The last time the Tucson Sugar Skulls won back-to-back games was during the franchise's inaugural season in 2019.
That changed on Saturday, when the Sugar Skulls avenged their early-season loss to the Northern Arizona Wranglers, holding off its in-state rival 48-46 in triple overtime at Tucson Arena.
Tucson's win moves the Sugar Skulls to 4-7 on the season and keeps their postseason hopes alive.
"It's big, man," said Dixie Wooten, the Sugar Skulls' head coach and general manager. "We practice our butts off and it pays off. Man, these guys are fighting. At the end of the day, we made a lot of mistakes, but that didn't stop them. There's something about us."
Sugar Skulls quarterback Cory Murphy, who was added to the roster just days before last week's win over the Bismarck Bucks, finished the game completing 8 of 12 passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns. Against the Bucks, Murphy completed just two passes.
"It was still the same offense, we were just able to open up the passing game more," Murphy said, "especially in the back half of the game."
Murphy splashed into Tucson's offense with his legs last week, scoring three rushing touchdowns. Murphy's speed was on display once again.
On the first play from scrimmage, Murphy bolted for a 33-yard rush to set up Mike Jones for a five-yard touchdown. Jones moved into second place in the IFL with 17 rushing touchdowns on the season.
After taking a 7-0 lead, Sugar Skulls defensive back Delondo Boyd intercepted Northern Arizona quarterback Verlon Reed for a 50-yard touchdown. Boyd's touchdown marked the second straight week that Tucson's defense has scored.
"Boyd has been having a great season," Wooten said. "He's been playing tough against the run and against the pass. So, that pick-six was a part of us winning."
Northern Arizona scored its first points of the game courtesy of a Skylor Clinton rushing touchdown.
Murphy responded with his first passing touchdown since joining Tucson, with a 17-yard toss to Juju Augustine, who tip-toed down the sideline for a score to take a 20-7 lead.
However, a field goal, defensive stop by Northern Arizona and a 36-yard touchdown pass from Reed to James Brania-Hopp cut the deficit for the Wranglers, 20-17.
Despite the lead for Tucson, Northern Arizona had the ball for nearly 16 minutes longer than the Sugar Skulls. Tucson had seven plays for 80 yards of total offense, while Northern Arizona tabbed 28 plays for 152 yards at the end of the first half.
Following another defensive stop by Northern Arizona, Reed connected with Clinton for an 18-yard touchdown to take a 24-20 advantage, its first lead of the contest.
Tucson kicker Kevin Goessling ended the Wranglers' 17-point run and made a 31-yard field goal to trail 24-23 at the end of the third quarter. Time of possession was once again an issue. After the third quarter, Northern Arizona had the ball for 30:44 compared to Tucson's 14:16.
"Time of possession affects any game you play," Murphy said. "Early in the game, the drives were a little bit longer and then as the game started to wear on, we took some shots and it started to speed up."
The Wranglers began the fourth quarter with a Reed touchdown pass to Todd Athey, taking a 31-23 lead.
The Sugar Skulls avoided a near disaster, when Murphy was sacked by Eric Sadler in Tucson's end zone, but the play was ruled down at the half-yard line rather than a safety. Jones scored his second touchdown of the game — and converted the two-point conversion — to tie the game at 31.
Northern Arizona crafted a nearly five-minute drive to kick an 18-yard field to snag a 34-31 lead with 28 seconds left to play, but Augustine returned the ensuing kickoff to the Wranglers' 17-yard line.
Tucson couldn't punch in for a game-winning touchdown on the two-yard line, so resulted in a Goessling field goal to send the contest into overtime.
To begin overtime, Jones bursted 18 yards down to the two-yard line, setting up a Murphy pass to Jazeric Peterson in the back of the end zone, but Goessling missed the point-after kick, leaving the window open for Northern Arizona.
The Wranglers' Terrance Bynum hauled in a 12-yard pass to begin overtime. Then on third down, Bynum caught a seven-yard touchdown pass to set up the field goal unit for the win, but kicker Brandon Fischer's kick was blocked, sending the game into another overtime period.
In double overtime, the Sugar Skulls' defense held the Wranglers to a field-goal attempt, but Fischer's kick was wide left.
With a chance at redemption, Goessling's 26-yard field goal was blocked to send the game into triple overtime.
In the third overtime, Murphy launched a 36-yard pass down the sideline to Peterson for a touchdown. Peterson finished Saturday night with five catches for 69 yards and two touchdowns.
"I kind of knew it was going to be my ball, because Cory had been talking about it all game, so I knew I had a chance to go get it," Peterson said.
The IFL's triple-overtime rule is that teams must go for the two-point conversion. Murphy found Augustine on a hitch in the end zone to go up 48-40.
Peterson added that "these are the type of games you play for."
"As a kid, you want to play these types of games — those tight moments where you have to make a play, because this game is all about making plays," he said.
The Wranglers scored off a one-yard run by Reed, but the Wranglers quarterback stumbled on his own feet and fell to the ground for the two-point conversion, securing the win for Tucson. Last week's win over Bismarck had a similar ending with the Bucks quarterback falling over his feet.
"It's a going-for-two thing or a fourth-down thing, where the turf keeps saving us and the quarterbacks fall," Wooten said. "But we'll take it."
Tucson has now won three out of its last four games.
"People counted us out and now it looks like we have a great shot," said Wooten. "These guys came to battle tonight. We always get everybody's best game, and these guys stepped up to the challenge."
Up next: Tucson will face the Arizona Rattlers (8-2) in Phoenix on Saturday at 5:05 p.m. The Sugar Skulls are 0-6 all-time against their in-state counterpart.
Extra points:
- Tucson safety Matt Elam was out Saturday with a hamstring injury. Elam, the former first-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2013 NFL draft, has been a star in the Sugar Skulls' secondary this season with 46 tackles and nine pass deflections.
- Sugar Skulls offensive lineman Brandon Haskin is out indefinitely with injury, but was replaced by Edward Price. The 6-foot-6-inch, 315-pound Kentucky native played collegiately at Kentucky and USC, before briefly spending time in the CFL with Saskatchewan.
- Announced attendance at Tucson was 2,361.
