By Bob Bakken
MaxPreps.com
The South Dakota High School Activities Association has announced the first-round pairings for the football postseason. Games in the first round will be played on Tuesday.
The lone unbeaten in Class 11-AA, Brandon Valley hosts 1-8 Rapid City Stevens at Brandon Tuesday.
Two unbeaten teams are left in Class 11-A. West Central hosts Milbank (5-3) and Belle Fourche meets Custer (4-4) in first round action.
There are also two unbeatens left in Class 11-B, as Platte-Geddes-Dakota Christian hosts Bon Homme (6-2) in a Region 3 contest, while in Region 4, Bennett County is the home team for 4-4 Stanley County.
In nine-man football, unbeaten Ipswich (9-0) is the host team for a first round 9-AA game with 5-3 Florence-Henry on Tuesday, while at the same time, undefeated Lyman (8-0) hosts Newell (5-3).
The 9-A matchups include only one undefeated squad, as Eureka-Bowdle (8-0) hosts Sunshine Bible (6-2).
There are three unbeatens in Class 9-B football. Dell Rapids St. Mary (8-0) meet Montrose at Dell Rapids, Hanson hosts Colome (6-2) and Menno (8-0) is the home squad against 7-1 Gayville-Volin at Menno.
Cross Country: Roosevelt Stops Yankton Streak
Sioux Falls Roosevelt won the state Class AA girls cross country championship Saturday in Huron. The win for the Rough Riders ended a five-year streak of state titles by the Yankton Gazelles.
Roosevelt ended with 42 points with Aberdeen Central taking second with 70 points. Yankton took third with 98 points.
The RoughRiders were led by the second-place finish of junior Seanna Kautz. Five runners from Roosevelt were in the top 15.
Yankton’s Megan Hilson won the individual championship in a time of 15:42.1, just a little over a second in front of Kautz.
The Yankton boys did win another state title with 53 points to second-place finisher Rapid City Stevens and Sioux Falls Roosevelt finished in third place.
Sioux Falls Washington junior runner Josh Heitkamp took the individual title with a time of 15:57.9.
Cross Country: Mendoza Wins Fourth State Championship
Kiko Mendoza has won a state boys cross country championship in South Dakota for the fourth-straight time. Mendoza won the Class A title Saturday running for Cheyenne-Eagle Butte. He had won three Class B championships for Takini before this year.
His winning time of 16:19.8 was six seconds faster than Alex Muntefering of Parkston, who had won the Class A title two years ago.
“I picked the spot to make my move (Friday) while we made a practice run," Mendoza told the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader. "It was the last big hill about a mile-and-half into the race, and I just took off.”
Mendoza’s efforts helped Cheyenne-Eagle Butte win the state team title, 39-to-76 for second-place Flandreau Indian School. Redfield finished third with 88 points.
In the girls’ race, an eighth-grader from Todd County won the state individual title. Lottie Grimshaw took the race in a time of 16:19.7, defeating defending champion Kelsey Barrett of Britton-Hecla.
Chamberlain was the team champion with 63 points, 17 more than last year’s winner Custer. West Central was third with 100 points.
Cross Country: Family Affair for Wessington Springs
Hearing the name Kraft in the Class B running of the South Dakota cross country state championships Saturday was not a commercial for a spread on bread. Instead, the Kraft family of Wessington Springs dominated both the boys and girls championships in Huron.
Twin Mitch and Drew led their team to the team title, and freshman sister Mindy took the individual championship in the girls’ race.
Mitch was the runner-up in the boys’ race, about five seconds behind champion Jeffrey Mettler of Eureka-Bowdle’s 17:14.3. Drew Kraft finished fourth.
Wessington Springs’ 18 points was three better than Estelline’s 21 for the team championship. McIntosh was third with 48 points.
Mindy Kraft took the girls’ individual championship in a time of 17:03.9 seconds. Kadoka was the team winner for the second straight year with nine points, followed by Lemmon was the runner-up with 35 points.
