PHOENIX — The Tucson Sugar Skulls had one more chance at beating their in-state rival.
One more chance to hand the Arizona Rattlers their first loss of the season. One more chance to avoid the season sweep against Arizona. Instead, the Rattlers (13-0) overcame a 21-point deficit to beat the Sugar Skulls (6-7) 50-49 in overtime Saturday evening.
The last time the Sugar Skulls and Rattlers faced off, Tucson was “bullied” at home. Despite the loss, that wasn’t the case at Talking Stick Resort Arena on Saturday. After a bye week and two full weeks to prepare for the Rattlers, Tucson went toe-to-toe with the lone undefeated team in the Indoor Football League.
“They played with heart and I hope they understand that they can play like this every weekend,” said Sugar Skulls head coach Marcus Coleman. “I thought we had a good game plan coming in, which we did. … They just made one more play than we did. For the most part I thought we played a hell of game all the way across the board.”
Rattlers quarterback Drew Powell threw for 180 yards and scored seven touchdowns against the Sugar Skulls two weeks ago, but Tucson held the 2018 Indoor Football league MVP to 3 of 8 passing for 57 yards, a touchdown and one interception, his second of the season, which was picked off by cornerback Dee Maggitt just before halftime.
Powell’s highlight moment of the first half was a 28-yard touchdown pass to Dez Stewart, which gave Arizona its first lead of the game.
Sugar Skulls quarterback Jake Medlock scored back-to-back rushing touchdowns on the first two drives for Tucson. With the game was locked at 14, Medlock found wide receiver Jeremiah Harris for a 40-yard touchdown.
The biggest task for Tucson was keeping the IFL’s top offense from scoring. In the teams’ previous three contests, Arizona scored an average of 60 points.
Tucson scored back-to-back touchdowns while Maggitt’s interception and a missed field goal by Arizona gave the Sugar Skulls breathing room and a 35-14 lead with 48 seconds left in the first half. That was until Rattlers kick returner Jarrod Harrington took a kickoff for a touchdown just before halftime.
“I told the guys at halftime we were getting outplayed and outcoached in the first half,” Rattlers head coach and Sugar Skulls owner Kevin Guy said.
The Rattlers answered by scoring two quick touchdowns and stopping Tucson on two consecutive drives.
“We just gave up a little momentum, but had to kind of weather the storm and that’s what we did,” said Tucson defensive lineman Keith Jones Jr. “We weathered the storm and kept playing. That’s all you can really do.”
Backup quarterback Matt Behrendt replaced Medlock, who left with a lower leg injury with 2:46 remaining, and Tucson kicker Josh Gable missed a potential game-winning field goal at the end of regulation.
The Sugar Skulls struck first in OT, but Powell’s two-point conversion sealed the win over Tucson.
Up next, the Sugar Skulls will play the Quad City Steamwheelers at 6 p.m. Saturday at Tucson Arena in a winner-take-all game for a playoff spot.
“I wanted to see our team play a complete ball game. I wanted to see our guys play four quarters — tonight we had five — and we did that,” said Coleman. “We’re definitely in must-win mode this weekend if we want to go to the playoffs.”
