Rattlers reach 300th franchise win on Darrell Monroe’s IFL-record 11 rushing TDs

They were getting dominated at the line, giving up big plays and turning the ball over.

This was not the Rattlers that had gotten to 299 wins in 26 years of 8-man football.

After giving up 45 points and trailing a 1-6 team by 17 points at the half, the Rattlers showed no signs of slowing down the Cedar Rapids Titans.

But they kept feeding the beast.

Darrell Monroe’s 11th rushing touchdown – a 1-yard plunge with two seconds left – gave the Rattlers their first lead of the night and their 300th win as a franchise in an amazing 84-83 victory before 16,742 fans Saturday night at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

It came after the Titans (1-7) got greedy and elected to go for a touchdown on fourth down at the Rattlers' 1 and not a field goal that would have given them an eight-point lead and maybe made coach Kevin Guy rethink continuing to run Monroe off of guard Lamar Mady's hip.

"We would have had to score and go for two," Guy said. "I can only coach my team. I'm sure they were going, 'We want to win it here, and we're tired of losing.' I'm not going to second-guess what they did.

"But overall we finished. We preach finishing 60 minutes."

Cornerback Arkeith Brown set up the winning drive, breaking up Jake Medlock's pass in the end zone with 1:29 left. It was the only pass that Medlock (12 of 13, 210 yards, six TDs) didn't complete.

The Rattlers then had to go 49 yards.

In the final minute, Monroe carried the ball five straight times before he finally found the end zone as time was running out, and the Rattlers were out of timeouts.

"We called two plays and were going to live and die on that," Guy said. "We were going to put it behind Mady and let Mady drive them off the ball. Darrell stuck his head in there, good, tough running, and stuck it in (the end zone).

"There was no reason to throw the ball in the red zone, we were running the ball so well.

"Who said that we can't score points in the IFL? I'm tired of hearing that."

The last time the Rattlers played the Titans at the Snake Pit, the Rattlers held them to 19 points in a 35-point rout."

It was the largest crowd since 17,034 showed up for an Arena Football League playoff game on June 27, 2004.

Many had left after the Rattlers got down by 18 points early in the final quarter.

But the more desperate the Rattlers became, the more they fed the ball to Monroe.

The previous Indoor Football League record for rushing TDs in a game was seven. Monroe had that many after three quarters.

He finished with 140 yards and 11 touchdowns on 29 carries. Monroe also led the Rattlers in receiving with seven catches for 65 yards.

The only touchdown scored other than Monroe was Dezmon Epps' 51-yard kickoff return before the Rattlers' offense ever took the field. Epps' 263 yards on eight returns was overshadowed by Monroe's historic night.

"I could have done better," Monroe deadpanned afterwards.

He said he had never touched the ball that many times in a game.

"Receiving, yeah, I never touched the ball that much," he said. "Rushing?"

Monroe shook his head in amazement.

"Not that many times, either," he said.

But he wanted it.

"I had to score, I had to score, I just needed to get in there," Monroe said about his last touch.

Guy said the energy of the fans helped the Rattlers down the stretch.

The 83 points by Cedar Rapids were the most the Rattlers ever gave up in franchise history.

The previous most were 81 points in 2003, but the Rattlers won that game by a point.

"They were running RPOs (run, pass options) all night and we didn't do a good job on RPOs," Guy said. "Now I know why (Alabama) coach Nick Saban complains about it all the time. But we will figure it out before next week and hopefully slow them down a little bit."

The Rattlers (7-1) go to Cedar Rapids for next week's game.

"I keep saying it, but these players in this league have a different skill set," Guy said. "Scheme is different. Arena Football is about one-on-one, about matchup. This game, you have to scheme differently every week. It's a lot more like the outdoor game."

Milestone brink

They've gone through owners, won championships, seen new coaches, watched a league go bankrupt, reboot their franchise, turned over rosters and won another title in different 8-man pro football league.

The Rattlers are the ultimate survivors. And now they are one win away from being the only member of the 8-man pro football 300-win club.

The Rattlers became the first pro sports team to play in the then new downtown arena in 1992, originally called America West Arena, which was always referred to as the Snake Pit from their core crowd.

On Saturday, the Rattlers (6-1) will host the Cedar Rapids Titans (1-6) at Talking Stick Resort Arena with a chance to reach the milestone.

“I think it says a lot for the fans support to keep it going," said Ron Shurts, who went from season-ticket holder in 1992 when the franchise began to now majority owner of the Rattlers. "The fans are the cornerstone of Rattler Nation. Because of them, it has continued."

