Pictured- Liberty running back Tracy Brooks
In a battle of the National Arena League’s top two offenses, the Salina Liberty knew they were in for a shootout.
Fortunately for the Salina, no one on the field Sunday at Tony’s Pizza Events Center was more battle tested that Liberty running back Tracy Brooks, and it showed.
Trailing by a point at halftime, the Liberty turned to the league’s rushing leader, and he responded with three touchdowns and a key two-point conversion after intermission as they escaped with a 50-48 first-round playoff victory over the Colorado Spartans.
Head coach Heron O’Neal
“Tracy’s a guy that’s been here even before me,” Liberty coach Heron O’Neal said after watching Brooks rush for 88 of his game-high 117 yards in the second half. “He understands how to close games, but he’s an ultimate team player as well.”
“He knows how to ration his body to when it’s his time to make plays in the clutch, and he’s always been one of those type guys.”
Thanks to an offense led by Brooks and quarterback Tyrie Adams, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for another, the fourth-seeded Liberty (7-3) extended their first season in the NAL another week. Next up is a trip to Pueblo, Colorado, for a 7:30 p.m. (CDT) Saturday showdown with the regular season runner-up Pueblo Punishers (7-3).
The Liberty also had two defensive stops in the game, including a Jahlil Brown interception early in the third quarter, plus preserved a 42-41 lead with three minutes left when Trevonte Carter blocked an extra point kick. But it was Brooks who clearly led the way with 18 of his 22 carries coming in the second half.
Running back Tracy Brooks
“I came in with Coach O in 2019 as the workhorse, the bell cow running back,” said Brooks, who actually joined the Liberty a year earlier in 2018. “I knew we were going to need me to tote the ball in the second half.”
“Like I told the guys, I’ve been here before and my job is to lead, so I’m going to lead by example. I was just glad that the guys fell in the way they were supposed to, and we were able to execute it to the hilt and get away with the W.”
Brooks, a former Champions Indoor Football most valuable player and a key member of the Liberty’s 2022 CIF championship team.
“There’s nothing that he can’t do, and especially at the running back position he’s feared all over the arena football leagues,” Adams said of Brooks. “When you’ve got a guy like him, you get the ball in his hands.”
Brooks, O’Neal and Adams were reunited for the final two games of the regular season when he rejoined the Liberty after spending the past three seasons in the Canadian Football League.
“Coach puts his trust in the offense,” Brooks said. “We’ve got Tyrie back there as a playmaker, and me in the backfield with him. We trust our guys, and Coach O trusts us a lot.”
The Liberty beat Pueblo, 40-34, in their lone regular season meeting on April 4 in Salina. The winner Saturday will face either top seed Southwestern Kansas (Dodge City) or No. 6 Omaha the following week for the championship.
