After finishing 8-4 in the regular season and grabbing first place in Champions Indoor Football Northern Division, the Salina Liberty found themselves at home with a spot in the Championship Game on the line Saturday night.
The opponent, a familiar one in the Omaha Beef. Saturday’s meeting would be the third meeting in four weeks between the two squads with Salina going 2-0 in the regular season against the Beef.
The Liberty got off to a great start with a quick 21-0 lead in the first quarter. All three touchdowns were scored on the ground by Tracy Brooks. Jimmy Allen went 3 for 3 on PAT kicks and also added two field goals as Salina took a 27-10 lead into halftime.
Omaha broke the intermission with a touchdown drive to start the third quarter. Salina would answer with a field goal to extend their lead back to 30-17. Omaha would sustain a drive that would chew up a good porting of the third quarter but score on a touchdown pass. The extra point missed by Omaha left the Liberty leading by seven, 30-23. On the last play of the third quarter, Andrew Jackson found Daniel McKinney for a 25 yard touchdown pass. The Allen extra point would extend the Liberty to 37-23.
The Beef offense would score on their first possession of the fourth quarter on a Derrick Bernard five yard run. The point after would once again miss for Omaha and the Liberty would lead by eight, 37-29 with 11:34 left.
The Liberty would answer once again with Tracy Brooks. On a third down and goal from the two yard line, Brooks would score his fourth rushing touchdown of the game. The score along with Allen’s extra point kick would put Salina up 44-29. Omaha would answer running a hurry up offense and scoring on a five yard pass from Bernard to Julian Stafford. Arevalo would convert the extra point pulling Omaha within eight, 44-36.
A big play by Andrew Jackson for Salina kept the final Liberty drive alive as he threw an under-hand pass to Brooks who converted the reception for a first down. The drive would end with a missed field goal and :38 seconds left on the clock.
Omaha would march down the field and score once again on a Derrick Bernard run pulling the Beef within two points with no time remaining. The two-point conversion to tie the game was unsuccessful as Bernard threw an incomplete pass to end the game. Salina wins 44-42.
Salina will travel south to Albuquerque for CIF Champions Bowl V on the weekend of July 13th against the Duke City Gladiators.