On Sunday at 3:05, Arizona Rattlers took on in-state rival the Tucson Sugar Skulls. The Sugar Skulls have struggled heavily this season being just 2-11 on the year and tied for last in the Western Conference with the Duke City Gladiators. On the other hand, the Rattlers are tied for fourth in the West at 9-5 with the Vegas Knight Hawks.
When the Sugar Skulls and Rattlers matched up earlier this season on May 11, the Rattlers barely beat them 38-32.
Last week on June 29, Arizona Rattlers crushed Iowa Barnstormers 55-26 which bumped them up to fourth in the Western Conference.
This game was huge because the last regular season game is on July 20, making playoff’s right around the corner.
Just 2 minutes into the game, Tucson quarterback Quincy Patterson ran for a 39-yard touchdown however Vic Leventritt’s kick was no good. Rattlers wide receiver Jamal Miles would quickly earn his team their first set of points after his quarterback Dalton Sneed threw a 27-yard pass. Despite missing the extra point early in the game, Leventritt’s field goal attempt was successful to take the lead back for the Sugar Skulls. Tucson quarterback Quin Patterson launched a 40-yard touchdown pass to Brian Smith increasing the lead to 15-7 after their kicker Leventritt missed his second extra point.
In the 2nd quarter with just around 2 minutes left till half, Tucson’s quarterback Quincy Patterson rushed for a 6-yard touchdown increasing the lead to 22-7. Any hope of closing the score gap prior to halftime would end after quarterback Dalton Sneed would toss an interception giving the Sugar Skulls the ball at the 22-yard line. In an insane moment, with 29.4 seconds to halftime, Rattlers Jamal Miles ran the failed field goal attempt back for a touchdown and after nearly being tackled at the 25-yard line, Miles hit the gas and there was no stopping his speed as he touched in the endzone.
Rattlers would go into the half down 22-14 and after the game head coach Kevin Guy spoke on Sneed’s first half struggles.
“I didn’t think Dalton was seeing the field early in the game, he was under duress a little bit—they were doing some things in the back end, a couple balls that came out high and I think he settled down at halftime, and I thought he played really well in the second half,” said Guy.
Dalton Sneed also spoke on his performance saying, “Absolutely, it was just a poor half on offense execution wise and couldn’t hit the nail on the head more with Jamal bringing that momentum and making a big special teams play like that for us, especially when offense isn’t executing, so that was huge, and great play to him.”
Rattlers started the 2nd half off with a touchdown when Jamal Miles caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Dalton Sneed. Things would get a little chippy after the kickoff as some later tackles were made and a leg pull led to a shove, however none of it was deserving of a penalty. Sugar Skulls running back Devonte Sapp-Lynch scored a one-yard touchdown making the score 29-23. Arizona would be the last to score in the 3rd quarter when Corey Reed Jr caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Dalton Sneed making it a one-point game going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Jamal Miles would add another touchdown to his stats on a 28-yard run. With all the time in the pocket, Dalton Sneed would find Corey Reed Jr for a touchdown increasing the lead to 44-37 with under 5 minutes left in the game. Jarmaine Doubs would force a fumble by the Sugar Skulls after a firm tackle was made, Rattlers recovered and got the ball on the 22-yard line with 1:40 left on the clock. Sneed and his offense would capitalize on the fumble recovery, tossing an easy 3-yard touchdown pass to Corey Reed Jr. Sneed would knee it in victory formation until the clock ran out and the Rattlers would defeat the Sugar Skulls 44-37.
Veteran Jamal Miles was the star of the game with four total touchdowns including an MFG return, 2 receiving, and one rushing touchdown. Head coach Kevin Guy spoke on Miles performance saying, “He’s our captain, he’s been a solid player for us for seven to eight years and you can depend on him and he makes big plays and he had a great game tonight.”
Rattlers final game of the regular season will be in San Antonio when they take on the Gunslingers on July 20.
Guy’s message on how he’d like that game to go was simply “to win” and “execute”. Miles added more saying, “We just working on everything, we working on ourselves mostly, we feel the only way they can beat us is if we beat ourselves,” said Miles after the game.
