The Salina Liberty, on Saturday night, gave everything they had to the defending champion Sioux City Bandits, but came up just short, 41-39.
Salina got the scoring started in the opening drive of the game when quarterback Derek Racette ran 24 yards up the left side of the field for the touchdown, giving the Liberty the early 7-0 lead.
The Bandits answered right back with a touchdown pass. The extra point was missed and Salina led 7-6.
Liberty kicker Mike Georgetti nailed a 28 yard field goal with 5:15 left in the opening quarter, giving the Liberty a 10-6 lead.
Sioux City answered back on a touchdown run, giving them their first lead of the night, 13-10. That would be the score at the end of the opening quarter.
Derek Racette answered back for the Liberty, connecting with Pelton Smalls on a 16 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was no good, but the Liberty had the lead, 16-13, with 12:27 to go in the half.
Sioux City would answer back with two touchdown runs, giving them a 27-16 lead at the half.
The Liberty defense struck on the opening drive of the second half, forcing a Bandit fumble, and Justiss Scales returned it for the defensive score. The extra point was no good, but the Sioux City lead was cut to 27-22 with 14:25 to go in the 3rd Quarter.
Moments later, Thailand Pierce intercepted a Sioux City pass in the end zone, stopping a Bandit drive. The Liberty cashed in on a 43 yard Georgetti field goal moments later and the Bandit lead was cut to 27-25 going into the final period.
Just three seconds into the final period, Sioux City scored on a short touchdown run, increasing their lead to 34-25.
Joe Kassanavoid scored on a nice one-handed catch to again get the Liberty to back within two, 34-32, with 11:34 left in the game.
Sioux City then scored on a touchdown run, again increasing their lead back to nine, 41-32, with just 1:46 remaining.
The Liberty did score one last time on a touchdown pass from Racette to Ed Smith Jr., cutting the Sioux City lead to 41-39, but Salina failed to recover an onside kick and Sioux City ran out the clock and held on for the win.
Salina falls to 2-5 on the season and will next travel to Dodge City for the second round of the “Tumbleweed Throwdown” next Saturday night.