I’m taking this year personal. I’m just telling you, I would advise people to stay the hell out of my way this year.”

Kevin Guy, Arizona Rattlers Head Coach

By Zev Black
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The Arizona Rattlers (1-0) kicked off their 2026 season with a bang as they took down the San Diego Strike Force (1-1) by a score of 49-27.

Fans at Desert Diamond Arena were barely given the chance to settle into their seats before a long touchdown pass from Rattlers QB Max Meylor to WR Arland Bruce on the game’s third play got the season underway.

It looked like San Diego would be able to tie it up early, but Glendale native Carson Taylor made a tackle for loss followed by a Yahsyn McKee Sr. pass breakup on fourth and goal to turn the Strike Force over on downs.

“I expect my guys to fly around and I know they expect me to fly around,” McKee said after the game. “I’m just trying to keep the same energy throughout the whole room, throughout the whole defense. If everybody’s flying around, we should have no problems being winners.”

Despite a Meylor interception which led to an Edward Vander touchdown run for the Strike Force, the Rattlers were able to control the first half in large part due to Meylor’s athleticism.

After a 12-yard pass to get the drive going, Meylor took off for a 28-yard rushing touchdown that saw him weave between multiple defenders for the score.

“He’s a gamer,” head coach Kevin Guy said about Meylor in the postgame press conference. “When the lights come on, he’s ready to play.”

Meylor backed up his coach’s confidence.

“If I have to run it, I’ll run it,” he said. “I like throwing it out there for the receivers and running backs too. But I do like that balanced attack, just knowing that defenses can’t hone in on a certain run or a certain pass.”

Less than a minute later, Arizona got the chance to extend their lead to double digits after Carlvainsky Decius picked off Strike Force QB Nate Davis. Bruce ran it in with eight seconds left in the half, good for the Rattlers’ second touchdown in less than 1:30 of game time.

Matthew Cook calmly put the football through the uprights, something Strike Force kicker Ernesto Lacayo failed to do twice, to push the lead to 28-13 at the break.

San Diego kept the game close throughout most of the second half before the wheels fell off late in the fourth quarter.

On second and goal, Davis’s flip found nothing but turf. McKee recovered the fumble and the offense was able to immediately cash in when a deep toss down the right sideline got Arizona down to the one yard line.

Two plays later, Meylor once again showed off his athletic ability, juking a defender and running it in to extend the lead to 49-27.

McKee put the icing on the cake with less than two minutes remaining in the game when he picked off Davis for his second takeaway of the game.

Guy said that because the Indoor Football League is a game of possessions, the team put a heavy emphasis on recruiting players with a strong history of creating turnovers.

“We want to be able to play as many possessions as possible,” he said. “The more chances we got to get on the field on offense, we get more chances to score, we get more chances to get on defense, we get more chances to stop.”

This was the Rattlers’ third straight game against the Strike Force dating back to last season. Guy believes the team got robbed of a chance to repeat as champions in 2025 when an officiating mistake, later confirmed by the league, ended the Rattlers’ campaign in agonizing fashion.

“I’m taking this year personal,” he said. “I’m just telling you, I would advise people to stay the hell out of my way this year.”

Meylor finished the game with 233 all-purpose yards and five total touchdowns. Bruce accumulated 69 receiving yards and a touchdown through the air, adding the touchdown on the ground. Trey Odoms-Dukes, who was signed just last week, had a big game with 59 receiving yards and a touchdown of his own.

Devin Hafford led the Rattlers with seven tackles while Taylor added five of his own.

The Rattlers next play at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, April 5 in Fishers, Indiana against the Freight (1-1). The game will be streamed live on the Yahoo! Sports Network.

Reporter Zev Black can be reached at zblack@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.