Sometimes all a person needs is to be around family to mentally recharge from life.
Just ask Tucson Sugar Skulls head coach Dixie Wooten, whose wife and kids reside in Houston while he coaches professional indoor football over 1,000 miles away. A Father’s Day phone call the day after the Sugar Skulls’ loss to the Massachusetts Pirates was a refreshing break from Wooten’s reality: a 1-4 record and three-game losing streak.
“My kids called me. We sat on Facetime, and they had a pool party in my honor and were barbecuing, so it turned out pretty good,” said Wooten.
Tucson looks to snap its losing skid Saturday night, when the Sugar Skulls travel to Prescott Valley to face the Northern Arizona Wranglers (0-5).
A stagnant start for the Sugar Skulls has prompted “playoff mode for the rest of the season,” according to Tucson quarterback Demry Croft, who ranks fourth in the IFL in passing (865 yards) and third in rushing (303).
“That’s the only way we’re looking at the rest of the season,” Croft said. “We’re in playoff mode right now. … It’s just high intensity, a winning mentality, ready to get after it and ready to get a win this weekend.”
With nine games remaining in the regular season, Wooten’s patience with his team still hasn’t wavered.
“I learned a lot about my players, just how hard they fought and how dedicated they are to winning,” Wooten said. “Unfortunately, we’re losing, but at the end of the day, I know who’s tough and what it’s about when it comes to my team now.”
One issue the Sugar Skulls endured ever since the start of training camp in April: injuries. Center Kordell Brewster has missed most of this season with a torn bicep injury, while offensive lineman Brandon Haskins missed the last three games. Coupled with Antonio Rosales’ dismissal from the team after punching a game official, the Sugar Skulls’ offensive line rotation has been inconsistent.
“This week is the first time we’ve had all 27 guys at practice, because we are really beat up with injuries. We’ve had six guys hurt and out of those six guys, maybe three of them are offensive linemen,” Wooten said. “But guys are getting healthy again and we’re getting that depth again.”
The offensive line depth was shaved down to the point where defensive lineman Shakore Philip was forced to play center — and then stay on the field to play defense. Naturally, not every center-quarterback exchange in shotgun formation was the cleanest.
“We asked him to do something he never did before, and I knew the snaps were going to be shaky, so I told Croft to make sure to pick it up clean when the ball rolls on the ground, and either throw it away or make a play,” said Wooten.
While Wooten continues to give his team the benefit of the doubt, he’s not making any excuses for Tucson’s subpar start.
“It’s unfortunate we’re going through the injury thing, but injuries are a part of football,” Wooten said. “That has nothing to do with our record. Our record is 1-4, because we’re making a lot of mistakes right now and not finishing football games. If you look at our track record this whole year — when against Arizona in Phoenix, we’re up in the fourth quarter but we don’t finish.
“Against Massachusetts, we’re up in the fourth quarter, we just don’t finish. That’s the knock on us right now: we’re not finishing games and we’re turning the ball over.”
Croft has been at the forefront of those miscues, between his fourth-quarter interceptions against Iowa and Arizona, an overthrown pass with a chance to beat Green Bay in the season opener and most recently a lost fumble on the 1-yard line with just a few minutes left against the Pirates. Tucson had a lead at some point in every game this season, but costly takeaways or penalties on critical downs have prevented the Sugar Skulls from winning.
“That’s the reason we’re 1-4. … If we finish games, we wouldn’t be 1-4,” Croft said.
So, expect the Sugar Skulls to “throw the kitchen sink at people,” when they play Northern Arizona on Saturday. Maybe an all-out game plan offensively will put the Sugar Skulls in position to where a last-minute turnover doesn’t affect the outcome of the game.
“If we push the tempo and attack vertically — and in the run game, I think we have a better chance of winning football games,” Wooten said. “This week against Northern Arizona, we’re going to attack them through every aspect of the game. … You’re going to see a bigger arsenal of plays this week.”
Playing a winless franchise could be a tipping point for Tucson’s season.
“They have a great defense, but we just have to attack them,” Croft said. “If we do what we do best and not shoot ourselves in the foot, we’ll be all right.”
Extra points
Massachusetts Pirates kicker Josh Gable, who kicked a game-winning 48-yard field goal against the Sugar Skulls last Saturday, owed his late-game heroics to Wooten. Wooten coached Gable with the Iowa Barnstormers in the club’s championship-winning season in 2018. Said Wooten: “(Gable) said during that last kick, all he heard was my voice in his head saying, ‘Keep your head down, keep your head down.’ After he kicked the game-winner, he came up to me and gave me a big hug and told me, ‘Thank you.’ I gotta stop teaching these guys stuff, so these players can stop beating me later on.”
For the third straight week, the Sugar Skulls will be featured in the IFL Game of the Week. Tucson-Northern Arizona will be streamed on Stadium’s digital platforms.
Northern Arizona recently added former Rattlers and Ohio State quarterback Verlon Reed, who led the Arizona Rattlers to a 63-28 win over Tucson in 2019.
