Arizona Rattlers clinch IFL playoff spot with win at San Antonio, will play at Vegas in 1st round

The Rattlers clinched an Indoor Football League playoff berth Saturday night with a 41-34 victory over the Gunslingers at San Antonio.

Later that night, they found out they ended up with the third seed in the Western Conference will play at the No. 2 Vegas Knight Hawks (11-5) in the first round next Saturday. Vegas holds the tie-breaker over the Rattlers based on its 9-4 conference record. The Rattlers went 7-5 against conference opponents.

Top-seed Bay Area, with its win over San Diego, avoided hosting the Rattlers (11-5) in the first round. San Diego is the fourth seed and will take on the defending IFL champion Bay Area Panthers in the first round.

The Rattlers, who have won 10 of their last 12 games, showed a methodical offense with big run plays by quarterback Dalton Sneed and running back Shannon Brooks to keep San Antonio's high-power offense off the field.

San Antonio (8-8) came into the game with the highest-scoring offense and the most effective quarterback, Sam Castronova, in the IFL.

But the Gunslingers were held to 20 points below their season average, as the Rattlers applied pressure and confused Castronova with solid pass coverage.

Jermaine Doubs intercepted a Castronova pass in the first half, negating a Sneed interception on the first series of the game. In the second half, Doubs broke up a fourth-down pass from San Antonio's 16 to start the final quarter. Brooks then tore off a 13-yard run, followed by a 3-yard touchdown that gave the Rattlers a 34-21 lead.

The Rattlers scored on six of their eight possessions.

"I thought it was a great team effort," coach Kevin Guy said. "Our defense showed up big. We challenged them all week since they were going up against the No. 1 scoring offense. We stopped them four times."

After the early Sneed interception, Guy felt the offense settled down with the offensive line taking over. The Rattlers were boosted by big plays from Brooks, who had three touchdowns. Five of the Rattlers' six TDs came on the ground.

Sneed threw a TD pass to Corey Reed, Jr. with two seconds left in the first half that gave the Rattlers a 21-14 lead. Because there was no end zone wall at San Antonio's arena, all Reed needed to do was keep one foot in for it to be a TD.

Sneed ran for two TDs, including one with about six minutes to go that gave the Rattlers a two-touchdowns cushion.

By the time the Gunslingers scored again, there was only a minute left. All the Rattlers had to do was field the on-side kick and run out the clock with Sneed taking a knee three times.

"I thought my staff did a great job of game planning," Guy said. "The players obviously have to execute. But it was a great team effort.

"We will enjoy the win tonight and our staff has already started preparing for Vegas."

The Rattlers lost both of their meetings against Vegas this year by close margins -- 45-43 at home on March 24 and 55-50 at Vegas' Lee's Family Forum on June 22.

Richard Obert has been covering high school sports since the 1980s for The Arizona Republic. He also covers Grand Canyon University athletics and the Arizona Rattlers. To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Rattlers clinch IFL playoff spot with win at San Antonio, will play at Vegas in 1st round