Photo: Arizona Rattlers coach Kevin Guy and quarterback Dalton Sneed
The teams are set for the 2024 IFL Championship that will take place on the home field of the Vegas Knight Hawks on Saturday, August 17. It will be a battle of the three seeds as both the Arizona Rattlers and Massachusetts Pirates rose to the top of their respective conferences.
In the six playoff games, four have been won by the roads team. The two top seeds, Bay Area in the western conference and Green Bay in the eastern conference both lost at home. Bay Area bowed out in the quarterfinals with a loss to #4 San Diego, while Green Bay got beat up in eastern conference title game 55-28, by the #3 Massachusetts Pirates, who cruised in the second half after building a 34-7 lead.
Western Conference Champions
The #3 Rattlers (13-5) needed a last second touchdown to advance over Vegas in the first round. An upset win by San Diego over the top seeded Bay Are Panthers gave Arizona a home game in their quest for another championship in their storied program. The Rattlers will be seeking their seventh championship in franchise history, their second in the IFL.
To get there, the Arizona Rattlers had to beat a good San Diego Strike Force team. The Rattlers took a 14-0 lead and led 28-15 at the half. The second half was all Rattlers as the home team returned two pass interceptions for touchdowns on their way to a 58-23 win over the San Diego Strike Force.
Coach Kevin Guy was very pleased by his team on both sides of the ball. “This defense is for real. We stopped them three straight times coming out in the third quarter, taking two to the house,” said Guy. “The offense was efficient and did exactly what we needed them to do.”
Quarterback Dalton Sneed, who led Bay Area to the championship last season, said, “This club is resilient. No doubt about it. You can see it in the guys eyes every week when we prepare. The coaches came with a good game plan and we executed.” Sneed’s numbers were impressive. Passing he was 14-18-0, 159 yards and three touchdowns, plus rushing for 45 yards on four carries with two more touchdowns.
Eastern Conference Champions
The #3 seeded Massachusetts Pirates were a .500 team through the regular season, but with back to back upset wins on the road, the Pirates now sit at (10-8) after knocking off #2 Frisco Fighters and #1 Green Bay Blizzard.
The Pirates needed some late game heroics to beat a motivated Frisco Fighters team that has suffered from playoff loss syndrome each of the last three seasons.
The franchise has not had a losing season in its six years of existence, and looks for its second championship. It will also be the second time the two teams have met for all the marbles. Massachusetts beat the Rattlers in 2021 for their first championship and finished that season at (14-3).
The game is on August 17 at 1:05pm PT and will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.
