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Even with a chance on the final play of the game, the Vegas Knight Hawks fell short on the road just one game removed from ending a two-game losing streak.
Vegas was beaten, 39-32, by the Tucson Sugar Skulls Saturday, June 18 from Tucson Arena.
The Knight Hawks lost both meetings to the Sugar Skulls this year by a combined 16 points.
Now, the team is 3-4 on the road this season. Overall, Vegas sports a 5-8 record and sits in the fifth spot in the Western Conference, a game out of first.
Three games remain in the inaugural season for the Knight Hawks with two of the games coming from The Dollar Loan Center. There is an 18-21 combined record between the remaining opponents for Vegas including the 10-3 Arizona Rattlers.
This season, the Knight Hawks have a 2-4 record at home.
It begins with a home game against the Quad City Steamwheelers, Friday, June 24 from The Dollar Loan Center.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
A game that featured four ties following a touchdown pass from Tucson on the first play of the fourth quarter had plenty of twists and turns.
On the ensuing drive for Vegas, a blindside block penalty set the team back before being able to gain steam.
More penalties followed after a false start flag turned a 4th and 7 into a 4th and 12.
Even so, head coach Mike Davis opted to send the offense back out there on their own 18-yard line.
Vegas quarterback Cameron Dukes threw an interception on the next play in his second professional start.
Even on defense, penalties were crucial as linebacker Gabe McCoy was whistled for an illegal procedure on a 3rd and 2.
The Knight Hawks were flagged 13 times for 110 yards while the Sugar Skulls’ 11 flags accumulated for 76 yards.
That penalty set up a touchdown run from Tucson’s Mike Jones for his league-leading 28th touchdown of the year to put the away team up 33-26.
The Knight Hawks defense did snag the second interception of the year off Sugar Skulls’ quarterback Daquan Neal.
With 55 seconds left, Vegas running back Jordan Cronkrite found the end zone from four yards out on the third touchdown pass from Dukes.
However, with a chance to tie the game at 33 apiece, kicker Nolan Kohorst missed the pending point-after.
To compound matters Kohorst had his ensuing onside kick attempt, recovered and returned for a touchdown by Tucson.
Kohorst was perfect to start the game before having a PAT attempt blocked late in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, he missed a field goal with the team up 19-13.
Dukes completed 50% of his 38 pass attempts on his way to 165 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
The first touchdown came on the team’s first drive as he spun away from would-be tacklers finding wide receiver Jordan McCray in the end zone for a two-yard touchdown.
McCray finished with five catches for 35 yards and that touchdown. He had a second touchdown wiped off the board after offsetting penalties in the second quarter.
Dukes even got it going with his legs at times, breaking off a 13 yard run in the second quarter for his longest of the day.
He even rushed for a touchdown in the third quarter to put Vegas up 26-19.
Dukes finished with 34 yards on the ground on seven rushes.
His leadership on offense helped hold the ball for nearly the first 10 minutes of the second half.
In fact, Vegas owned the time of possession battle holding the ball for more than 39 minutes of the 60-minute ball game.