It’s been four weeks since the Salina Liberty defeated the Sioux City Bandits in the Liberty’s home opener.

Although both teams will be familiar with one another when the rematch takes place Saturday night in Sioux City, there have been enough changes in the rosters that both coaching staffs had some questions concerning new personnel in their preparation this week.

The Liberty (2-2) and Bandits (1-2) meet at 7:05 p.m. at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Salina defeated Sioux City 65-45 when the teams met March 30 at Tony’s Pizza Events Center.

“We do have film on them from the first game, but their offense has drastically changed,” Salina head coach Heron O’Neal said. “They’ve got a new quarterback, a new center, a new running back and a new receiver, so they are totally different on offense. They’ve also got some secondary people back that weren’t there the first time.

“If you look at our secondary, we’ve added three or four new guys since the last time we played them and we added another receiver. So we’re definitely different from the first time we played them.”

Tonight’s game is actually the second of three meetings between Salina and Sioux City in the regular season. The teams will play again on Saturday, May 25 at Tony’s Pizza Events Center.

Salina and Sioux City were the top two teams in the Northern Division of Champions Indoor Football a year ago. The Liberty defeated the Bandits in the regular season game at Sioux City, but the Bandits returned the favor in the CIF semifinals at Salina.

“Sioux City is a contender every year in the CIF,” O’Neal said. “It’s a great measuring point for us, especially playing on the road.”

After three consecutive games at home, the Liberty will be playing on the road for the first time since a March 23 contest at Amarillo, Texas. That was the season opener for Salina, with the team playing six of its first nine games at home.

“With three games at home, it was a good way to get started, especially with how young we are,” O’Neal said. “Our fans got a chance to see our team and see how we continue to grow each week.

“Now we get the experience of going on the road, knowing we have to execute if we want to be successful.”

The Liberty are coming off their best defensive effort of the season in last week’s 50-22 victory over Wichita. That defense will likely be tested again tonight, with Sioux City scoring 69 points last week in a one-point loss at Amarillo.

“I would say the defense stepped up big time (against Wichita),” O’Neal said. “They are finally getting what we’ve been teaching since training camp and it’s starting to sink in.

“They understand how consistent you have to be in order to be in contention for winning ball games.”

The Liberty will be back home again next week to face the Duke City Gladiators, defending champions in the CIF.