Fans have been the one constant through the 26 seasons of games in the "Snake Pit."

The Rattlers sold out every game the first two seasons when they were owned by Jerry Colangelo and watched over by his son, Bryan.

They were among the biggest draws in the Arena Football League, before the league went bankrupt after the 2008 season and went through 2009 without a season.

When the reboot league returned in 2010, it took a while for the fans to come back.

But with Shurts taking over ownership during the 2011 season, the turnaround began with Kevin Guy in his third season as head coach and general manager.

They strung together three ArenaBowl titles and appeared in five ArenaBowls in six years before breaking off to join the Indoor Football League, which began 10 years ago as an off-shoot of the Arena game with more of an emphasis on defense and running the football.

"I feel like the fans have been here the whole time," Guy said. "Obviously, we have always wanted to put a great product on the field for our fans. They've been very loyal to us over the years. We're excited. There have been a lot of good people who have come through this organization that deserve credit. When you do things right, the wins and losses will take care of itself."

Eras of greatness

This is the 26th season for the Rattlers. But there were really two eras of greatness: the Colangelo/Danny White/Sherdrick Bonner era and the Shurts/Guy/Nick Davila era.

When Colangelo bought an Arena League franchise in 1991, he found maybe the most recognizable name in the Valley to coach the Rattlers: Danny White, the former Mesa Westwood, Arizona State and Dallas Cowboys quarterback.

It took a couple of years, but with dynamic duo of quarterback Sherdrick Bonner and receiver Hunkie Cooper, and the additions of receivers Calvin Schexnayder and Randy Gatewood, the Rattlers won ArenaBowl titles in 1994 and '97. They played in three more in a row in the 2000s – all losses – before White and the Rattlers parted ways in 2004, not long after Robert Sarver had bought the NBA Suns from Colangelo and had inherited the Rattlers.

"Jerry and Bryan Colangelo, with the way they treated us as pros, made us want to play hard for them," said Bonner, who, since retiring from the game in 2009, has done college sports broadcasts and color commentary for CBS Sports on AFL games. "Then, you in Coach White and Geno (Nudo, then the GM), keeping us in state of competition on a daily basis forged our core players and made us want to be great.

"We had a couple years there where the vision lost its way, but when Ron Shurts and Kevin Guy took over, they brought it to a whole different level. Very proud to have been a part of the Rattler family."

Davila broke Bonner's franchise passing records from 2010-16, but when the Rattlers moved to the IFL, Davila's days as a Rattlers quarterback was over with the move towards a dual threat QB.

The Rattlers won the IFL title last season after a 1-4 start and a revamped roster and the offensive star being tailback Darrell Monroe.

"This is a much harder game to game plan for," Guy said. "The Arena game was really built for one-on-one matchups and this game is all about schemes. But this organization has shown it can really adapt to whatever situation there is."

Best team?

Before the AFL reboot, during the Ironman age of two-way players, the 1997 Rattlers were the best. They beat quarterback Kurt Warner and the Iowa Barnstomers in Phoenix for the championship.

In the specialization AFL era, the best Rattlers team arguably came in 2013, beating the Philadelphia Soul for the second year in a row in the championship game in Orlando. That team was led defensively by safety/corner Arkeith Brown, the only player from that team still playing for the Rattlers. They also had maybe the best quartet of receivers at the same time in Rattlers' history: Kerry Reed, Rod Windsor, Maurice Purify and Tysson Poots.

"That ('13 team) could have played in any era," said Guy, who, in his 10th season leading the Rattlers, is coming out with his All-Guy team this year. "That was a very talented group. But I don't think there was a more magical season than last year. Turned the whole roster over, the whole deal."

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Rankings

Most wins in 8-man pro football that includes Arena, Indoor, NAL and CIF:

Arizona Rattlers, 299

Sioux Falls Storm, 245

Omaha Beef, 161

Texas Revolution, 158

Sioux City Bandits, 154

Saturday's game

Cedar Rapids Titans at Rattlers

When: 6:05 p.m.

Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena

TV/radio: FSAZ/1580 The Fanatic, 99.3 FM

Outlook: The Rattlers (6-1) have won five in a row and are in sole possession of first place in the IFL. ... The Rattlers beat Cedar Rapids at home 54-19 on March 31. ... The Rattlers have won 10 games in a row in Talking Stick Resort Arena. ... Linebacker Justin Shirk was activated this week by the Rattlers after missing the last four games with an injury.

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_obert.