Box Score TUCSON - The Tucson Sugar Skulls fell short against the Northern Arizona Wranglers on Saturday night. It was a defensive slugfest with plenty of defensive stops and turnovers. There were two entire quarters where neither team scored a single point. The final score was Northern Arizona 31, Tucson 21.
They fall to 3-2 on the season and drop their second straight game, both of which have been at home.
Key Performers
Ramone Atkins - 19/31, 162 passing yards, 2 TD, 3 INT
Mike Jones - 14 rushes, 44 yards, 1 rushing TD, 6 receptions, 46 receiving yards
Carrington Thompson - 8 receptions, 58 yards, 1 touchdown
Rashie Hodge - 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 interception, 1 pass breakup.
1st Half
The first quarter was a defensive battle, as each team went without scoring a single point. Each team forced a fumble and Tucson dominated the quarter in time of possession with an 11-to-4-minute advantage, but they could not capitalize.
The Wranglers answered early in the second quarter with a pair of scores to jump out to a 14-0 advantage. The Skulls answered with a score of their own after
Ramone Atkins hit
Carrington Thompson for a touchdown, but the extra point was no good. Skulls trailed 14-6 with just over three minutes remaining in the half.
Northern Arizona struck again with another score to extend their lead to fifteen, 21-6 with 1:11 left in the half. Tucson answered with a drive of their own capped off by a
Mike Jones touchdown and followed by a successful two-point conversion to cut the lead down to 7 by the score of 14-to-21. The Wranglers connected on a field goal in the final moments of the first half to extend their lead to 10, 24-14.
2nd Half
The Skulls opened the third quarter with a takeaway, as
JJ Dallas intercepted a tipped pass to give Tucson possession.
Ramone Atkins threw an interception shortly thereafter, as the Wranglers ran it back for what would've been a pick-six, but there was an illegal block that brought them back.
The low-scoring affair continued as the third quarter was scoreless yet again. Tucson had four turnovers after the first 3 quarters. Each team went scoreless in the first and third quarters.
Mike Minter intercepted a pass to open the 4th quarter for another Tucson takeaway. That led to a Tucson touchdown via
Ramone Atkins, who hit
Emetrious Scott for a score to cut the deficit to just three. It was a 24-21 Wranglers lead with 10:45 remaining.
Tucson took over after a
Rashie Hodge interception, followed by Northern Arizona quickly intercepting a pass to retake possession. It was that kind of night all game long as the defenses traded blows.
Northern Arizona scored again late with just 50 seconds remaining to extend their lead to ten, 31-21. The Wranglers would not relinquish that lead as they went on to secure the 10-point victory.
Up next? Tucson travels to Albuquerque to take on the Duke City Gladiators on Saturday, May 13th.
