By TYLER HENRY
JC Post contributor
The Salina Liberty closed out their 2022 regular season in style with a comfortable 36-13 win over the Southwest Kansas Storm to secure the two-seed and a first-round bye in this year’s CIF playoffs.
While Salina and Sioux City take a rest next week, Billings, Omaha, Wyoming, and Southwest Kansas will battle it out for a spot in the semifinals.
In their regular-season finale, the Liberty put on a show in a game that embodied all of the usual Salina hallmarks.
The Storm got on the board first with an early field goal, but Salina quickly reclaimed the lead and never looked back, outpacing SW Kansas 36-10 the rest of the way.
On defense, the Liberty refused to allow a single touchdown, holding the opposing offense to just three field goals all night.
“We’d rather give up field goals than touchdowns and defensively our second half was amazing,” Salina HC Heron O’Neal said. “Our special teams put us in bad positions all night but our defense made all the plays we needed with big turnovers.”
The Liberty turned their expansion foe over three times, with Tron Folsom responsible for both a pick and a fumble recovery on the night.
This game was also another opportunity for new QB1 Javin Kilgo to put on a show, adding four more touchdowns and 150 yards to his season tally.
“I was happy with Javin with how he responded in the second half,” O’Neal said. “He was able to really put it out of reach.”
In his first three CIF games, Kilgo has ten touchdowns to just one interception, completing 69% of his passes for just shy of 500 yards.
While this Liberty win came comfortably, it was not without its toll, and Salina will need the bye to get back to as close to 100% as they can before the semifinal round.
“It’s unfortunate to have guys dinged up in the last game of the season,” he said. “It’s good that we have a week to rest up because we’re beat up.”
The six-team playoff will begin next week with the Liberty hosting a quarterfinal winner in a Salina Semifinal the following week.
For more on the Liberty in the postseason stay tuned to the Salina, JC and Little Apple Post.