After winning all three games against Northern Arizona (8-8) during the regular season, the Western Conference Champion Arizona Rattlers (11-5) were unceremoniously knocked out of the first round of the IFL playoffs on Saturday night at the Footprint Center in Phoenix.
Last week, after the Rattlers beat Northern Arizona 55-39 at Footprint Center head coach Kevin Guy talked about the upcoming playoffs.
“We’ve kind of had playoff mindset for eight weeks now,” Guy said.
Northern Arizona struck first on Saturday night, but the Arizona defense figured it out and stopped them at the end of the first quarter.
Even so, the second quarter only got worse for the Rattler’s offense when quarterback Drew Powell threw two interceptions and succumbed to a sack/fumble in the end zone that resulted in a NAZ touchdown.
The Rattler’s would need a huge comeback in the second half, down 35-14.
The fans kept Arizona in the game, leading to sloppy play by the Wrangler offense.
Rattlers linebacker Connor Taylor was unstoppable, as he laid hits on everyone, hurried NAZ quarterback Nick Watson and had a 1-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.
If Arizona needed a huge second-half comeback, a huge comeback they would get.
To start the fourth quarter, Powell rushed for a touchdown, but the extra point kick didn’t score, leaving the Rattlers in a slim one-point deficit 42-41.
Arizona’s defense had been a menace all year, and on Saturday night Christophe Page had a diving interception that ultimately gave them the lead with less than seven minutes left in the game.
Following a desperate fourth-down NAZ touchdown with 3:14 left in the fourth, it looked like the comeback might be complete after Powell rushed for another 2-yard touchdown to give the lead back to Arizona with only 53 seconds left in the game.
But the staunch defense that helped the Rattlers win games during the regular season couldn’t stop Watson on Northern Arizona’s final drive of the game and the Wranglers ended another promising Arizona season.
After the game, Guy spoke about the loss.
“You can’t turn the ball over and expect to win games. We threw five interceptions and had a fumble…that’s six turnovers, they stopped us eight times,” Guy said. “We win together, we lose together as a team. I’m not going to point fingers—but at the end of the day we gotta play better and we gotta execute better.”
