Sugar Skulls' Al Louis-Jean can't keep San Diego's Rashod Ross from the catch for the tying score with no time on the clock in their game at the Tucson Arena. San Diego hit the extra point to complete the comeback and a 67-66 win over the Sugar Skulls.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

New season, same fourth-quarter problems for the Tucson Sugar Skulls.

Given a chance for their first-ever winning record beyond the season opener, the Sugar Skulls fumbled away a three-possession lead and lost their home opener.

Tucsonโ€™s IFL team was outlasted by the San Diego Strike Force 67-66 on Saturday night at Tucson Arena to fall to 1-2 on the season. Saturday marked the most points Tucson has scored in a game โ€ฆ but also the most it has given up at home.

โ€œIt was piss-poor,โ€ Sugar Skulls coach Dixie Wooten said. โ€œIt was one of the worst games ever. We have to play defense. Any game that Iโ€™ve coached, we score 67 points, the score is 67-30. We had a shootout with the worst offense in the league. These guys score 20 and 10 in games. So, we have to be able to cover. If we canโ€™t cover, we canโ€™t win.โ€

Sugar Skulls' Carrington Thompson out-jumps Strike Force's Brandon Rowland for a touchdown catch.

Offensively, the Sugar Skulls rode the shoulders of All-IFL running back Mike Jones, who rushed for 86 yards and five touchdowns, and quarterback Daquan Neal. The former IFL Offensive MVP completed 10 of 12 passes for 150 yards and three touchdowns. He was also intercepted twice โ€” one was a pick-six to begin the second half.

โ€œThey played great," Wooten said of Neal and Jones. "We made a mistake with a pick-six, but we played great on offense once again. When you score 66 points, you donโ€™t lose to a team like San Diego.โ€

Tucsonโ€™s first home touchdown of the season was a 27-yard pass from Neal to wide receiver Arthur Jackson. On the Sugar Skullsโ€™ following offensive possession, Jones scampered 24 yards for a touchdown.

To end the first quarter, Neal connected with wide receiver Carrington Thompson for a 17-yard touchdown to take a 20-16 lead.

The Strike Force scored on every offensive possession until the second-to-last drive of the first half. Following an illegal onside kick recovery by Tucson, the Strike Force started the drive on the Sugar Skullsโ€™ 9-yard line, but Tucsonโ€™s goal-line stand created a turnover on downs with 56 seconds left before halftime.

The Sugar Skulls stormed down the field and Thompson grabbed his second touchdown of the day with 5 seconds until halftime. Neal went a perfect 7 for 7 passing for 87 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions in the first half; he also wasnโ€™t sacked.

Tucson led 40-30 lead at halftime.

โ€œAfter the half, we just took our foot off the gas pedal,โ€ Jones said. We were settled and satisfied, and that came back to get us in the end.โ€

An interception by San Diego defensive back David Haney made the score 40-37, but a 33-yard touchdown by Jones, a missed field goal by San Diego and a Neal rushing touchdown subsequent to a 45-yard completion to Thompson made it a two-possession game. Jones scored his final touchdown of the night with 11:18 left in the fourth quarter, giving Tucson a 60-43 lead.

Thatโ€™s when things went sideways.

With just over nine minutes left to play, Wooten inserted backup quarterback Vincent Testavarde, the son of Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback Vinnie Testaverde. The younger Testaverde handed it off to Jones, who was tackled in the end zone for a safety to make the score 60-45.

โ€œWe wanted to give him some reps. That's all," Wooten said of Testaverde. โ€œThatโ€™s all. We wanted to give him some reps and go from there. We had a 15-point lead and thought we could sustain it.โ€

San Diego rallied back thanks to a pair of Travon Van touchdowns, then intercepted Neal to set up a game-winning drive. Strike Force quarterback Steve Cluley rushed down to the Sugar Skullsโ€™ 4 with 34 seconds left. On the final play of the game, Cluley threw a dart at the pylon to Rashod Ross to tie the game at 66. A successful PAT gave the Strike Force a walk-off win โ€” and their first victory of the season.

Strike Force's ben Moa charges for his bench to celebrate after San Diego came back on the last play of the game to beat the Sugar Skulls 67-66.

โ€œWe have to make stops. We have to make two or three stops. We just have to play defense and we didnโ€™t play defense the entire night. We played (man-to-man) defense and it didnโ€™t get the job done. โ€ฆ Thatโ€™s the problem: We didnโ€™t man up,โ€ said Wooten.

Neal said โ€œguys got too comfortableโ€ in the fourth quarter and Tucson played conservatively in crunch time.

โ€œWe stepped it up, but in the fourth quarter, everybody thought the game was over,โ€ Neal said. โ€œArena (football) is a quick game, so (San Diego) got the momentum and just ran with it.โ€

Moving forward, Wooten said this upcoming weekโ€™s practices will be "hard-nosed."

โ€œWeโ€™re doing everything by the book,โ€ he said. โ€œIf you mess up, youโ€™ll probably be sent home. Everything is by the book. โ€ฆ Last week, we fought back from a deficit that we shot ourselves (in the foot). This week, we lost to a team that weโ€™re not supposed to lose to. Thereโ€™s nothing learned from this. You have to get better and make changes.โ€

Up next: Tucson (1-2) will face the Duke City Gladiators (1-3) on Saturday in Albuquerque.

โ€œEverybody is emotional right now. Nobody on this team likes losing. And to lose at home? Thatโ€™s like an extra shot to the stomach," Jones said. "At the end of day, we got to come together.

"Itโ€™s not the last game of the season and we have a long way to go. Weโ€™ll come back stronger and better.โ€

Extra points

โ€ข The Sugar Skulls added 6-foot-3-inch, 300-pound offensive lineman Jamarkus Means this week to replace the suspended Antonio Rosales. Means, a Spartanburg, South Carolina native, attended the same high school as NBA star Zion Williamson. Rosales, a Tucson High grad, is serving a six-week suspension for his ejection for fighting Frisco Fighters defensive lineman Charles Williams last week.

โ€ข Tucson is now 2-3 all-time against San Diego. The Strike Force did not play in the 2021 season.

โ€ข Roughly 1,000 fans attended Saturday's home opener.

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Contact sports producer Justin Spears at 573-4312 orย jspears@tucson.com. On Twitter: @JustinESports