(Glendale, AZ) The 2025 IFL season kicked off in Desert Diamond Arena with the defending champion Arizona Rattlers hosting their rivals from the South. On display was the 2024 IFL National Championship Trophy which the Snakes hope to repeat in 2025.
The Tucson Sugar Skulls have never won in Phoenix or Glendale the former or present home arena of the Snakes.
The 2024 Championship Banner was unveiled in a pregame ceremony. Arizona has 7 Indoor/Arena Football Titles.
First Quarter
Tucson won the coin toss and elected to receive. Jerome Buckner took the kickoff all the way back to the Rattlers’ nine yard line. Two plays into the drive, Arizona’s Ethan Casselberry picked off Tucson’s Jordan Ambrose and took it to the house for a quick Rattlers’ lead 7-0 at the 12:35 mark of the game.
On the following Tuc possession, Cassleberry was called for pass interference that gave the Sugar Skulls the ball at midfield. Arizona’s defense held from there and the Skulls’ Kevin Macias hit a 37 yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3.
The Rattlers went deep to open up the Tucson defense and Brian Murray was flagged for a pass interference call, but on the following play, Jaylen Perkins recovered a fumble to give the ball back to the Sugar Skulls. Once again, the Arizona defense held and Tucson’s field goal attempt was blocked.
Dalton Snead called his own number to get them in close at the eight yard line. The next play saw Jamal Miles weave his way for the touchdown and a 14-3 at the end of the first quarter.
Second Quarter
Tucson took possession after the Rattlers’ touchdown Davonte Sapp-Lynch scored on a Dixon pass from thirteen yards out and tightened up the game 14-10. This was the first time that Tucson had stretched the Snake’s defense successfully.
With a third down on their own 7 yard line, Sneed got out of trouble from the Tucson pass rush and hit Isaiah Houston at midfield for a first down to continue the drive. With a new set of downs, Sneed threaded the pass to Tripp Harrington in the back of the end zone for a 21-10 lead with 8:09 left in the first half.
Sneed again took it himself into score from the 9 yard line extending the lead to 28-10 just under five minutes left till halftime.
Tucson couldn’t catch a break as Arizona’s special teams tackled the kick return at the 2 yard line. The Sugar Skulls avoided a near safety but had to try a field goal from the 1 yard line and was ran back by Miles from the end zone downfield to the Tucson 10 yard line but a blindside block took the ball all the way back the Snake’s 13 yard line. The penalty was a spot foul.
Sneed out of the shadow of his own goal line continued to pick apart the Skulls defense and hit Ron Brown Jr. five yards out to steal a touchdown with just seconds left till halftime.
Tucson did manage to salvage a long field goal as time expired and headed to the locker room down 35-13.
First Half Notes
Arizona held Tucson’s offense in check for the majority of the first half. Very few plays worked for the Sugar Skulls because of the blanket coverage from the Rattlers’ secondary along with pressure from the defensive line.
Dalton Sneed got into his groove early and consistently found open receivers along the sidelines. When Tucson took that away from time to time, Coach Kevin Guy would call crossing patterns to keep the Sugar Skulls secondary off balance.
Former Quarterback Nick Davila (the Latin Laser) was put into the Rattlers’ Ring of Honor at the Arena. He won 5 Division Title, 4 Arena Bowl Champion and 3 Most Valuable Player Awards. Davila passed for 32,616 yards in his career.
Third Quarter
To make things worse for the Sugar Skulls, Arizona got the ball first in the second half. On the second play from scrimmage, Murray stepped in front of a Sneed pass and Tucson had their first break of the game at the Snake’s fourteen yard line.
A two play Sugar Skulls drive saw Jordan Ambrose take it up the middle for a Tucson touchdown bringing the score to 35-20 with just over under three minutes gone in the third quarter.
Tucson’s defense showed a little life on the following Snake’s drive forcing a turnover on downs near midfield.
The Skulls used Sapp-Lynch on the ground and receiving to get tot the Arizona 10 yard line. A dump off pass to Sapp-Lynch got the ball to the 1 yard line. Ambrose scooted in for the score to get Tucson closer at 35-28 with the two point conversion by Sapp-Lynch and suddenly it was a close ball game.
Good adjustments by Coach Billy Back got his team back in the game.
That feeling didn’t last long as Sneed threw a long 34 yard corner route to Yo’Heinz Tyler for a bang-bang touchdown to give the Snakes something positive in the third quarter and extended the lead back to a two touchdown advantage.
The Skulls didn’t like what transpired as Jerome Buckner ran the kickoff back to the Arizona 16 yard line, and a penalty took the ball to the 8 yard line to end the quarter.
Fourth Quarter
A new quarter with new results as the Rattlers defense kept Tucson out of the end zone and got a turnover on downs.
Sneed got the Snake’s mojo back as he hit Huston on a long fly route on a fourth down play for a touchdown and Arizona got some much needed breathing room 49-28 with 9:28 in the game.
Time was now a factor for Tucson. Sneed going for it all on the second play of the drive threw deep but had too much air under the ball and Rashie Hodge made him pay with a big interception and a wasted opportunity.
The crossing pattern which worked all game once again was on the money to Tyler to the Tucson 6 yard line. Sneed took it from there and ran for the score on the next play. Arizona rubbed salt into the Sugar Skulls wound off the turnover and left them with little hope with 3:37 left in the contest at 56-28.
The Sugar Skulls faced with a fourth down on their own 14 yard line at the 1:00 minute warning. Tucson converted the down but just s few seconds remained in the game.
Final Score 56-28 Rattlers
Wrap Up
With the normal opening game jitters, both teams at times were sloppy which is to be expected.
The Rattlers this year have turned over their roster in many positions from the championship team of last year. It will take a few games to gel and create continuity, but this team still has a boatload of talent and is deep at the skill positions.
Arizona kept Tucson guessing throughout most of the game, but to the Sugar Skulls credit they kept fighting and owned most of the third quarter.
In the end, it was just too much talent on the Rattlers and the Sugar Skulls will look to improve from last year’s disappointing season.
Today’s attendance was 9,345 with the NCAA Tournament televised at the same time and the Arizona Diamondbacks at home downtown.
Up Next
Arizona travels to Green Bay while Tucson isn’t in action until April 12th when they host the Jacksonville Sharks in their home opener at the Tucson Arena.
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