The Tucson Sugar Skulls will look to clinch the third overall seed in the Western Conference with a win over Bay Area
(Tucson, AZ) The Tucson Sugar Skulls will travel to Bay Area looking to clinch the third seed in the Western Conference with a victory over the Panthers.
This will be their second meeting against the Panthers this season, with their first contest ending in a convincing 58-33 Sugar Skulls victory. The 25-point win was Tucson’s largest victory in franchise history. They’ll look to finish the season strong at 9-7 while sitting in the third spot in the West standings.
Playoffs Scenarios
The Sugar Skulls can clinch the third seed in the West with either a win over the Panthers or a Duke City loss to the Wranglers.
If Tucson wins, they will travel to Prescott Valley to play against the Northern Arizona Wranglers in the first round of the IFL Playoffs in a battle between the 2nd and 3rd seeds.
If the Sugar Skulls lose and the Duke City Gladiators defeat the Wranglers, then Tucson would drop to the 4th seed and travel to Phoenix to face the Rattlers in the first round.
Struggling Panthers
The Bay Area Panthers have lost fourteen straight games and sit at 1-14 on the season. In their last contest, they led Massachusetts at halftime and played them tough, but the Pirates stormed back and took the lead 44-28.
They are averaging a league-worst 28.7 points per game while allowing 54.9 points per game, which is also a league-worst mark.
In the last contest between these teams, the Sugar Skulls’ offense was clicking as they scored 58 points led by three touchdowns from Daquan Neal and four from Mike Jones, who leads the IFL in rushing touchdowns.
Skull Spotlight
Running back/kick returner Benjamin Jones was awarded as last week’s IFL Special Teams Player of the Week. Jones shined on special teams. Jones returned four kicks for 96 yards, giving him an average of 24 yards per attempt on the evening. Not to mention his electric 50-yard kick return for a touchdown to open the game.
Press Release courtesy of the Tucson Sugar Skulls – Brandon Dueñas
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