De Laura leads Vegas to IFL championship in return to Tucson

Jayden de Laura’s second homecoming to Tucson had a storybook ending.

The former UA quarterback-turned-Knight Hawk led Vegas to the IFL National Championship at Tucson Arena on Saturday, scoring the game-winning touchdown and earning the game’s MVP award.

Vegas beat the Green Bay Blizzard 64-61 to win its first IFL championship.

“Ah, it’s good, it’s good, to come back where I finished out my school, my college and it’s like my home away from home,” de Laura said.

De Laura battled Green Bay quarterback Max Meylor, who was named IFL MVP on Friday. De Laura was 12 for 15 passing for 130 yards with one throwing touchdown, while also rushing for 74 yards and two scores on 11 carries.

Meylor was 13 for 18 for 187 yards and two touchdowns through the air. On the ground, he ran for 52 yards and two scores on nine carries.

The Knight Hawks scored a touchdown on every one of their drives, and the Blizzard did on all of theirs except for two drives: the one at the end of the first half that started with 14 seconds left, where they had to settle for an Andrew Mevis 39-yard field goal; and the last drive of the game.

On Vegas’ final possession, de Laura ran in for the game-winning 3-yard touchdown. He ran over a Green Bay defender, and the ensuing trash talking led to a 10-yard unsportsmanlike penalty for the Blizzard’s last drive.

Green Bay started its final drive from their 10-yard line down by three.

“We knew that they weren’t stopping our offense, so it was just, we need that one stop on defense, and it’s crazy that we got it on the last play,” de Laura said. “I’m appreciative of that, it feels good.”

Green Bay led the IFL in scoring going into Saturday with 53.7 points per game, and Vegas was second with 48.7. The IFL set the over/under line at 99.5 points, which they exceeded by over 25 points.

“It’s tough, it gets a little frustrating,” said Vegas defensive back Bryce Hampton about the high-powered offenses. “We just trying to get one stop, that stop, but playing against Max over there, the MVP, he’s a hell of a player. Green Bay’s a hell of a team and it’s a good feeling that we came up with the win.”

The Blizzard marched down the field their final drive to the Vegas 1-yard-line. After the play was reviewed by the officials, they ran it to 2 inches away from the end zone and the game of offense was decided by a defensive stand at the goal line.

The play was also reviewed, and Vegas held on to win.

“Just trying to get that stop, that’s what our coaches were harping to us, stay in it, stay poised, keep your head in it, we thought of every scenario coming out,” Hampton said. “We actually saw them QB sneaks right before, so we already had a play in mind and we went through and made that stop.”

After losing his starting quarterback job at the UA, de Laura transferred, but with Vegas, it was a different story.

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De Laura played for Arizona in 2022 and 2023. He signed with the Knight Hawks as a backup to Ja’Rome Johnson, who was the IFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2024. De Laura took over the starting job after Vegas started the season 1-2.

“That man Jayden, man, I mean, I don’t even have the words to talk about what he’s done this season and how much he means to this team, man,” said Knight Hawks receiver C.J. Windham Jr. “Him and Ja’Rome Johnson, they both battled for that spot, at times we were even playing both of them in the game, so just having Jayden around, his will to win, it just means so much to this team.”

De Laura’s first return to Tucson was in a 59-55 win over the Sugar Skulls in June. He was 7 for 8 for 142 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

De Laura’s family sat in the front rows of one section and after the game he jumped on the boards to celebrate with them. After the game, current UA quarterback Noah Fifita came on to the field to celebrate with de Laura.

“That’s my brother,” de Laura said.

Former UA head coach Jedd Fisch attended the championship. The Washington coach and his family embraced de Laura before the game.

“He’s a great guy, bro, he’s a great guy, a great family guy,” de Laura said. “He tries his best to please everybody, but he can’t please everybody. Everything you do is have people that go against you and people that support you.

“So as long as the people next to you, you show them love and you’re appreciative of them — I’m appreciative of him and I just hope he knows that I got his back the same way he got my back.”

Second-seeded Green Bay was also looking to win its first IFL championship. Vegas was the fourth seed and made the title game after a couple of upsets, a year after losing at home in the playoffs.

Last season, the Arizona Rattlers knocked out Vegas en route to their second IFL title. Vegas’ home arena is Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev., which hosted the IFL National Championship from 2022 to 2024 when the league moved to a neutral site.

“Pretty good feeling, I mean, I’m from Vegas, hometown kid, so it’s good to bring a trophy back home to the city and it’s all the fans,” Hampton said. “We kind of took that fuel from last year ... We didn’t really like that feeling that we had last year back at home against Arizona. Our goal was to have the championship at home, win the championship at home but instead we put a team together this year and everybody gelled.”

Vegas had 304 yards of total offense, and Green Bay had 331.

After showing off his passing and running skills, de Laura even tried his hand at comedy.

“I know it might be a little cheesy, but it’s summertime, Blizzards don’t go too well in the summer in Tucson,” de Laura said.

Extra points

• Referee Tom Drzazgowski and umpire Jake Shumate were among the officials who worked the championship game. All Sports Tucson reported that Drzazgowski and Shumate are from Tucson.
• Attendance was 3,251.

Photos: Vegas slips past Green Bay in a 64-61 run-and-gun IFL Championship