Rattlers Score Road Win, Keep Hopes Alive for Home Playoff Game
By Jay Gonzales ꟾ Rattlers Media
A lot of things have to go right for the Arizona Rattlers to reach a goal of hosting a playoff game in their chase for a championship.
One of those happened Monday night when the Rattlers went on the road to rout the first-place San Diego Strike Force, 65-36, earning a season sweep and keeping alive their mathematical chances of a No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
Quarterback Max Meylor threw for five touchdowns, three of those to Arland Bruce IV, and he ran for another while the defense stuffed the Strike Force with four defensive stops, two of those on interceptions.
With the win, the Rattlers, 8-5, inch closer to the conference leaders, Vegas and San Diego, still with a chance to get a coveted home game in the playoffs. The Rattlers have games remaining with the Tucson Sugar Skulls at home on Saturday and on the road in San Antonio. The Strike Force, 10-3, have three games left including a visit to now-first-place Vegas later this week and their home finale against Tucson.
Two wins by the Rattlers and two losses by San Diego would put Arizona at home for the first round of the playoffs by virtue of their sweep of the season series. The first round of the playoffs will be the weekend of Aug. 1.
The victory over San Diego was the Rattlers' first true road victory since April 19 when they won at Northern Arizona. They did score a neutral site victory when they beat New Mexico in the first round of the IFL Cup in New Jersey in May. It also was a rare home loss for San Diego which entered the game 12-1 at Frontwave Arena since it started playing there last season.
"It was a hump that we needed to get over," Head Coach Kevin Guy said of the much-needed road victory. "We hadn't played well on the road this year. We learned a little bit about ourselves tonight, and we're just going to learn from it, grow from it, and try to build on it."
The teams traded scores on their first possessions, but then the Arizona onslaught began as the Rattlers put 21 points on the board in the second quarter to open a 28-14 halftime lead with the added bonus of having the first possession of the second half.
The Strike Force briefly jarred the door open by forcing a fumble on the second-half kickoff and scoring a touchdown two plays later to cut the lead 28-21.
Arizona regained its 14-point advantage on their next possession when Meylor connected with Bruce from 29 yards for a touchdown on fourth-and-6.
Another defensive stop on downs was followed by another Meylor-to-Bruce TD, this one from 26 yards out, and it was 42-21. Cook added his deuce and the door was essentially slammed shut at 44-21.
Meylor and Ron Brown Jr. added touchdowns and McKee chipped in his pick-six to score the most points that have been scored against San Diego this season.
"It was a good win for the organization. I'm happy for my players, coaches and staff," Guy said. "We've got to make sure we don't ride the emotional roller coaster. Our discipline has to get better. Too many penalties. We can build on this win."
The Rattlers return home Saturday for the rubber match in a three-game series with the Sugar Skulls. Each team has a home victory this season. Arizona manhandled Tucson, 66-14, on Mar. 10 in Glendale. The Sugar Skulls recovered with a 35-28 victory in Tucson on June 20. Kickoff Saturday is 6 p.m. MST at Desert Diamond Arena. The game will be broadcast on Yahoo! Sports.