Revamped Salina Liberty line setting the tone for Champions Indoor Football's top defense

For the past four years, Keenen Gibbs thought his indoor football career was over.

Shaq Bradford, the local favorite from Kansas Wesleyan, was just getting started last season as a Champions Indoor Football rookie but was still a spot player and pass rush specialist.

But together, along with veteran and former all-Champions Indoor Football end Travis Taylor, they have been mainstays on a revamped Salina Liberty defensive line that has taken the league by storm. They've also proven to be contributors to what is hands-down the league's top defensive unit.

"With the addition of Keenen Gibbs, that defensive line went crazy this year," said safety Dontra Matthews, who leads the Liberty in interceptions on the back end of the defense. "You add a Keenen Gibbs — we call him Kodak —with Travis and Shaq and you've got Isaiah Blackman, and those four guys right there are a terror on that front line, and they cause havoc every day."

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With the retirement of longtime defensive end standout Jake Lattimer and departure of nose guard Rusty Becker from last year's defense, there was some uncertainty on the line heading into the season. But those questions have all been answered, which in turn has helped the Liberty advance once again to Saturday's 6:30 p.m. CIF title game, where they'll face Omaha in Champions Bowl VII at Tony's Pizza Events Center.

Gibbs, who at 6-foot-4, 265 pounds has shown the versatility to play anywhere across the defensive front, made an immediate impact at the nose guard. The Liberty are tied for the league lead with 12 sacks as a team, and Gibbs shares the CIF individual lead with six.

"I'd definitely say the leader of our defensive line has been Keenen Gibbs," said Liberty coach Heron O'Neal. "He's a player that hasn't played in four years, but when he did play, he led all of the CIF with 19 1/2 sacks.

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"So it was very good to get him to come out of retirement. And the thing that was a pleasant surprise to me was how hard he works, and the other surprise was that he got most of his sacks at defensive end for Wichita and this year he showed us he can get them at nose guard as well."

Gibbs, who played college football at Toledo, may have thought his career was over when he first retired four years ago, but it turned out he wasn't quite ready to let go after all.

"I've had a relationship with a lot of guys on the team," Gibbs said. "I played with them down in Wichita, and I missed being around the game, the guys and the coaches, and it made me a little thirsty to come back.

"I got a chance to get that break and come back and it feels amazing (to be in the championship game). All the work you put in during the offseason, all the running and sprints, are starting to pay off."

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Taylor, a former standout at Murray State, has been a constant on all of O'Neal's Liberty teams, including the last two that lost in the Champions Bowl. And he likes what he has seen from the line.

"D-line has always been our strong point," he said. "We're going to play, we're going to bring the energy and we're going to set the tone.

"You snap the ball and the d-line is right there in front of you. They've got to start with us first, so we've got to set the tone, and then the defensive backs and everybody else feeds off of that."

While Taylor has remained steady and Gibbs stepped in to fill the void in the middle, Bradford has enjoyed a breakout sophomore season. Not only does he have four sacks, but he has turned into the league's most feared kick blocker.

"The biggest growth of anybody has been Shaq Bradford," O'Neal said. "He had 44 sacks in two years at Kansas Wesleyan, which is some crazy number, and now he's starting to do that for us here.

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"He leads the league in field goal blocks and he's fourth in the league in sacks and third in tackles for loss. That's huge to get that kind of production from him."

And to think Bradford was not even activated for last year's playoff run.

"He's definitely the most improved player on our team this year," Matthews said. "His game has gone to a whole new level.

"He sat out last year in the playoffs and he said, 'I'll never sit out in another playoff,' and he showed why he shouldn't be sitting."

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina Liberty line a key to Champions Indoor Football's best defense