAT attempt.
Going into the fourth quarter the Bengals forced a punt and then put together their final scoring drive of the game.
Over the next eight plays, the Bengals worked down the field. On a final chance fourth and three to go, Jeff Weimer tucked the ball and dove at the pylon in the corner of the endzone, reaching the ball past the plane as he flew through the air for the touchdown.
The next drive, the Vandals missed their second field goal of the game from 25 yards out.
On the next Bengal drive, Kobe Tracy hit Jeff Weimer for 17 yards, with the completion, Weimer passed 1,000 yards for the season and ISU now has completed two consecutive seasons with a 1,000 yard receiver. To be noted is Christian Fredericksen who was sidelined with a lower body injury for the game and was only 64 yards away from 1,000 yards as well.
Idaho took advantage of two interceptions in the final five minutes to score a field goal and a touchdown for the final 40-17 result.
Idaho State ends the season 5-7 (3-5 BSC), while a marked improvement on previous years there is still plenty of growth to be seen in the program.
Notes
· The Vandals outgained the Bengals 415 to 373 though the Bengals had almost 20 more plays in the game, 77-to-58.
· The Bengals threw 29-47 for 262 yards in the air. Idaho State gained 111 yards on the ground led by Dason Brooks’ 56 yards.
· Ian Duarte finished the game with four-for-four receptions including an extremely impressive ‘circus catch’ where he was able to stretch his foot and drag the line for the completion after review.
· Ross Bolger punted the ball three times this evening, but all three were impressive, averaging 51.7 yards per punt with a long of 57, two of the three landing inside the 20 yard line.
· Tylor Bohannon and David Rowe both had eight tackles in the game. Row also tacked on 1.5 sacks and four tackles for loss.
·The Bengals had a season-high 10 tackles for loss against the Vandals, this was also the 3rd time this season with 3+ sacks in a game.
Up Next
The Bengals season is over but their work isn’t. The Bengals come back from Thanksgiving break and will be back in the weight room starting winter workouts. Then, Dec. 4, the first signing day of the year arrives as the first batch of new Bengals are welcomed to the team.