For the first time in franchise history, the Panthers will host a playoff game when they face the Tucson Sugar Skulls in the Western Conference semifinals at the SAP Center on Sunday, July 23 at 3:05 pm Pacific.

The Panthers are the second seed in the conference after a 10-5 regular season with the Sugar Skulls seeded third after going 9-6.

This is the rubber match between the two teams with each winning on the opposing field during the regular season.

Tucson pinned the only home loss on Bay Area after leaving the South Bay with a 34-30 win on April 16.  The Panthers led 16-0 late in the second quarter before momentum swung when Dominion Ezinwa blocked a 20-yard field goal try by Kevin Goessling.  The Sugar Skulls closed to 16-7 at the half on a Ramone Atkins 2-yard scoring run.  Atkins threw three second half TD passes to Carrington Thompson in the win--the backbreaker was Thompson catching a 33-yard scoring pass on 4th and 7 with 1:12 to play in the fourth period.

In the loss, Dalton Sneed completed 14-23 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns to Nih-jer Jackson in the fourth quarter.  Sneed added 28 yards on the ground with two scores.

In the rematch on May 27, the Panthers left Tucson with a 44-42 win.  Bay Area rallied from 30-17 down in the second quarter for the biggest comeback win of the season.  Justin Rankin provided the winning score in the fourth quarter with his third rushing TD of the game.  Atkins scored on a 3-yard run late in the fourth but his two-point conversion pass was knocked away by Trae Meadows to preserve the win
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Bay Area is the third highest scoring team in the league at 51.7 points per game while Tucson is third in scoring defense at 41 points per contest.  Tucson is ninth in scoring at 44.1 points per game while Bay Area ranks fifth at 44.1 points per game.

The Panthers were 6-1 at home while the Sugar Skulls went 6-1 on the road—only falling at Duke City 47-43 on June 10.