It's back to the Champions Bowl for Salina Liberty after 26-14 semifinal win over Billings

The Champions Bowl is coming back to Salina.

Thanks to a dominating defensive performance, a couple of big pass plays and a heavy second-half dose of running back Tracy Brooks, the second-seeded Salina Liberty knocked off the Billings Outlaws, 26-14, on Saturday night at Tony's Pizza Events Center to advance to their third straight Champions Indoor Football championship game.

Thanks also to Omaha's 49-45 upset of top-seeded Sioux City in the other semifinal, Salina will play host to the Beef this Saturday in a rematch of last year's Champions Bowl.

"I knew at the beginning of the year what type of team we had," said Brooks, whose two second-half touchdown runs helped seal the deal for the Liberty, who improved to 8-3 with their fourth straight victory. "I just knew, once we put it together, we'd be right where we left off last year.

"Hopefully this time we'll close it out."

More: How Tracy Brooks' injury could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Salina Liberty

Last year, Omaha blocked a last-minute Salina field goal attempt to edge the Liberty, 40-39, for the championship. This will be the third straight Champions Bowl for the Liberty, who also came up short at Duke City in 2019.

"There's nobody in the IFL (Indoor Football League) or CIF history to go to three consecutive national championships in a row, so first I'm going to celebrate that," said Liberty coach Heron O'Neal, who previously won three IFL titles with Billings and last year was inducted into that league's hall of fame. "But this was the most satisfied I've been as a coach.

"I've won a championship going 17-1 and I've won a championship going 15-2. A championship is a championship, but to get to a championship game with what we had to endure and get to the same point where we were last year at the same spot here with Omaha is huge."

Early in the season, the Liberty lost starting quarterback Tyrie Adams to the Canadian Football League, and then lost O'Neal and starting defensive backs Dontra Matthews and Dewayne Autrey for two games to suspension stemming from a pregame incident against Omaha on March 26. To make matters worse, reigning CIF most valuable player Brooks broke his arm early in that same Omaha game, forcing him to miss two months.

More: Salina Liberty clinch No. 2 seed in Champions Indoor Football playoffs with 36-13 victory

"We had the quarterback and running back situation and a couple of guys getting ejected," said defensive end Travis Taylor, who like Brooks was a part of both previous Champions Bowl teams. "But everybody fell in and did their jobs and followed the rules and so we could have this opportunity to play."

While the Liberty sputtered on offense early, the defense rose to the occasion time and again. Billings took the opening kickoff and advanced to the Salina 5-yard line before the Liberty's Shaq Bradford blocked a 22-yard Jimmy Kazalski field goal attempt.

After forcing the Outlaws into a 55-yard field goal try on the next possession, the Liberty took over on their 23-yard line and got on the board with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Javin Kilgo to Demarius Washington. Kilgo later found a wide-open Ed Smith for a 36-yard score on a well-executed play-action pass that gave Salina a 13-0 halftime advantage.

"This was very indicative of how our season has been," O'Neal said. "The offense did just enough, and our defense kept us in every ballgame."

The Liberty got the ball to start the second half and put together their most impressive drive of the game, covering 45 yards in 12 plays to make it 20-0 on Brooks' 1-yard, fourth-down run.

"We came in (at halftime) and went back to the drawing board and figured out what they were doing to us on the defensive line," said Brooks, who had just 1 yard on three carries before intermission but finished with 42 yards. "We fixed what they were doing and that was our big adjustment."

More: No. 2 Champions Indoor Football playoff seed on the line in Salina Liberty's season finale

Offensive tackle Kelvin McCoy said it was more an attitude adjustment.

"This week we just focused on finishing," he said. "The first half was a little shaky and we knew that, so we said in the second half let's just make sure we're finishing so we can get what we need done."

Billings, which finished with an 8-4 record, outgained the Liberty, 222 yards to 177, but was just 1 of 3 on fourth down and missed all three field goal attempts. The Liberty were 3 of 5 on fourth down and got the two big pass plays.

For Billings, quarterback Jamario Benson completed 14 of 21 passes for 128 yards and rushed for 38 on 14 attempts. D'Nerius Antoine, who had both Outlaw touchdowns in the fourth quarter, finished with 24 yards on nine carries.

Kilgo was 10 of 19 passing for 142 yards for the Liberty, with two interceptions, though the second pick came on the game's final play. Smith was the leading receiver with four catches for 62 yards.

And now it's back to the Champions Bowl.

"Every Saturday, when we wake up, Tracy and I tell each other, 'It's a great day to be great. Why not us?' It's time," said McCoy, who rooms with Brooks during the season. "It's time to seal the deal, man, and we're back at it again."

CHAMPIONS INDOOR FOOTBALL

SALINA LIBERTY 26, BILLINGS OUTLAWS 14

Billings;0;0;0;14;—;14

Salina;7;6;7;6;—;26

First Quarter

S—Washington 33 pass from Kilgo (Allen kick), 1:49

Second Quarter

S—Smith 36 pass from Kilgo (kick blocked), 8:36

Third Quarter

S—Brooks 1 run (Allen kick), 7:25

Fourth Quarter

B—Antoine 5 run (kick failed), 11:10

S—Brooks 3 run (pass failed), 0:58

B—Antoine 1 run (Best pass from Benson), 0:33

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — B: Antoine 9-24, Benson 14-38, Evans 7-19, Best 1-13. S: Brooks 20-42, Griffin 2-0, Kilgo 4-(-7).

PASSING — B: Benson 14-21-0-128. S: Kilgo 10-19-0-142.

RECEIVING — B: Best 2-9, Brown 5-63, Laughinghouse 4-36, Evans 3-20. S: Washington 2-50, Smith 4-62, Love 4-30.

Other Saturday score

Omaha 49, Sioux City45

Saturday, June 25

Champions Bowl

Omaha Beef (9-3) at Salina Liberty (8-3), 6:30 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina Liberty beat Billings in Champions Indoor Football semifinal