By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
South Dakota is down to the final four in each of its six classes of high school football. Semifinal games in all classes are set for Saturday across the state.
Top-ranked and unbeaten Brandon Valley risks its 11-0 record at home against 9-2 Sioux Falls Lincoln late Saturday afternoon.
It’s a record-setting appearance for Lincoln, which has reached the 11-AA semifinals for the first time in school history. It did so by defeating city rival and two-time defending state champion Roosevelt in the quarterfinals Monday night, 21-7.
Brandon Valley needed two touchdown passes from quarterback Austin Sumner for a 28-0 quarterfinal victory over Watertown.
Meanwhile, a pair of 10-1 teams collide at Sioux Falls O’Gorman, as the host Knights meet cross-town rival Sioux Falls Washington.
Phil Wright led O’Gorman into the semifinals with a five-touchdown performance in a 41-7 victory over Sturgis – a team O’Gorman had beaten 48-0 Oct. 10.
Saturday’s semifinals against Washington will also be the second meeting between the schools this year. O’Gorman won the regular-season match-up 22-14.
In Class 11-A, St. Thomas More (7-3) meets Winner (9-1) in one semifinal. More exacted revenge on Belle Fourche in the quarterfinals with a 16-14 playoff victory, which made up for a 37-3 defeat earlier in the season.
However, More claimed the win only after Belle Fourche kicker Jordan Boston’s 33-yard field goal attempt with three seconds remaining was off target, a kick that would have given the Broncs the victory.
Meanwhile, Kevin Robb set a St. Thomas More school-record with three field goals in one game.
In the other half of the semifinal bracket, a pair of 8-2 teams meets Saturday evening as Dell Rapids plays at Harrisburg.
Dell Rapids is in the semifinals after upsetting No. 1-ranked West Central 19-14 at Hartford in the quarterfinals Monday evening. Dells’ Chris Curry ran for 90 yards on 12 carries, including a 50-yard run in the fourth quarter that helped provide the winning margin.
West Central bows out after winning seven of the last eight state 11-A championships.
Other semifinal pairings are as follows:
CLASS 11B
Groton (8-2) vs. Bennett County (10-0) at Martin, 6 p.m. CST (5 p.m. MST)
Tri-Valley (9-1) vs. Platte-Geddes-Dakota Christian (10-0) at Platte, 5 p.m.
CLASS 9AA
Chester Area (8-2) at Ipswich (10-0), 4 p.m.
Marion-Hurley (8-2) vs. Lyman (10-0) at Presho, 3 p.m.
CLASS 9A
Arlington (7-3) at Gettysburg (8-2), 6 p.m.
Sully Buttes (6-4) at Avon (9-1), 3 p.m.
CLASS 9B
Herreid (8-2) vs. Hanson (10-0) at Alexandria, 4:30 p.m.
Harding County (9-1) vs. Hitchcock-Tulare (10-0) at Tulare, 4 p.m.
Soccer: Sanctioning Put on Hold
South Dakota’s governing body for high school athletics is not yet ready to sanction soccer as an interscholastic sport in the Rushmore State.
Soccer is played at a “club” level with teams representing high schools, but the South Dakota High School Activities Association board of directors has held off adopting the sport as one of its own.
The board made the motion to delay after a majority of the state’s larger schools were concerned about funding and scheduling the sport around its other offerings.
The SDHSAA had earlier approved moving ahead with soccer for the 2010-2011 school year. The concerns came from members of the Greater Dakota (primarily Sioux Falls and Rapid City area) and Eastern South Dakota conferences.
Officials of those schools felt the process wasn’t long enough to allow them to research the ramifications of sanctioning for their individual schools.
“We didn’t have the time to go through the steps we normally would to alert the community, gather feedback and then explore the logistics,” Watertown superintendent Dr. Lesli Hanson told the Pierre Capital-Journal. “We didn’t even know the decision was being made in the first place.”
However, one SDHSAA official felt that was not a valid argument.
“To me that’s not even a good reason, because funding, budgeting and scheduling are always going to be an issue,” SDHSAA executive director Wayne Carney said. “Maybe with these economic times things are a little different ... but we need to be careful when we make that statement.”
One SDHSAA official lamented that the state is the only one in the United States that does not sanction soccer at the high school level.
