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SOUTH DAKOTA CLASS AA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: A DIVISIONAL PROPOSAL
The current discussion amongst Class AA football schools in South Dakota involves the separation of the top 16(17) teams into two divisions. The current proposal involves dividing the schools by existing enrollment numbers. We believe that the potential divisions should not be created by arbitrary, current enrollment figures but by actual performances (wins-losses) over the previous number of years. The top eight teams would be in the Upper Division, the remaining eight/nine teams would be placed in the Lower Division of the Class AA High School football schools. This process is currently utilized by several sports leagues; Two examples are: locally the Sioux Falls area Church League, slow pitch softball; Internationally, the Premier League in soccer.
We have compiled the comprehensive records (overall, including playoffs) for the seventeen schools that have played Class AA football in the past eight years. We have also compiled their records for the past three years and past five years. These breakdowns provide insight into how the divisions could have progressed in the past decade. You can see the actual trends that have developed.
See: Comprehensive Records, South Dakota Class AA Football in the Football Records Section.
Myths: Facts:
Sioux Falls currently has 156,000 people as compared to around 80,000 in 1981 when the football playoffs began. Over 14,000 of those people who live in Sioux Falls do not live in the Sioux Falls school district. Areas of the City of Sioux Falls belong to the Harrisburg, Brandon Valley, Tea, Lennox, and Tri-Valley school districts. So the real population of the Sioux Falls School District is around 142,000 people.
You also have to keep in mind the size of Sioux Falls Christian high school. In 1981 they didn't have a football program and there were around eighty students in high school. Today they have two hundred and forty students in high school and have a football program. With the growth of Sioux Falls Christian another 3,000 residents have been taken out of the public school situation. These factors reduced the real growth of the Sioux Falls School District by nearly 19,000 residents. Has the Sioux Falls School District really grown from 80,000 to 156,000 residents?
Four of the six biggest schools in the state; Rapid City Central(0), Sioux Falls Lincoln(1), Rapid City Stevens(1), and Aberdeen Central (0) have won a combined two state championships in Class 11AA football since 1981. This is the same number, two that Spearfish has won in the same class during this time period. Spearfish has won as many state championships at the Class AA level as has Sioux Falls Washington, two.
Sioux Falls O'Gorman is smaller than seven of the eight ESD schools.
Rapid City Central has never played in a state championship football game since the playoffs began. Sioux Falls Lincoln has played in one. Rapid Stevens has played in two. Aberdeen Central has played in only three. These are four of the six biggest schools in the state.
NATIONAL FEDERATION HIGH SCHOOL RECORDS BOOK
Mariah Press and sdsportshistory.com efforts to document the high school sports records is reflected in the South Dakota records included in the National High School Records Book published by the National Federation of High School Associations.
Special performances highlighted in the 2011 Edition include Sioux Falls Washington's Rueben Narlin's four golf championships during the 1930s. Special basketball performances by the girls' team from Baltic in 1999, and exceptional shooting displays by Mandy Koupal of Wagner, and Jenny Bridge of Hanson are highlighted. The boys' section includes the exceptional number of state championships won by the Mitchell Kernels.
In the football section of the National Records Book, Sioux Falls Washington is the national leader with 37 high school football championships (35 mythical, 2 playoff titles). Aberdeen Roncalli's 11 consecutive shutouts in 2006 is tied for fourth on the all time, national records list.
Only three states, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota play extensive 9-man football seasons. As a result the more thorough and complete South Dakota records permeates the National Records Book lists. Most currently established South Dakota 9-man records are also considered national records. The National Records book is being converted to a digital format, quite similar to the sdsportshistory.com site. The 2012 National Records book will be available this fall in the digital format. nfhs.org/content.aspx
2011 State High School Baseball Championships
For the first time since 2002, when the regional champions/final four playoff system was established, there were three Sioux Falls high schools in the final four: Sioux Falls Lincoln, Sioux Falls O'Gorman, and Sioux Falls Roosevelt. In 2001, the first year a state baseball championship was held, all four Sioux Falls teams made it to the semi-finals. Sioux Falls O'Gorman returned to defend its Class A championship. Sioux Falls Lincoln played in the final four for the first time since 2002. Sioux Falls Roosevelt last appeared in the final four in 2006. In 2003 Roosevelt began the tournament as the highest seed in Class A, but went on to win the championship. Mitchell appeared in their sixth championships since 2002. Mitchell won championships in 2006 and 2009.
The 2011 Class A Championship, held at the Sioux Falls Stadium, saw Sioux Falls Lincoln defeat Sioux Falls O'Gorman, 5-2 in the first semi-final game. The second semi-final was won by Sioux Falls Roosevelt, 14-10 over Mitchell. In the championship game Sioux Falls Roosevelt defeated Sioux Falls Lincoln for their second State High School Baseball Championship.
Class B:
Rapid City St. Thomas More returned to the 2011 Class B final four as the two-time, defending Class B champion. Bon Homme appeared in the final four as the Region 1 Champion for the first time. Chester/Colman-Egan/Flandreau returned as the Region 2B champion. Tri-Valley returned as the Region 3B champion, having last appeared in the final four, as part of a co-op with Sioux Falls Christian, in 2009.
The 2011 Class B Championship, held at Flandreau, saw Chester/Colman-Egan/Flandreau defeat Tri-Valley, 8-7 in the first semi-final game.. In the second semi-final game Bon Homme defeated defending champion, Rapid City St. Thomas More, 11-1. In the championship game Bon Homme defeated Chester/Colman-Egan/Flandreau, 9-5 for their first ever State High School Baseball Championship.
Six high school teams claimed South Dakota track and field team championships at competition held in Howard Wood Field on May 29, 2011. Oldham-Ramona-Rutland won its second straight Class B girls title while Canistota won the Class "B" boys crown, which overall is its third team championship. In Class A girls, West Central won the title while Tea Area boys claimed the school's first state title. The Class AA girls competition was won by Rapid City Stevens for the 15th time in 16 seasons and 18 overall. The Sioux Falls Washington boys won the AA crown for the first time since 1988. It was their 33rd overall title. This ties Sioux Falls Washington with Pickford, Michigan (1952-2004) for second place in the National Federation of High School Records Book. Little Rock Central of Arkansas has the most state championships with 50 (1908-1979).
