Three-game win streak for Vegas ends in three-point loss to Arizona

In a playoff rematch from last season, the Vegas Knight Hawks suffered another last-minute loss to the Arizona Rattlers.

Vegas came up short, 50-47, against Arizona Saturday, May 17 from the PHX Arena. The loss comes in the first meeting between the pair since the Rattlers’, 39-38, playoff win inside Lee’s Family Forum last year.

“We’ve just got to figure out a way to figure it out,” head coach Mike Davis said. “If you think about it, this is a mirror image of the Western semis last year. You’re up a couple of scores – we’ve just got to figure it out you know, look at ourselves.”The loss ends the three-game win streak for Vegas as the team drops to 4-3 on the year. The overall mark is good for third in the Western Conference behind a 6-1 Arizona team and a 5-2 Bay Area squad.

Up next, the Knight Hawks will continue their two-game road trip with a contest against the San Diego Strike Force Sunday, May 25 from Frontwave Arena. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

“That’s just our team,” Davis said. “We don’t panic, we prepare for every scenario. Tonight, we didn’t execute. At the end of the day, that starts with me. I’ve got to get us better prepared on a couple different instances and in a couple different situational things.”

Looking for another confidence-boosting win, Vegas went into the fourth quarter up 12 points before being outscored 22-7 in the game’s final 15 minutes. Running back Antonio Wimbush gave the team another 12-point lead with just over two minutes left in regulation.

Despite the loss, the Knight Hawks led for 29 minutes and 50.4 seconds of the second half before the late collapse.

Arizona would need just under two minutes to score its first touchdown to cut it to 47-42 with 23.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Moments later, the home team recovered its onside kick attempt and would add another score to the board less than 14 seconds later in addition to the two-point conversion to create the three-point hole for Vegas.

In last year’s playoff game, Rattlers quarterback Dalton Sneed scored from near the goal line as time expired to shock the Knight Hawk fans.

Vegas’ defense gave the team every extra opportunity it could including forcing and recovering two fumbles. The unit made two goal line stops early in the second quarter while down a point on a drive that ended with the first of those two fumble recoveries.

The next drive concluded with a turnover on downs.

“I think the effort on our team overall was fantastic,” Davis said. “It’s just we’ve got to get a better mindset on finishing. And once we get that we’re going to be a fantastic football team. We’ll learn from this and we’ll be better.”

Both teams would score three times in the final two minutes of the first half as the Knight Hawks went into the halftime break up, 26-21.

Quarterback Ja’Rome Johnson went 13-for-26 with 162 yards and four touchdowns through the air to go along with an interception. He added 65 rushing yards and two more touchdowns on nine ground touches.

Three of those four aerial touchdowns went to receiver Quentin Randolph who even hauled one in just before halftime despite being held by the defensive back. He closed the night with a game-high 115 yards and three touchdowns on eight catches.

Wimbush caught Johnson’s other touchdown pass.

“Obviously, you can’t just force feed it to Quentin,” Davis said. “We have great receivers all the way around.”