Arizona Rattlers hold off Green Bay Blizzard to win IFL championship in Tucson

Back in Tucson for the IFL championship, Meylor wasn’t with the Blizzard, he was with the opposition. Different team, different results for Meylor, as the Arizona Rattlers fended off Green Bay, 62-51, on Sunday to win their second championship in three seasons.

In front of a Rattlers-heavy crowd, the Phoenix-based indoor football team won its eighth league championship since becoming a franchise in 1992.

Arizona head coach Kevin Guy, who’s still part owner of the Tucson Sugar Skulls despite the change in ownership in the last year, won his sixth indoor championship as a head coach — the first in Tucson. Guy has been the coach and team president of the Rattlers since 2008.

Meylor completed 12 of 18 passes for 103 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, while rushing for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Meylor was named MVP of the IFL championship.

The turning point of the game was Green Bay’s PAT following a touchdown with just over nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. With a chance to tie the game 46-46 following Green Bay running back Trevon Alexander’s 4-yard touchdown run, the PAT snap went over the holder’s head and dribbled to the other side of the field, which was recovered by the Rattlers for a two-point conversion.

Meylor and Arizona’s offense chewed up over four minutes of game clock and capped the following drive with a rushing touchdown to go up 55-45. Down 11 with a minute left, the Blizzard attempted a late comeback, but Green Bay quarterback Liam Thompson — who was named IFL Offensive Player of the Year before the game — fumbled at the 1-yard line.

The Rattlers (14-5) ended their championship season on a seven-game winning streak. Arizona’s last loss was a 35-28 defeat to the Sugar Skulls at Tucson Arena, the same venue the Rattlers won the IFL title. The Blizzard (15-4) have a combined 25-10 record in the last two seasons, with two championship losses in Tucson.

Extra points

– Green Bay offensive coordinator Matt Behrendt, who’s been with the Blizzard for six seasons, was the first-ever quarterback for the Tucson Sugar Skulls. Behrendt helped the Sugar Skulls reach the IFL playoffs in the inaugural season in 2019. Behrendt was recently named the IFL Assistant Coach of the Year for leading the top offense in the league.

Behrendt, on his return to Tucson at the IFL championship media day: “It’s amazing. I get flashbacks. Just walking around Tucson, I love the city and it’s a beautiful place. I tell people this all the time, one of the best years of my life was here in Tucson. There’s so many good memories and so many good flashbacks. There’s guys I played with here and we still keep in touch. That first season, we were very solid, man. We were a close team and we made the playoffs. It was a lot of fun.” 

– Former Sugar Skulls head coach Billy Back, who had an 8-24 record in two seasons in Tucson, was named the head coach of the San Antonio Gunslingers on Sunday. Back was the offensive coordinator of the Tulsa Oilers in 2025.

– The IFL is adding four new teams to the league for 2027, bringing the league’s total to 18 teams. The four new teams will be located in Austin, Texas; Athens, Georgia; Savannah, Georgia; and Hot Springs, Arkansas. The latter, the Arkansas Diamonds, is moving from The Arena League to the IFL.

– The IFL sold around 4,900 tickets for the IFL championship, which is about 80% of the Tucson Arena capacity.

– The IFL returns to Tucson in 2027 for the final year of the three-year agreement to host the league’s national championship in the Old Pueblo.