Defensive stops, RB Mike Jones' 5 touchdowns propel Tucson Sugar Skulls over Bay Area

In the IFL standings, the Tucson Sugar Skulls are 6-5. 

But after dubbing the final six regular-season games “the second season” following the bye week, the Sugar Skulls are 1-0 after their 58-33 win — the largest margin of victory in franchise history — over the Bay Area Panthers on Saturday night at Tucson Arena.

The 33 points Bay Area scored is the lowest Tucson has allowed this season. The Sugar Skulls also forced a season-high four turnover on downs. 

“You have to give the guys credit,” said Sugar Skulls head coach Dixie Wooten. “Coming off a bye week, playing and practicing tough and coming to win the game by 20, that’s big-time. … Defense is getting better, man.” 

Sugar Skulls running back Mike Jones finished the night tying his career-high of five touchdowns, the most since the 67-66 loss against the San Diego Strike Force in April. 

“I was just taking what the defense gave us. Our offensive linemen were blocking their tails off and opened up holes, and it just made it easier for me,” Jones said. 

Despite two touchdowns from Jones in the first quarter, Bay Area quarterback Vincent Espinoza tallied a pair of rushing touchdowns to give the Panthers a 14-13 lead at the first break. 

Tucson earned its first defensive stop to begin the second quarter, with a turnover on downs, resulting in a 13-yard rushing touchdown by quarterback Daquan Neal. 

“It’s huge, because it’s a possession league. It’s all about stopping people, because it’s an offensive game. If you get stops on defense, that’s huge,” Wooten said. 

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Neal concluded with four total touchdowns and completed 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards. 

“We learned what we did wrong in the first half of the season. Then in the second half of the season, we tried to correct all of those flaws,” Neal said. “Tonight was a good start. … Hopefully we can keep building off this energy.” 

On the following possession for Bay Area, the Panthers’ attempted field goal was blocked by Sugar Skulls offensive tackle Isame Faciane and scooped up by defensive back Mike Minter who was tackled near the goal line; Jones punched in for a one-yard touchdown run. Tucson scored 21 unanswered points, before the Panthers scored a passing touchdown with 31 seconds left in the first half. Tucson held Bay Area to a combined 2 for 10 on third-down and fourth-down conversions. Sugar Skulls kicker Logan Justus made a 37-yard field goal to take a 37-20 lead at halftime. 

“We were always good at blocking field goals, but we weren’t good at getting off the field. Now these guys understand we’re going to stop you on fourth down or stop you on a blocked field goal,” Wooten said. “The guys got together and knew what they had to do, and we almost got a touchdown out of it.” 

Jones briefly exited the game in the third quarter after a brutal hit near the sideline, and was replaced by defensive lineman Tony Winslow Jr. since backup running back Benjamin Jones was sidelined with a leg injury. Mike Jones returned shortly, then scored his final touchdown of the game with 2:45 left to extend the Sugar Skulls’ lead 58-27. Jones now has a league-high 26 touchdowns this season. 

“It’s unreal, man. That guy, he’s a baller, man,” Wooten said of Jones. 

Up next: Tucson (6-5) will host the Las Vegas Knight Hawks (5-7) Saturday night. 

“We played a great game on defense, our offense kept scoring every drive and special teams played an amazing game,” Wooten said. 

“This was a good game to start the second season. We started off right. Now we understand we can do it. … We can stop people and score on anybody, so we understand that coming off a bye week, and now we look forward to next week to do the same thing.”