By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
Following a brief stumble at the hands of the Omaha Beef last week, the Salina Liberty rebounded in a big way on Saturday, defeating the Southwest Kansas Storm 45-38.
With this win, the Liberty remain in fourth at 5-2, while the Storm fall to 2-4 on the season.
The main attraction of this game was a battle between two quarterbacks debuting for their new teams, and it appears the Liberty have found their missing piece, as Ed Crouch looked every bit as good as advertised in the victory.
The former FCF MVP racked up 179 all-purpose yards under center, tossing five touchdowns through the air and adding one on the ground while surrendering just two interceptions on the day.
On the other side of things, it was a rough day for new Storm signal-caller Josh Hollins, who threw three picks to just one TD, but did add three rushing scores in the loss.
Once again, the Liberty secondary feasted on poor passes, as Deetray Matthews, Trevon Slayton, and Tyrie Allen each recorded an interception on a day that saw Salina break even in their turnover differential.
Salina struck first in this game and never looked back, taking the early 8-0 lead on a connection from Crouch to Anthony Love to open the scoring.
By halftime, the Liberty lead had grown to 22-15, and the offense picked up right where they left off out of the locker room with another Crouch hookup to Love to extend the advantage to 14.
The Storm battled, and actually managed to outscore Salina the rest of the way, but their comeback effort came up short as the Liberty secured the win to get back on track.
With the regular season a little over halfway in the books, the Liberty are in an excellent position to secure a playoff spot, and will have a non-league game at home against the Queen City Insane Asylum this Saturday before resuming league play on May 6th.
Salina will play two of their final three games on the road, with trips to Southwest Kansas and Wyoming bookending a home game with Sioux City before the CIF playoffs get underway.
For continuing coverage of Liberty football all season long stay tuned to the Salina, JC, and Little Apple Posts.