(Tucson, AZ) The Sugar Skulls returned to the Boneyard coming off a high scoring loss in San Jose to the Bay Area Panthers 68-57. That put Tucson back under .500 at (3-4) and in need 0f a victory at home to draw even.
Enter the San Antonio Gunslingers who came in behind the Sugar Skulls at (2-6). Both teams were at the bottom of the league in defensive stats ranking 11th and 12th.
First Quarter
Tucson won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half.
The Gunslingers started the game at their own 14 yard line. Started off slow until a key third down conversion got them to midfield.
Tucson’s run defense looked good on the the opening drive, but Joaquin Collazo found open receivers to bail his team out, Collazo found Keyshawn Harper in the back of the end zone for the first score of the game and a 7-0 lead at the 8:11 mark in the opening quarter.
A hard onside kick ricocheted off a one of the Sugar Skulls up man and the Gunslingers were back in business.
The Skulls defense stiffened and forced a fourth and four. Collazo with no one open downfield scrambled for 10 yards and another first down that kept their drive alive.
Tucson’s defense wasn’t able to contain the running ability to Collazo as he single handedly bailed his team out of trouble.
San Antonio score off their onside kick break on pass from Collazo to NyQwan Murray to go up 14-0 with just 1:39.
The Sugar Skulls offense hadn’t even been on the field with almost the entire quarter gone.
A nice breakaway run by Davonte Sapp-Lynch put the ball into Gunslinger territory as the quarter ended. Tucson only had two offensive plays from scrimmage in the entire first quarter.
Second Quarter
Things didn’t get any better as the Sugar Skulls couldn’t get a necessary first down in the red zone as they turned the ball over on downs at the San Antonio 6 yard line.
Tucson was in trouble early as they couldn’t afford to go down any further with the Gunslingers’ ball control offense shortening the game.
A 28 yard fly pattern to Kali Rashaad put San Antonio up by three touchdowns 21-0 and 10:27 till the half.
Jerome Buckner took the kickoff back for an apparent touchdown but a holding call brought it back. Unfazed, Jorge Reyna came back with a sideline pass to get back into Gunslinger territory.
San Antonio’s defense forced another fourth down and was bailed out by a pass interference call in the end zone.
With new life after a couple of defensive penalties, Jamyest Williams wiggled his way into the end zone for Tucson’s first points. The extra point was missed and a 21-6 deficit with 5:18 left till halftime.
With the goose egg gone off the scoreboard, the Sugar Skulls special teams stacked up San Antonio at their own 8 yard line. That momentum quickly evaporated as a 25 yard sideline pass put the ball into Tucson territory at the 4 yard line.
A new wrinkle occurred when Gunslinger quarterback Collazo used the Philadelphia Eagles “Tush Push” to score again and took a commanding 28-6 lead with under two minutes to play.
The Skulls used their hurry up offense and had the ball at the San Antonio 21 yard line at the one minute warning and still 3 timeouts.
Tucson couldn’t catch a break as two consecutive penalties put the ball back to the Skulls 18 yard line. Facing a 4th and 24, kicker Kevin Macias missed a 44 yard field goal attempt that finished probably the worst half of the season for the Sugar Skulls.
Halftime
Tucson was their own worst enemy in the first half as their defense kept bailing out the Gunslingers on third downs allowing them to get key first downs as the clock continued to tick and take precious time off. The defense spent the big majority of the fist half on the field.
The Gunslingers had no glaring weaknesses as they controlled the ball and got a big turnover on downs to stop a Sugar Skulls drive at a key point in the first half.
Third Quarter
The opening kick hit the rafters in the arena so the Sugar Skulls got the ball at their own 20 yard line. On the third play from scrimmage, Reyna was picked off and the Tucson woes continued.
On a fourth and four, again Collazo picked up the first down with his legs to extend the drive. The next play saw Rashaad zig zag into score and things went from terrible to desparate for the Skulls now trailed 35-6 at the 8:02 mark of the quarter.
Tucson had moments of offensive success with Tripp-Harrington breaking off a run to put the Skulls into the San Antonio red zone. That didn’t last long as they faced a 4th and 5 yard from the Gunslinger 10 yard line. A false start then made it 4th and 10 yards to go. Reyna finally made a play to Jerome Buckner to get into the end zone. Forced to go for two points, Reyna’s pass was incomplete. Gunslingers up 35-12 with 3:01 left in the quarter.
It was the Sugar Skulls turn for an onside kick and they had it for a split second before San Antonio ultimately gained possession.
Rashaad scored after a penalty and the Gunslingers led 41-12. One of the only negative things was a missed extra point by Tyler Huettel.
In one of the odd rules for Indoor Football, the ensuing kickoff hit the upright, but the ball was placed at the Tucson 5 yard line ultimately penalizing the Sugar Skulls to end a disastrous third quarter.
Fourth Quarter
Their first sustained drive of the game, saw Williams hemmed in the backfield from the 10 yard line that looked like a sure loss of yardage until Reyna with an uncharacteristic block from a quarterback sprung Williams into the end zone and with the two points conversion the score was now 41-20 at the 10;14 left in the game.
San Antonio with a 4th down and 2 yards to go broke off a touchdown run up the middle by receiver Austin Upshaw to make the score 48-20 and 6:32 to go.
Tripp- Harrington scored on a jump ball with the defensive back from 30 yards out and with the two points conversion, the score was 48-28.
With a shade over four minutes left, the Gunslingers just needed to keep the clock moving before returning to Texas.
Wrap Up
With the way the game started off, Tucson was in a hole after the first 6 minutes of the game. The onside kick and quick touchdown after the first San Antonio score put the Skulls down by two touchdowns.
The Gunslingers used a ball control offense that kept Tucson’s defense on the field having to exert a lot of energy that took a toll the rest of the game.
The lack of offensive ball movement also plagued the Sugar Skulls in the first half and contributed to lack of rest for the defensive unit.
Better execution by Jorge Reyna in the second half had Tucson playing basically even with the Gunslingers, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a dismal first half.
This was a game that Tucson needed to win to get back into the thick of things in the IFL Western Division. The Sugar Skulls fall to 3-5 and will have to work on getting more consistent play from the offense.
With the Arizona Rattlers playing in Vegas, the Skulls were hoping for a Snakes win combined with a home victory to leapfrog the team into third place. Neither happened, so Tucson will have to reboot next Saturday when the San Diego Strike Force come to the Boneyard. Kickoff is slated for 6:05 p.m.
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