By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
Some small schools in South Dakota and elsewhere in the Midwest struggle to generate the participation numbers to allow them to compete with the state’s larger schools. Their size also keeps them from offering all the sports they want to provide.
So, in many cases, it’s better to join them than compete against them. The number of co-operative programs are growing in South Dakota, allowing the tiny schools to offer some of the sports that otherwise would result in little or no success in competition if they did it alone.
Rapid City Christian is an example of the co-op method in western South Dakota. The school has about 40 students in its top four grades, but sends its athletes to compete in sharing agreements with St. Thomas More and Rapid City Central.
The small private school has student-athletes competing on St. Thomas More’s soccer and girls tennis teams. It has others competing with Central in golf.
Rapid City Christian activities director Roy Roberts told the Rapid City Journal they don’t see the agreements being long lasting.
“The reason we co-op presently is because our lack of numbers,” Roberts said. “But our goal is to end the co-op at some point as our numbers come up.”
Co-operatives come about by mutual agreement of the schools taking part and by approval of the South Dakota High School Activities Association.
Pierre Sues to Keep Games off Radio Station Airwaves
Some schools would do anything possible to gain publicity by having their games aired on local radio. However, in South Dakota’s capital city, the school district is filing suit to keep their games off the radio.
At least off one radio station, that is. The school district recently entered into a contract with Pierre radio station KGFX to exclusively broadcast games of the local public high school.
However, the owners of KCCR Radio, also in Pierre, have announced they will broadcast out-of-town games of the Governors and Lady Govs, believing that does not violate the contract they lost on. The school district responded by issuing an injunction against KCCR, saying it needed to uphold the integrity of the exclusivity with KGFX.
The owners of KGFX say they are in support of the school district taking legal action. Meanwhile, the owners of KCCR say it’s in the best interest of the public for open access to a public school district’s athletic events.
Football: Lincoln Shocks Roosevelt
The result of Friday’s battle between Sioux Falls Lincoln and cross-town rival Roosevelt sent ripples through the rankings of the state’s largest schools. Lincoln defeated the top-ranked Rough Riders 21-6. It marked the first victory by the Patriots over the ‘Riders in eight years.
Running back Gannon Moore scored two touchdowns for the Pats, both set up by interceptions the Lincoln defense made. He ran for 87 yards on 17 carries and picked up 31 additional yards catching four passes.
Lincoln moved its record to 2-0 with the win, while the two-time defending state champions Roosevelt fell to 1-1. Both teams have big games coming up next week; Roosevelt plays O’Gorman in the Presidents Bowl on Saturday, with Lincoln facing second-ranked Washington the same night.
Football: West Central Spoils Harrisburg’s Home Debut
Harrisburg’s new football field was christened Friday night with a visit by Class 11-A’s top-ranked team, and the West Central Trojans came away with a 14-0 victory. The game was attended by an estimated 6,000 fans, watching the action on the stadium’s new FieldTurf surface.
West Central head coach Kent Mueller saw his coaching record improve to an impressive 46-1 with the victory. The only time his teams have been beaten came in the playoffs two years ago by Harrisburg.
On the flip side, Harrisburg has now lost to West Central three straight times by shutout, with the last two last season being 17-0 and 16-0.
Turnovers set up both West Central touchdowns, which both came in the second half. Harrisburg coach Scott Ebert felt that was the difference in the game.
"We let it slip away tonight,” Ebert told the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader. “We limited our penalties and turnovers and we established our ground game. Take away one turnover, and maybe it could have been a different outcome."
Volleyball: State Champs Open With Win
Rapid City Stevens opened defense of its state AA volleyball championship last Friday night with a three-game sweep of Brookings, 25-17, 25-20, 25-21, in Rapid City.
Stevens’ Kelly Herrmann was the leader for the home team statistically with eight kills and nine digs in the match.
