Rattlers finding greatest competition in Arizona for Indoor Football League supremacy

The Rattlers had never lost to the Tucson Sugar Skulls until this year. And they're trailing Northern Arizona for the top spot in the Western Division.

They're not just losing their grip as the best team in the Indoor Football League, but in the state of Arizona.

Nobody saw this coming so soon from the second-year franchise from Prescott Valley, going from worst to first and being the more physical team in a 37-34 win over the Rattlers to clinch its first playoff berth two weeks ago.

The Rattlers (10-3) trail the Northern Arizona Wranglers (10-2) by half a game in the Western Division and get a home rematch on July 2.

But they can't overlook Saturday's 6:05 p.m., game at the Footprint Center against the  Sugar Skulls (7-5), who finally broke through after eight tries against the Rattlers with a 74-63 win in Tucson in early May.

The top three teams in the Western Division are the Wranglers, the Rattlers and the Skulls. They're among the top five teams among the 14 in the IFL's latest coaches' poll.

"I think you've got to give credit to the owners," Rattlers coach Kevin Guy said. "I think they're doing a better job at hiring coaches."

Then give credit to Guy, who happens to be the owner of the Sugar Skulls, along with his wife Cathy, who conducts the day-to-day operations in Tucson, while Kevin focuses on the Rattlers.

Kevin, in 2020, helped bring in two-time IFL Coach of the Year Dixie Wooten from the Iowa Barnstormers to lead the Sugar Skulls after their inaugural 7-7 2019 season.

Like Guy, Wooten also is the team's general manager.

He's built a roster that appears now championship ready. At least, it looked that way on May 7, when quarterback Daquan Neal, the 2019 IFL MVP under Wooten in Iowa, threw for 152 yards and five TDs, completing 12 of 15 passes, in his first-ever meeting against the Rattlers.

Neal was so good that the NFL Indianapolis Colts brought him in for a look the next week, causing him to miss the 36-21 loss to Northern Arizona. Neal has been back ever since, and the only losses since a 1-3 start for the Skulls have all been to NAZ, including a 34-32 setback on May 28.

The Skulls are second only to the Rattlers in scoring offense in the league.

The Wranglers hired former Arena Football League coach Les Moss, who beat Guy's Rattlers in Phoenix for the 2011 AFL championship on an Aaron Garcia TD pass with no time left that lifted the Jacksonville Sharks to a 76-73 win. Moss was set to assist Guy with the Rattlers in 2020, before COVID-19 canceled the IFL season.

Moss hired former Rattlers legendary wide receiver Rod Windsor to be his offensive coordinator. Windsor had worked five years under Guy as the Rattlers' receivers coach. Windsor was a key player on the Rattlers' three consecutive ArenaBowl titles from 2012-14.

Moss also made the key move to bring in Rob Keefe to be his defensive coordinator. The Wranglers' have the top-ranked defense under Keefe, who won the last ArenaBowl in 2019 as head coach of the Albany Empire. Moss was Keefe's assistant at Albany in 2018 and '19.

They proceeded to bring in top talent, such as quarterback Kaleb Barker, defensive back Mercardo Anderson and defensive end JaQuan Artis, who leads the league in sacks with nine in 11 games played.

"They know how to recruit," Guy said about Tucson and Northern Arizona. "I think you see a lot more parity all across the league. It's still a five-team race on our side. It's a six-team race on the other side (Eastern Division). Maybe seven."

The Rattlers have three games left, all at home, before the playoffs. Win all of them, and the Rattlers will have home field through the playoffs until it goes to neutral site Las Vegas for the championship game in August.

"It's on us, and it's been on us pretty much the whole season," said Rattlers quarterback Drew Powell, the league's reigning MVP, who is in search of his first IFL title as the Rattlers' leader. "We've let ourselves down a couple of times and we haven't played to our potential a couple of times this season.

"That added pressure, knowing that we're in control, I think everyone will be locked in and guys will take that next step. It's playoff mode now. You'll see a lot of playoff energy around the building."

If the season ended today, the Rattlers and Skulls would face each other in the first round of the playoffs.

Safety Dillion Winfrey, who returned an interception from out of the end zone for a touchdown in the final quarter of the Rattlers' 58-38 win against Duke City last week, watched the film over of the Tucson loss to see what needs to improve.

"We have to make our open-field tackles," Winfrey said. "If we can do, do our assignments, we should be OK."

Winfrey says it's important to keep territorial rights in Arizona. The Rattlers have been in existence since 1992. The other teams just got going in the past few years. But they're catching up to the king of indoor football in Arizona.

"It's always pride," Winfrey said. "It's professional football, so it's about pride every time you go out there. You never want to undermine a win or take a team for granted. Those guys get paid."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Rattlers finding greatest competition in Arizona for IFL supremacy