POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – The Idaho State Bengals football team is back in the win column Saturday night with a 38-8 win over Big Sky opponent Portland State. A 24-0 halftime lead was enough to lead the Bengals to victory. Idaho State ran for 4 touchdowns, good for a season high, and also turned 4 red zone trips into 4 touchdowns.
The scoring began in the first quarter for the Bengals, when Mason Lindberg knocked through a 42-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. Later in that first, Jordan Cooke found Tommy Poe for a 38-yard touchdown to make it 10-0 Bengals. Cooke ran for 37 yards and 2 touchdowns, and also threw for 334 yards in the win.
In the second quarter, Cooke ran in his first of 2 touchdowns. Just under a minute into the quarter, Cooke capped off an 8 play drive with a 1-yard run to make it 17-0. Then with just over 3 minutes left in the half, Tytan Mason took a 7-yard scamper for a touchdown to extend the Bengal lead to 24.
Portland State scored on their opening drive of the second half. Delon Thompson capped off a 12-play 75 yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to make it 24-6 ISU after a failed 2-point try. Then about 6 game minutes later, Portland State got a safety when their defense sacked Jordan Cooke in the end zone.
After that, ISU’s defense locked down, and the offense scored two more touchdowns to secure the 38-8 victory. After the game, head coach Cody Hawkins talked about how great the win felt.
“I don’t know how to describe how awesome this feels after the past couple weeks,” Hawkins said. “We know that this is a quality football team, and to drop three one-possession games in a row and have an opportunity to win it, and not finishing the job, that was a tough pill to swallow for a lot of guys.”
The Bengal defense stifled the Portland State offense in this game. Nathan Reynolds had the most tackles with 9; he also had a crucial forced fumble that he recovered himself. Trehsyn Fesili notched 7 tackles and had 2 sacks, one of which was a strip sack. The Bengal defense held Portland State to just 57 yards in the first half. Portland State was only able to convert 1 of 12 third downs in the game as well.
“Our defense is playing really, really good football, and they have been,” Head Coach Cody Hawkins said after the game. “Love our defensive guys, love our defensive staff.”
The Bengals will take on Utah Tech next Saturday in Saint George at 1:00 PM.
