SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- A 41-yard field goal by freshman Jaden Ohlsen with four seconds remaining lifted Cal Poly to a 32-29 victory over Idaho State in a Big Sky Conference football game Saturday night inside Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
Ohlsen's 36-yard field goal with four minutes remaining gave the Mustangs a 29-21 lead but the visiting Bengals drove 79 yards on 12 plays, scoring a touchdown on a four-yard pass from Sagan Gronauer to Jared Scott with 1:02 to play.
A two-point conversion pass from Gronauer to Shane Dailey Jr. tied the game at 29-29.
Idaho State held Cal Poly on the next series of downs, forcing a Mustang punt. The ball kicked by backup punter Michael Roth hit an unsuspecting Idaho State player, Ja'Maree Boone, in the helmet on the fly as he was running downfield and David Meyer fell on the ball for the Mustangs at the Idaho State 34-yard line.
Cal Poly drove 10 yards on a six-yard run by quarterback Spencer Brasch and a four-yard pass from Brasch to Roth, setting up the winning field goal by Ohlsen.
The two teams entered the game with 1-8 records. Both squads are now tied for 11th place in the 13-team Big Sky with 1-6 marks. With the win, Cal Poly snapped a streak of eight straight losses at home, dating back to the 2019 season opener against San Diego, a 52-34 Mustang victory, and extended a streak of wins at home against the Bengals to six straight, dating back to 2003.
Defensive tackle Myles Cecil celebrates
a sack he made in second quarter Saturday.Brasch completed 25 of 50 passes, both season highs, for 233 yards and three touchdowns, another season high.
Brasch connected with Roth on a six-yard scoring pass in the first quarter, Xavier Moore on a five-yarder in the second period and Ryan Rivera with a two-yarder late in the third period, the latter for a 26-14 Cal Poly lead.
Idaho State responded in the fourth quarter with a 13-yard touchdown run by Tyevin Ford and Gronauer's four-yard scoring pass to Scott, tying the game at 29-29.
Gronauer connected on 23 of 38 passes for 273 yards and two scores. Scott finished with nine receptions for 89 yards and both Dailey and Tanner Conner garnered six catches.
Roth was Cal Poly's top receiver with 45 yards on six receptions. Chris Coleman and Zedekiah Centers each added four catches.
The late heroics overshadowed another brilliant performance by Mustang senior linebacker Matt Shotwell as he established a new career high with 19 tackles (13 solo) and scored his first Cal Poly touchdown on a 22-yard interception return with 5:10 to go in the third quarter, snapping a 14-14- tie.
Shotwell, who has led Cal Poly in tackles each of the last four seasons, including 2021, lifted his career total for tackles to 333, No. 4 on the Mustangs' all-time career tackles list. With one more game to play, Shotwell is 59 tackles behind his oldest brother, Kyle Shotwell, who made 392 tackles from 2003-06 en route to the 2006 Buck Buchanan Award.
Idaho State amassed 500 total yards compared to 351 by Cal Poly. The Bengals collected 227 yards on the ground and 273 through the air while the Mustangs garnered 118 yards rushing and 233 passing.
Idaho State possessed the ball for 36 minutes, 23 seconds, while Cal Poly had it for 23:37.
Tyevin Ford rushed for 138 yards on 26 carries, scoring twice on runs of seven and 13 yards, for Idaho State. Cal Poly backup quarterback Jaden Jones broke off a 60-yard run that set up Cal Poly's first touchdown and finished with 63 yards rushing.
Cal Poly closes out the 2021 season next Saturday by hosting Northern Arizona at 5:05 p.m. The Lumberjacks fell to 4-6 and 3-4 with a 30-3 loss at home to Montana.
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