By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After a much needed bye week the Salina Liberty will hit the road for Omaha with a chance to secure the number one overall seed and home field throughout the 2021 playoffs.
At 8-0 Salina remains the only undefeated team in the CIF and with three weeks remaining in the regular season can lock up the one-seed with a win or a loss from the 5-3 Beef, who they will play on Saturday at 6:30.
While the moment brings a unique level of energy to both teams, Coach Heron O’Neal and his squad will keep the same outlook that they have taken into each game this season.
“I don’t put any more pressure on myself or have higher expectations for my ballplayers,” he said. “Every game is a big game because we’re in it, that’s been our mantra all year.”
For the first time in several weeks, the Liberty look healthy on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Tyrie Adams, who has been unavailable for the last few weeks due to injury, will be available this week, but will have to earn his spot back from now former offensive player of the week Mitch Kidd.
“They both look good in practice,” O’Neal said. “Tyrie will make the trip down there for sure but I’m going to go with my gut and we’ll see what happens.”
This game will feature the league's best offense in Salina, who average 52 points per game, against the league’s best defense in Omaha, who have allowed just under 26 points per game over their last five matchups.
Omaha held Salina to under 50 points the last time these two met and remain the only team in the league to do so, but found the end zone just once, coming up short by a final score of 26-8.
“We’ve gotten a lot better offensively as the season has gone on,” O’Neal said. “That was our second league game and it was only Omaha’s first so we’ve both improved from that point and for us specifically we’ve become a lot less one dimensional as an offense.”
Kickoff from Ralston Arena in Omaha is set for 6:30 pm and as always the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) courtesy of Eagle Radio.
Stay tuned to the Salina Post for more coverage of the Liberty’s 2021 season.