(Tucson, AZ) After the first weeks on the road, the Sugar Skulls got their first taste of home cooking at the TCC.
Tucson came in (1-1) having won the season opener 48-39 up in Las Vegas against the Night Hawks.
Week 2 took a different turn as they lost 56-34 to the Frisco Fighters in Texas.
The Skulls put up 82 points in their first two games, displaying a high powered offensive.
San Diego came in winless at (0-3) and had never beaten the Sugar Skulls in four tries.
Tucson won the toss and deferred to the second half. The Strike Force scored on a twenty eight yard pass to the back of the end zone to go up 7-0 at the 10:38 mark.
Back came Tucson quickly as they scored on the second play from scrimmage on their first possession. Arthur Jackson snagged a Daquan Neal pass to tie the score at 7-7 in 1:32.
The Sugar Skulls showed early they could score with big yardage plays. In past years, they’ve been more methodical in their play calling.
Tucson stopped the Strike Force on their next possession, but still scored on a thirty one yard field goal to take a very brief lead 10-7.
The Sugar Skulls once again showed their lighting fast pace and scored on another two play drive with Mike Jones running the ball into score and with 4:37 left in the first quarter, Tucson regained the lead 13-10. Their two point attempt failed.
As most IFL games go, this one looked to be a track meet as both offense seemed to be clicking.
San Diego scored from four yards out on a quick slant to put them back in the lead 16-13.
The Skulls came back this time with a one play drive as Neal hooked up with Carrington Thompson from seventeen yards out on the last play of the first quarter. Tucson back out in front 20-16.
Not to be outdone, the Strike Force showed they could score fast too as Rashad Ross caught a nineteen yard pass and back and forth the game continued now in favor of San Diego 23-20 at the 12:32 mark till halftime.
Tailback Mike Jones showed his cutback moves as he went left and cut back right on a stutter-step to score and put Tucson up 26-23 with 10:42 left in the quarter.
San Diego struck back from the five yard line on a Troy Evans reception after an effective play action fake to make the score 30-26 for the team from the left coast.
The Strike Force already had a difficult time stopping the high powered Tucson offense, committed back to back penalties to put the Skulls in prime real estate position. Once again, Jones went wide left to scamper in from the ten yard line and put the home team back up 33-30 with 3:24 remaining til intermission.
The Sugar Skulls tried a little trickery as they on-side kicked but the ball didn’t travel the required ten yards and San Diego had the ball first and ten from the Tucson nine yard line.
Tucson with the first big stop on defense held the Strike force and got the ball back on downs a their own nine yard line.
With under a minute left in the half, Neal hit Thompson in the back of the end zone on a jump ball. It was a free play as San Diego was in an illegal defense and the Skulls took full advantage of the defensive error.
A last play attempt with three seconds left saw the Strike Force’s twenty nine yard kick hit the right upright and and harmlessly fell back onto the field.
Halftime score 40-30 Tucson.
Tucson got the first touch but disaster struck on the first play from scrimmage as Neal threw a pick six to the Strike Force’s David Haney and San Diego was now down only three 40-37.
The second Tucson possession was back to what we saw in the first half as Jones went thirty three yards with the last ten yards carrying two defenders into the end zone. The extra point was missed and the lead now was only nine, 46-37 with twelve minutes left in the third quarter.
The Skulls defense forced another fourth down and the thirty eight yard field goal attempt sailed wide right.
Skulls Quinton Pedroza ran a fly route down the right sideline and caught forty five yard pass from Neal to the three yard line. From there, Neal took matters into his own hands and snuck the ball for a touchdown to put Tucson up 53-37 and carried that in the third quarter.
The two teams traded touchdowns to start the final quarter and San Diego added a safety to make the score 60-45 with 8:59 left.
That defensive score ignited the Strike Force as they scored on their next possession and got the two point conversion.
Suddenly, Tucson was in a fight now down the stretch only leading 60-53.
The Skulls needed a quick score to regain the momentum and thats what happened as Ben Jones took the kickoff of the length of the field for a touchdown. Tucson missed another extra point. With 5:15 left, the Skulls got a little breathing room back 66-53.
With the pressure on the Strike Force was fortunate to get a pass interference call that led to a touchdown on the next play from the four yard line. That kept them within striking distance at 66-60 and the missed extra point by Tucson made this game extra tight with still 2:14 left. Plenty of time for either team to grab the win.
Disaster struck for the second time as wideout Jackson caught the ball but it was taken away by a defensive back to give San Diego one final opportunity from the Skulls twenty two yard line.
On third and ten after two incomplete passes, Cluley took a quarterback keeper down to the Tucson four yard line. With twelve seconds left following a tackle for loss by the Sugar Skull front line and an motion penalty, Tucson was whistled for yet another pass interference penalty.
With two seconds left and time for a final play, San Diego Ross caught a touchdown pass at the front corner to tie the game. The extra point was good and the Strike Force shocked Tucson as time expired 67-66.
The missed extra points and five pass interference penalties were a huge factor in the Sugar Skulls loss (1-2)?
San Diego (1-4) won its first game on the season and their first head to head matchup against the Skulls.
Tonight’s attendance was a mere 2,092. Between the festivities of the Arizona Spring Football Game and the Desert Thunder Music Festival, there were a lot of Southern Arizonans spread out among the weekend events.
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