San Diego, CA
Defense, clutch finish lead Arizona Rattlers to season’s biggest win at San Diego
Irate Arizona Rattlers coach Kevin Guy after win over Duke City
“We should have won by three or four touchdowns,” Kevin Guy said, after Rattlers beat Duke City in the final minute.
The Arizona Rattlers returned two interceptions for touchdowns, converted a key fourth down in the last minute and watched kicker Conor Mangan miss two field goals in the last two minutes to escape the San Diego Strike Force with a 47-46 victory Saturday night at Pechanga Arena.
“We played as bad on offense as I have seen in 15 years,” coach Kevin Guy said. “We have to coach better and we have to play better. We scored on defense twice tonight. I was almost ready to bring our defensive players over to play on offense.”
Dalton Sneed threw three touchdown passes, including a 7-yard pass to Isaiah Huston which turned out to be the game-winner with 16 seconds left. Dawson Evitts’ extra point broke a 46-46 tie.
But the Rattlers needed Mangan to miss a 30-yard field goal try as time expired to get to 7-4 on the season and seize fourth place in the Indoor Football League Western Conference by themselves.
The Strike Force (6-5) had a chance to score late in the first half, after Nate Davis drove his team to the Rattlers’ 5 with three seconds left.
But he overthrew his pass in the end zone, and Jarmaine Doubs Jr. intercepted five yards deep in the end zone and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown that gave the Rattlers a 34-21 lead at the break.
Sneed was intercepted three times, including the first play of the game that the Strike Force cashed in with an early 7-0 lead.
San Diego could have taken a nine-point lead with less than two minutes to play, but Mangan hooked a 28-yard field goal try.
In the final minute, Sneed’s 14-yard pass to Huston on fourth-and-6 gave the Rattlers a first down at 7. On the next play, Sneed went right back to Huston for his first TD. This was Huston’s first game back since early in the season when he suffered an injury.
Davis, who burned the Rattlers early in the season in a 55-45 win in Glendale, passed for 144 yards and four TDs but was picked off three times.
Winfrey’s interception late in the first half came right after CJ Odom fumbled the ball away into the end zone on a first-down run from the 2.
That led to Sneed’s 13-yard scoring pass to Corey Reed Jr. with 16 seconds left and a 27-21 lead. The point-after attempt was blocked.
“We found a way to win and we kept our poise,” Guy said. “We executed when we had to. I don’t want to take anything away from San Diego. They are a very good football team.
“We converted some fourth downs on the last drive. It’s a little different when there’s pressure to make those kids. I thought Huston gave us some great minutes when he was in the game.”
The Rattlers had eight stops in the game. They’ve won six of their last seven games and are only a half-game behind the Vegas Knight Hawks (7-3) and the Northern Arizona Wranglers (7-3) in the Western Conference. The Bay Area Panthers lead the conference at 9-1.
The Rattlers are back home Saturday night at 6:05 to play the Wranglers at Desert Diamond Arena.
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
NASCAR will honor the 250th birthday of the United States and the US Navy’s 250th anniversary with a race brand new to the racing calendar.
The Anduril 250 will take place on a road course built on Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California. The 3.4-mile track has 19 turns. The race is 255 miles total and drivers will do 75 laps.
Shane van Gisbergen, who is widely considered to be NASCAR’s best road course driver, will start in pole position. van Gisbergen has won seven road races in 14 total starts, and he is just two road wins away from tying Jeff Gordon’s record of nine.
nascar anduril 250: what to know
- When: June 21, 4 p.m. ET
- Where: Coronado Street Course (Naval Base Coronado, San Diego, California)
- Channel: Streaming exclusive
- Streaming: Prime Video (30 days free)
Here’s everything you need to know about today’s NASCAR Cup Series race on the Coronado Street Course.
NASCAR Cup race at San Diego start time:
Today’s (June 21) NASCAR race, the Anduril 250, begins at 4 p.m. ET.
What channel is today’s (June 21) NASCAR race on?
Today’s NASCAR race won’t be on traditional television; it will air exclusively on Prime Video.
How to watch the NASCAR Anduril 250 for free:
With Prime Video, you can also take advantage of the streamer’s Shop the Race storefront, exclusively on the Amazon mobile app, to shop gear, flags, and more for your favorite driver.
NASCAR San Diego starting lineup:
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Carson Hocevar
- Ryan Blaney
- Zane Smith
- Todd Gilliland
- Daniel Suárez
- Ryan Preece
- Connor Zilisch
- Michael McDowell
- Austin Hill
- Ty Gibbs
- Bubba Wallace
- Corey Heim
- Kyle Larson
- AJ Allmendinger
- Chris Buescher
- Tyler Reddick
- Austin Dillon
- Joey Logano
- Alex Bowman
- Kevin Magnussen
- Chase Briscoe
- Ross Chastain
- Riley Herbst
- Cole Custer
- Denny Hamlin
- William Byron
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Brad Keselowski
- Chase Elliott
- Austin Cindric
- Noah Gragson
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ty Dillon
- Josh Berry
- Jimmie Johnson
- Christopher Bell
- Erik Jones
- Cody Ware
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Shane van Gisbergen earned his sixth career pole and second of the 2026 season on Saturday, rocketing to pole position around NASCAR’s all-new 3.4-mile street course at Naval Base Coronado. He even touched the wall twice on his fast lap, pushing to the absolute limit.
“A little bit (surprised),” said Van Gisbergen, who went out with the first group of qualifiers. “I thought the track would be better, and I thought people would execute a bit better. As I said, it’s just so difficult. There’s three or four corners you’re seeing for the first time of the day, and it’s on your heater. Amazing. The Red Bull Chevy is really good. Thank you to Trackhouse for doing a great job from yesterday, and we just need to get the driver a bit better,” he concluded with a smile.”
Watch: SVG surprised to win Busch Light Pole at San Diego
Van Gisbergen bested Carson Hocevar by 0.0156s with a fast lap of 2:14.788s. Ryan Blaney will start third, Zane Smith fourth, and Todd Gilliland fifth. Blaney was a little bit quicker than SVG for most of his lap, but lost it through the final set of corners.
Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Connor Zilisch, Michael McDowell, and Austin Hill will out the remainder of the top ten on the starting grid.
Project 91 driver Kevin Magnussen qualified 21st for his NASCAR Cup debut. Notably, championship leader Tyler Reddick spun out, but still reached 17th on the grid. Denny Hamlin is just 19 points behind him, and will start 26th.
Watch: Reddick loops it in Turn 2 during qualifying
Some other notable drivers very deep in the field include William Byron in 27th, Chase Elliott 30th, and an injured Christopher Bell 37th. He will have Brent Crews on standby, and may finish the race for Bell on Sunday.
Jimmie Johnson was the first driver to set a time, and showed just how tricky things were as he had to use the runoff area in Turn 2 to avoid an incident. Erik Jones also smacked the wall at the exit of Turn 16, but there were no red flags during the session.
NASCAR Cup San Diego ‘Anduril 250’ Full Starting Lineup
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