Bobcats down Bengals in triple-OT thriller
Daily Inter Lake | Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 48 minutes AGO
POCATELLO, Idaho — It took almost forever for the Montana State Bobcats to get a handle on the Bengals, and by that we mean triple-overtime.
Dane Steel's option pass to Rylen Schlepp in the two-point PAT portion of overtime lifted the No. 3 Bobcats over Idaho State 28-26 at the ICCU Dome on Saturday night.
The game-winner came one play after Caden Dowler and Cole Taylor bottled up a shovel pass to leave the score at 26-all, and two plays after the Bengals' Mason Lindberg hit a 29-yard field to force the third overtime.
Myles Sansted's 43-yard field goal put MSU (9-1 overall, 6-1 in the Big Sky Conference) up 26-23 in the second OT of the back-and-forth affair. When Lindberg tied it, that left the teams to try two-point conversions until one team finished ahead.
The Cats led 13-10 on a 27-yard Sansted field goal at 4:30 of the third quarter, only to see Carson Sudbury put the Bengals (6-4, 3-4 in league) back in front with 4-yard TD run late in the period.
After Lindberg hit a 34-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter, the Bobcats needed an acrobatic, 20-yard touchdown catch from Lencioni with 2:24 left in regulation — along with Sansted's PAT kick — to force the first OT at 20-all.
It was a grind for the defending national champions, who managed 123 rushing yards on 31 carries and were outgained 410-332.
Cooke threw for 318 yards, completing 30 of 52 passes with one interception; he also had a 2-yard scoring run to put ISU up 10-0 at 7:12 of the second quarter.
Montana State got some momentum back with an 81-yard drive to close the first half, capped by Adam Jones' 2-yard TD run. The Bobcats also put together drives of 55 and 54 yards that ended in Sansted kicks.
Yet Idaho State's defense, led by Jackson Irwin and safety Dekker Hagler, was mostly equal to the task.
The Bobcats got their game-winner when Lamson took the snap and pitched to Steel on what looked like a reverse. Steel fired a strike to Schlepp in the corner of the end zone.
Justin Lamson was 22 of 37 passing for 209 yards for MSU. Steel caught seven passes for 75 yards and Lencioni had six catches for 66. Jones managed 49 yards on 12 carries and Lamson ran 13 times for 46 yards.
That and a "Philly Special" — a Bacchus Beauty? — kept the Bobcats atop the Big Sky. They play at Northern Colorado next Saturday.
Idaho State, ranked as high as No. 18 this past week, travels to Missoula to play the Montana Grizzlies Saturday at 8:30 p.m. That game will air on ESPN2.