6-4 , 5-2
Idaho State
7-3 , 5-1
Five-Game Winning Streak Snapped as Cal Poly Falls to Idaho State
11/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
POCATELLO, Idaho -- Senior quarterback Justin Arias passed for 292 yards and three touchdowns to lead Idaho State to a 30-28 victory over No. 21/23 Cal Poly in a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday afternoon in Holt Arena.
The win was Idaho State's first in its last 25 games against a ranked Football Championship Subdivision team and lifted the Bengals to 7-3 for the season and 5-1 in Big Sky games.
Cal Poly, which had beaten the Bengals in their last five meetings, had its five-game winning streak snapped, falling to 6-4 and 5-2.
Arias completed 22 of 40 passes for Idaho State, which led all the way after scoring 14 points in the first eight minutes of the game. The Bengals were 14-76 in the last eight seasons and had not won more than three games in a season since 2005.
Arias hit Hagen Graves with a 21-yard pass less than two minutes into the game and connected with KW Williams on a 30-yard pass, both capping 75-yard drives and giving Idaho State a 14-0 lead with 6:51 to play in the opening quarter.
Zak Johnson added a 35-yard field goal, the first of three for the redshirt freshman, for Idaho State midway through the second quarter.
Cal Poly finally got on the scoreboard with 26 seconds left before intermission as junior quarterback Chris Brown ran 10 yards for a touchdown, culminating a 97-yard, 14-play drive.
Cal Poly also received the ball to open the second half and it took less than two minutes to close the gap to three points, 17-14. Brown passed 44 yards to Zack Lewis for the touchdown, his first as a Mustang.
Johnson made field goals spanning 27 and 39 yards to give Idaho State a 23-14 lead with 5:37 left in the third quarter.
Brown romped 33 yards for another touchdown with 2:15 left in the third quarter as Cal Poly trimmed the deficit to two points, 23-21.
Jordan Williams and Cameron Ontko both intercepted passes in the second half, but Cal Poly could not capitalize on either theft. Ontko has two interceptions in his Mustang career and Williams has eight.
A 24-yard pass from Arias to Madison Mangum with six minutes left restored Idaho State's lead to nine points, 30-21.
Brown ran two yards for a touchdown after a pass interference penalty on Idaho State as Cal Poly cut the deficit to two points again, 30-28, with 2:14 to play.
The Mustang defense forced a Bengal punt and Cal Poly drove from the 10 to the 41 before Brown was pushed out of bounds five yards shy of the first down with seven seconds remaining.
Cal Poly, which ran off 99 plays in the game, finished with over 480 yards for the eighth straight contest, rushing for 425 yards and passing for 101. Idaho State netted 432 total yards – 140 on the ground and 292 through the air.
The Mustangs, among the leaders in the nation in fourth-down conversions, converted just one of five Saturday. Cal Poly converted 12 of 22 third-down plays, near its season average.
Brown finished with 195 yards on a career-high 39 rushes, scoring three touchdowns and recording his seventh career 100-yard game. Sophomore slotback Kori Garcia added 105 yards on 13 carries and senior fullback Brandon Howe 63 yards on 15 trips.
With 1,148 yards in 10 games this season, Brown is the 17th Mustang in the 96-year history of the program -- and the first quarterback -- to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season. He also has broken the Big Sky single-season rushing mark for a quarterback. Old mark of 1,060 yards was set by Connor Kavanagh of Portland State in 2011.
Brown completed eight of 22 passes for 101 yards and one score. He has rushed for at least two touchdowns and passed for one in Cal Poly's last three games and for the fifth time this season. Garcia and Chris Nicholls each caught a pair of passes.
Xavier Finney, the Big Sky rushing leader with 1,235 yards entering the game, added 125 yards on 26 trips. Mangum caught 10 passes and Williams four for the Bengals.
For the ninth time in 10 games this season, Mustang senior linebacker Nick Dzubnar recorded double-digit tackles. The Buck Buchanan Award watch list member garnered 15 tackles (five solo) to lift his season total to 142, No. 2 all-time at Cal Poly and 16 behind record-holder Kyle Shotwell.
Dzubnar's 389 career stops are three shy of No. 2 Shotwell's 392 total.
Cal Poly plays its final home game of the 2014 regular season next Saturday, hosting rival UC Davis in the Battle for the Golden Horseshoe. Kickoff in Alex G. Spanos Stadium is set for 6:05 p.m.
Team Stats
CP 0, ISU 7
ISU - Hagen Graves 21 yd pass from Justin Arias (Zak Johnson kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:43
CP 0, ISU 14
ISU - KW Williams 30 yd pass from Justin Arias (Zak Johnson kick) 12 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:42
CP 0, ISU 17
ISU - Zak Johnson 35 yd field goal 11 plays, 60 yards, TOP 3:57
CP 7, ISU 17
CP - Chris Brown 10 yd run (Z.Schottenfeld kick), 14 plays, 97 yards, TOP 5:09
CP 14, ISU 17
CP - Kyle Lewis 44 yd pass from Chris Brown (Z.Schottenfeld kick) 5 plays, 68 yards, TOP 1:45
CP 14, ISU 20
ISU - Zak Johnson 27 yd field goal 13 plays, 65 yards, TOP 3:35
CP 14, ISU 23
ISU - Zak Johnson 39 yd field goal 7 plays, 31 yards, TOP 1:42
CP 21, ISU 23
CP - Chris Brown 33 yd run (Z.Schottenfeld kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:22
CP 21, ISU 30
ISU - Madison Mangum 24 yd pass from Justin Arias (Zak Johnson kick) 8 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:44
CP 28, ISU 30
CP - Chris Brown 2 yd run (Z.Schottenfeld kick), 11 plays, 74 yards, TOP 3:40
