POCATELLO – Anthony Ricks’ chipped front tooth is hardly a battle wound, but he can at least claim it as a souvenir for a week-one win.

Ricks and Idaho State rattled off 37 unanswered points to survive a bad start and beat visiting Western Oregon 37-6 on Thursday at Holt Arena. Ricks played the whole game with the damaged incisor he suffered during pregame warmups, making a team-best 10 tackles in the process.

The junior cornerback and the rest of Idaho State’s defense was on the field for more than 20 minutes of the first half while the Bengals’ offense sputtered and was held off the scoreboard until Parker Johnson’s 40-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the second quarter.

ISU trailed its Division II opponent 6-3 at the break.

“We can never fold,” Ricks said.

ISU’s defense and special teams propelled the offense in the second half. Early in the third quarter, JonRyheem Peoples blocked Adrian Saldana’s field goal attempt, and Andy Whittier shot downfield to make a stop for no gain on ISU’s ensuing punt. Western Oregon’s next drive ended with an Adkin Aguirre interception, and from there, the offense finally shifted.

The Bengals (1-0) scored 34 points over the final 21 minutes, 19 seconds.

“No one flinched at halftime,” Bengals coach Rob Phenicie said. “We set our jaws and said, ‘Keep our heads up and want the fourth quarter.’ You get what you emphasize.”

Western Oregon (0-1) chipped away at ISU’s defense early. Preseason Division II All-American Paul Revis racked up eight catches for 89 yards as the Wolves attacked ISU’s secondary.

“First half, they were driving on us a little bit,” Aguirre said. “It was the emotions at first.”

Meanwhile, ISU’s offense wasn’t giving the defense a break. The Bengals converted one of six third downs and earned 37 of their 154 first-half yards on one play.

Bengals quarterback Tanner Gueller and his receivers were out of sync, leading to overthrown balls and dropped passes.

Gueller finished the half 7 of 13 for 87 yards with an interception.

“It was all of us as a unit,” ISU running back Ty Flanagan said. “We were messing up on all the little things.”

In fact, Flanagan was the bright spot of ISU’s offense.

The redshirt sophomore, in his first season as the Bengals’ No. 1 back, blistered oncoming defenders with his aggressive running style and refused to go down on first contact. He broke a 37-yard run on ISU’s second offensive play and ended the first half with 61 yards on six carries.

Flanagan was helped off the field in the third quarter, but later returned, promptly scoring a 20-yard touchdown with a bruising run through traffic.

Immediately after, he was helped off the field again. Both times, Flanagan said his legs cramped. He finished with 100 yards rushing and one touchdown on 14 carries.

“I was cramping all over today,” Flanagan said. “I need to drink some more pickle juice.”

With his 100-yard day, Flanagan nearly surpassed his rushing total from last season (121).

“I enjoyed watching him,” Phenicie said. “That’s the physical back that Ty Flanagan is.”

Kieran Yancy joined Flanagan with a 3-yard rushing touchdown, and Gueller hit tight ends Jake Johnson and Austin Campbell for TD strikes before capping ISU’s scoring with a 15-yard dart to Michael Dean. Gueller’s touchdown pass to Campbell was the longest play of the game at 71 yards.

Gueller completed 14 of 21 passes for 212 yards in the second half, giving him 299 yards and three scores for the game.

“We never got Tanner Gueller into a rhythm in the first half,” Phenicie said. “He was pressing, pressing, pressing, and we settled him down.”

Revis, who led Division II in average punt return yardage last season and is WOU’s biggest weapon, finished with 137 yards receiving on 13 catches but was held out of the end zone.

“Our goal was to stop him no matter what,” Flanagan said.

Idaho State plays another Thursday-night game Sept. 7 at Utah State of the Mountain West Conference, the first of two Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams on the schedule.

After a hard-fought win against Western Oregon, Phenicie said winning isn’t easy. A tougher test looms.

“I love it,” Phenicie said. “Let’s go play.”

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