By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After taking their first loss of the season a week ago, the Salina Liberty will look to bounce back as they host the Sioux City Bandits for a third contest this season.
Salina has already beaten Sioux City twice this season, defeating the Bandits 53-24 at home and 51-40 on the road.
The Liberty will once again have an opportunity to secure the number one overall seed and home field throughout the playoffs with a win or an Omaha loss.
“I’m not going to say we’re not worried about getting that last win,” Liberty head coach Heron O’Neal said. “Securing the number one seed and winning a national championship are our only goals every year that I’ve coached. We have two games left to win one and I would rather get it out of the way now but we’ve got a very good Sioux City team coming in here.”
The 4-6 Bandits have been very up and down in 2021, bookending four losses with pairs of wins, most recently defeating Wyoming in back-to-back weeks.
The Liberty on the other hand will have to shake off a tough loss to the Omaha Beef last week and get back to their winning ways, still boasting the league’s best record at 8-1.
“The untimely penalties were very uncharacteristic of our team, O’Neal said. “We’re one of the least penalized teams in the league. We also didn’t score in the fourth quarter and when that happens you’re not going to win many of those games.”
Salina will once again have to contend with a defense that leads the league in interceptions and is top three in most other defensive categories.
“We have to be ready for their defensive line,” he said. “They bring the intensity every play and they're tough to run or pass on. They have one of the best linebackers in the league and that secondary is very physical. We need to match that intensity at all levels.”
While the Liberty are healthy coming into this week, several game-time decisions will still have to be made in regard to the starting lineup.
The most notable of these will be at quarterback, where Mitch Kidd got the start over Tyrie Adams again last week. Both quarterbacks have been named offensive player of the week at some point in 2021.
The emphasis for Salina in practice this week has been in line with Coach O’Neals philosophy all season long.
“When the time comes to make your play you’ve gotta make it,” he said. “You can’t go searching for the big play and put yourself in harm's way, that’s what we’ve been echoing this whole week.”
Kickoff between the Liberty and Bandits is scheduled for 6:30pm on Saturday night at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center and as always the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) courtesy of Eagle Radio.
For more on the 2021 Salina Liberty stay tuned to the Salina Post.