Storm season ends in Salina

Salina, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The Southwest Kansas Storm’s season ended in dramatic fashion as they fell to the Salina Liberty 41-35 in the first round of the Arena Football League (AFL) playoffs. A last second hail mary pass from Matt Stuck was caught at the four-yardline, but the Liberty corralled wide receiver Todd Athey before he could try and lateral the ball, ending the game and the Storm’s season.

The Storm got on the scoreboard first as Liberty quarterback Charles McCullum Jr saw a snap go right by him and dribble all the way to the end zone. By the time he picked it up, he was met by a host of Storm defenders who tackled him to secure a safety and an early 2-0 lead.

After the kickoff from the safety, the storm drove down the field to score their first touchdown of the game as quarterback Matt Struck ran the ball in for a touchdown to make it 9-0.

The Liberty had a response for that however, as Demarius Washington hauled in a 26 yard touchdown pass from McCullum to cut the Storm lead to 9-7. After a Storm field goal, Washington was celebrating another touchdown that put the Liberty in the lead. A kickoff that went through the uprights for two points made it 15-12 Liberty.

The Storm’s game-tying field goal was blocked, and on the first play of the drive wideout Jacoby Sullivan took a swing pass the distance to make it 22-12. Southwest Kansas tried to cut into the lead, but Struck was hit hard, forcing the ball out, allowing defensive end Justin Foster to pick up the fumble and score a touchdown.

After another deuce on the kickoff for the Liberty, the Storm found themselves needing to score just before halftime as they trailed 31-12 after giving up 24 unanswered points. That is when head coach Gary Thomas got into his bag of tricks and drew up the perfect play that saw Athey get a lateral from wide receiver Eugene Minter. Athey took the lateral all the way for a touchdown with two seconds to go in the half to make it 31-18 going into the lockerroom.

The second half began with the Liberty forming a long drive down the field, but they fumbled a handoff that the Storm were eager to pounce on, which resulted in a field goal to bring the Storm within 10. They got within three at 31-27 when Terrell Warner intercepted a pass and Todd Athey caught a pass in the end zone just a few plays later. The Storm went for a 4-point conversion that was stopped just short.

The Liberty got a field goal to increase their lead to seven in the fourth quarter, but another Struck rushing touchdown tied the game at 34 for the Storm. After a stop, they got the ball back, but an errant snap much like the one that the Liberty had to open the scoring with the safety was recovered in the end zone by Salina defensive end Henry Kellog with under a minute to go.

After the kickoff missed the netting, the Storm were awarded a point and given the ball at the 10 yard line with no timeouts. Struck took a sack on second down and was able to rally his offense to spike the ball with 10 seconds left on third down. On fourth down with the game on the line, he found Athey who threw himself up against the padding on the wall to get out of bounds and stop the clock.

On the hail mary attempt, Athey caught the ball with his back to the end zone and was being driven back. In a bizarre sequence, the ball was on the turf and picked up by wide receiver Chris Platt Jr, who reached for the goal line and was called short in a play that certainly would have been reviewed had the officials not come together to determine that before the ball was on the ground, Athey’s forward progress had been stopped, ending the game.

The Storm loss means their season comes to an end, and the Salina Liberty will travel to Albany to take on the Albany Firebirds.