After three years and eight games, it finally happened: The Tucson Sugar Skulls beat the Arizona Rattlers.
Tucson’s 74-63 win over its in-state counterpart late Saturday night was significant for a few reasons.
For starters, the Sugar Skulls were 0-7 since 2019 against the Rattlers prior to this week. Tucson (4-3) also delivered the Rattlers (6-1) their first loss of the season. The Sugar Skulls’ 74 points is a single-game franchise record, and the 137 combined points is also the highest-scoring game for Tucson.
Tucson also has a winning record for the first time as a franchise.
“It’s amazing,” said Sugar Skulls head coach and general manager Dixie Wooten. “For us to be around three years and to finally beat these guys is important. Now we can start a rivalry. We can start it right now. We finally beat them, and we beat them in front of our home crowd. It was a great thing for us.”
As expected, the two top-scoring offenses went possession-for-possession to begin the game. After Rattlers quarterback Drew Powell, who quarterbacked Wooten’s Iowa Barnstormers to the 2018 IFL championship, put Arizona ahead 7-0 with a rushing touchdown, Sugar Skulls kick returner Benjamin Jones returned the ensuing kickoff to the 25-yard line; a facemask penalty moved Tucson’s starting field position to the Rattlers’ 12-yard line. Sugar Skulls running back Mike Jones’ rushing touchdown locked in the score 7-7.
Tucson and Arizona exchanged a pair of passing touchdowns, including a 39-yard strike from Neal to Quinton Pedroza. Neal went 12 for 15 passing for 152 yards and five touchdowns, while rushing for two scores.
“That’s what Daquan is here for. We brought the MVP here. ... But his leadership was bigger than his stats. That’s the big thing,” Wooten said. “When guys were going down, he was on the sideline pepping them up. His leadership was amazing tonight.”
In the Sugar Skulls’ 42-41 win over the Duke City Gladiators a week earlier, a blocked PAT by defensive lineman Tony Winslow that was returned by Jovon White for two points was the game-deciding play for Tucson. Winslow struck again with a blocked PAT in the first quarter; he now has three blocked field goals in two games.
“A lot of teams do a silent count. At the end of the day, we have the same advantage before the ball is snapped. It really just comes down to who’s a dog,” Winslow said.
Benjamin Jones responded with a 50-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and Tucson led 21-20 at the end of the first quarter. Jones had four returns for 107 yards, averaging 26.5 yards per return.
“He’s the real deal,” Wooten said of Jones. “Having Ben back there, he gives us great field position every time.”
To begin the second quarter, Arizona kicker Ernesto Lacayo missed a PAT, and Neal connected with wide receiver Carrington Thompson for a 17-yard touchdown to put Tucson up 28-26.
Tucson’s offense was humming, while special teams continued to make essential plays, but the defense — specifically the secondary — continued to struggle and give up chunk plays, until defensive lineman Ronald Collins and linebacker Connor Taylor swarmed Powell on fourth down to force a turnover on downs near midfield.
“Once (Powell) got the ball, he didn’t know where to go. He had to scramble, so we just attacked him,” Collins said.
The Sugar Skulls capitalized on the first defensive stop of the game with a Neal goal-line rushing touchdown to go up 35-26. The last touchdown of the first half for Tucson was a pass to Quinton Pedroza in the back of the end zone on fourth down.
With four seconds left in the second quarter, the Rattlers attempted for a quick pass to advance the ball for a better shot at a field goal, but couldn’t get out of bounds in time. Rattlers head coach and Sugar Skulls co-owner Kevin Guy chirped at the officials, landing him an unsportsmanlike penalty that would be enforced in the second half. Guy also lost on-field privileges, so his assistant coaches were on the field for the remainder of the game, while Guy called plays from the Rattlers’ corner at Tucson Arena.
To begin the second half, Neal pitched the ball to Arthur Jackson, who ran 17 yards for a touchdown, taking a 48-32 lead.
After an exchange of touchdowns, the Sugar Skulls defense put together another stop, when Powell fumbled the ball near the Rattlers’ end zone, and Collins tussled with the quarterback for possession.
“It was huge,” Collins said. “Our offense is going to score every time we leave the field, so we just needed a stop. It was a big stop.”
Tucson kicker Logan Justus kicked a 19-yard field goal to lead 58-40 at the start of the fourth quarter.
From there, the Sugar Skulls, which have coughed up two fourth-quarter leads this season, didn’t turn away and held off their in-state rival, despite three onside-kick attempts by the Rattlers.
“I’m just proud of us,” Neal said. “We’ve never beaten them before. To do it at home was a great feeling. ... We’re tired of losing. We all play this game to win. We don’t come out here and bust our tails in practice, film room, weight room just to come out and lay an egg.”
Added Neal: “I told (the team), if you want to be the top dog, you gotta knock off the top dog, and that’s exactly what we did.”
Mike Jones, who was a part of the previous seven losses to the Rattlers, called the Sugar Skulls’ third straight win “a big ego-pusher.”
“I feel like we got the momentum right now, so we might as well keep this thing rolling. Like I’ve said before, it’s always us against us any time we step foot on the football field,” he said.
“We have everyone starting to buy into what’s really going on.”
Extra points
Sugar Skulls defensive back Vincent Sellers and Taylor exited Saturday with injuries. Wooten didn’t specify their injuries, but Taylor was seen wearing a boot on his foot.
Former Sugar Skulls quarterback Demry Croft, who was the starting quarterback for most of the 2021, returned to Tucson as Powell’s backup.
Former Arizona Wildcat and longtime NFL offensive lineman Glenn Parker was on color commentator duties for the Sugar Skulls broadcast alongside play-by-play announcer Pat Parris.
