The Dixie Wooten era hasn’t lived up to expectations.
The Tucson Sugar Skulls’ coach and general manager has gone 7-10 dating back to the 2021 season. One of those seven wins came against the Duke City Gladiators in Albuquerque last season.
Tucson won 55-35.
“Everything went right, man. We jumped up on them like 21-0 and we ended up beating them pretty handily,” Wooten said this week, as his team prepared for a return trip to Albuquerque for Saturday’s game. “We’re actually going back to the drawing board, because they run a lot of the same stuff, so we’re going to have a game plan to pull one out of Duke City.”
The only current Sugar Skull that was a part of last year’s road win is All-IFL running back Mike Jones, who ranks sixth in the league with 118 yards and seven touchdowns on 31 carries. Jones had 14 carries for 51 yards and two touchdowns in the win over Duke City.
This season, Jones is paired with former IFL MVP Daquan Neal, a quarterback. Offense isn’t the issue for Tucson in its 1-2 start, it’s the defense — and it was on display in the Sugar Skulls’ 67-66 loss to the San Diego Strike Force in last week’s home opener.
“You can travel a run game all over the world. The great teams that always won — like the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens — (knew that) if you can pack up a run game and a defense, nine times out of 10, you’re going to win every game,” Wooten said. “With the run game that we have, all we have to do is make a few more stops. The game will go from a one-point loss to a 30-point win.”
Jones accounted for a career-high five touchdowns in the loss to San Diego, but fumbling a 17-point lead turned Jones into a “sore loser.”
“I hate losing,” said Jones, “but it happened and I have to live with that.”
“When we come into games, it’s us against us. We don’t look at our opponent,” he added. “What we ran in practice, we’d knew it would work in the game, so we took everything from practice and brought it to the game, and it was easy.”
Jones has been a steady force in Tucson’s offense over the last three up-and-down seasons. And he’s his worst critic.
“The reason I don’t fuss on Mike Jones is because he’s harder on himself than anybody. When he messes up, he goes into a mode where he just can’t believe it,” Wooten said. “Getting on him is worthless, because he holds himself accountable. When you hold yourself accountable, I don’t have to get on you every time. … When he comes to practice, he comes to work. When he comes to games, he comes to work.
“One thing about him, he doesn’t let people come to him with negativity. He walks away from negativity, and he also brings a positive energy to the field as well. He’s an all-around guy. On the field, he’s just an awesome player.”
Despite Tucson’s losing start, Wooten believes beginning the season with three of the first four games on the road will be a blessing. It means, in part, that the Sugar Skulls will spend much of the latter portion of the season at home.
“I think it’s good. If we go 2-2 in four games, now we get to come home. You come home, run some games off and then at that mark of 12 games, if you’re at 10-2 then you’re at a pretty good mark,” Wooten said. “Then towards the end of the season, you’re playing a bunch of home games and then hosting playoff games.”
First task: Take down what Wooten calls “a decent team that’s thirsty for a win.”
“We have to be a tough-nosed football team, we have to be a smart football team, we have to be a team that gets turnovers, we have to go back to that,” Wooten said. “These guys are going to have to do it now or else I’ll bring somebody else in that can do it.
“It’s time to step up.”
Extra points
Wide receiver Ryan Balentine, who followed Wooten from Iowa to Tucson in 2021 and is the IFL’s all-time receiving yards leader, is now a part of Duke City’s team. He has not recorded any stats this season. Balentine’s teammate, Dello Davis, ranks fourth in the IFL with 185 receiving yards and five touchdowns.
Tucson native and Cienega High School graduate Edgar Poe has 13 catches for 131 yards and four touchdowns for the Bismarck Bucks.
Sugar Skulls wide receiver Arthur Jackson ranks second in the IFL with 210 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 19 catches.
