Pictured- Liberty quarterback Tyrie Adams (left) and wide receiver Ed Smith (right) teamed up for a walk-off touchdown pass in last week’s NAL playoff semifinal victory over Pueblo.

Salina Liberty coach Heron O’Neal called it a dart. Wide receiver Ed Smith described it as a dot.

Regardless, both agreed that Tyrie Adams’ walk-off touchdown strike to Smith in last Saturday’s National Arena League playoff semifinal at Pueblo, Colorado, was anything but a fluke.

Head coach Heron O’Neal

“It was not a Hail Mary,” O’Neal said emphatically. “Everybody keeps saying ‘Hail Mary, Hail Mary,’ but we ran a play.”

The 35-yard touchdown pass, with no time on the clock, not only gave Salina a wild 43-41 victory over the Pueblo Punishers but sent the Liberty to the championship game Sunday against No. 1 seed and regular-season champion Southwest Kansas. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at United Wireless Arena in Dodge City.

Wide receiver Ed Smith

“It was a great feeling, man,” said Smith, who found an opening in the end zone near the left wall, touching off a Liberty celebration. “God is good, and I feel like it was destined for us to go to the championship game.”

Things certainly looked bleak moments earlier, when Pueblo scored for a second time in the final minute and to 41-37 with nine seconds left. It capped a frantic 27-point fourth quarter for the Punishers.

The Liberty got the ball back at their own 10-yard line with seven seconds on the clock and threw an incomplete pass as time expired. But they got new life when Pueblo was flagged for an illegal defense.

That’s when O’Neal spotted something and went to work.

“The first play, I told (Adams} to throw to the right side, and we came out and it was two-by-two,” O’Neal said of the formation with two receivers to each side. “The next play we went three-by-one, and then I told (Smith) to just stay up the right wall, and that guy over there for Fast Ed, he cowboyed over to the three-receiver side, and it gave us a drill shot right there.”

“Tyrie looked them off to the three side and threw a dart, like it was right in his hands. It was no throw-it-up and hope. No, that was a play.”

Adams, who rejoined the Liberty late in the season after four years in the Canadian Football League, credited O’Neal for the critical adjustment.

Quarterback Tyrie Adams

“Hats off to Coach O,” he said. “He saw that wherever my eyes were going, that’s where they were going, so with the brief time that we had calling the play, Coach O said, ‘Hey, let’s go to our empty formation, but let’s go three-by-one, and I want Ed on his side by himself.”

“That was pretty much all he told me, but me and Coach O, we have such a good connection when he calls the play, nine times out of 10 — I like to say 9.9 times out of 10 — I know his intentions and what the reason for calling it is.”

There was no time for detailed instructions.

“They just told me I was going to be backside, and I feel like it was just meant to be for us to make the play,” Smith said. “(The Punishers defense) all went, (Adams) looked them off and came back and threw a dot, man.”

“(O’Neal) is the mastermind, and he’s going to be looking at things to try to get us out on top, so he saw it and he called it, and as usual it worked.”

Adams, who played collegiately at Western Carolina and then in 2021 and part of 2022 with the Liberty before signing with the CFL, was hard-pressed to recall a more exciting finish.

“As far as my career, that definitely takes the icing on the cake,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’ve just got to keep fighting, because it’s not over until it’s all zeros on the clock, and although it was (already) zeros on the clock, we got one more play.”

The fourth-seeded Liberty, who knocked off Colorado and Pueblo in the playoffs after a 6-4 regular season, now take on a Southwest Kansas team that finished with a 9-1 mark and then beat the Omaha Beef, 51-31, in the semifinals. The lost twice to the Storm during the regular season, falling 27-26 at home on April 25 and 55-41 in Dodge City on May 9.

But both Liberty losses to the Storm came before Adams took over at quarterback.

“We’ve also got two new defensive linemen that didn’t play in those games, and we’ve got one offensive lineman that didn’t play, and I’m calling the offense and defense now, not just the offense,” O’Neal said. “So, those are all things that they didn’t play against.”

“And we have eight rookies on this team — there’s no other team that’s got more than four in the whole league — so we were an inconsistent team and very young. All those guys have gotten better now, but (the Storm) have gotten better, too.”

All that’s left now, Smith said, is to play the game.

“They’re a great team, just like we’re a great team,” he said. “So, we’re waiting for Sunday to see what happens.”