The Tucson Sugar Skulls have clearly been better on the road than at home this season. Yet on Sunday against the Bay Area Panthers โ with a would-be Tucson win bringing the Indoor Football Leagueโs Western Conference championship to Tucson Arena next weekend โ the Skullsโ typical script flipped on end.
After trailing 22-0 after one quarter, the Sugar Skulls (9-7) couldnโt recover. Their season ended Sunday in San Jose, California, via a 46-34 loss to the Panthers (11-5) in the IFL quarterfinals.
Instead, its Bay Area which will play host next week to the fourth-seeded and defending champion Northern Arizona Wranglers, with the winner of that game advancing to the IFL National Championship outside Las Vegas.
The Wranglers upset the Westโs No. 1 team, the Arizona Rattlers, Saturday in Phoenix.
Tucsonโs Ramone Adkins completed 17 of 30 passes for 90 yards and three Carrington Thompson touchdown grabs. Adkins also ran for 94 yards, scoring twice.
Tucson was a 6-1 road team coming in, including a 34-30 win at Bay Area in April.
But it was an inability to close out at home that pushed the Skulls to the Westโs third seed and a road playoff game. Tucson was 3-5 in The Boneyard, albeit with just one of those losses by more than one touchdown.
