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Re: South Dakota High School Football Championships
I have this opinion about the addition of another class to 11 man, and that is there is not enough schools to make it worth while. We are speaking of 8 in 11AAA and 8 in 11AA. Thats not enough to judge competitiveness. I know one of the former CAS All star team players Gary Maffett recently resigned as head coach of Brookings High school. Gary is a great coach, but I think he might have gotten tired of losing to SF schools. I think he planned to retire anyway. He has been at it for 31 years. Also the talent level at BHS is rather streaky and one year you have an excellent season followed by a decade of mediocare seasons. Mitchell and Yankton, who are equal in size seem to have more tradition in winning. Also Watertown who is traditionally tough had a real bummer of a season this year. My point is there are ups and downs and creating two classes amongt the big schools might not solve much of anything. The state needs more population growth before we add another class. Three 9 man classes makes no sense whatsoever.
I know some of these schools only have 19 or 20 players participating, but when you play a game that requires 11 players, a watered down version does justice to no one.
About the new arena. I know Nebraska has for years had 6 classes for bb and they all play their state tourney in Lincoln and they start at the exact time. They use Devaney, the downtown Auditorium and two of the local high schools. The girls play one week and the following week the boys play. This works for small schools such as Wallace, who is in the south east part of the state, and to start out in Lincoln Southeast High gym is not the same culture shock that they would have if they played in Devaney. The smaller classes do not see Devaney until the last day of the tourney. They also do not mess with a consolation bracket. If you lose in the first round, you go home
Its worked for Nebraska for years and for Sioux Falls to host all three at the same time, might work. In terms of economic activity loss to other communities such as Aberdeen, this is a draw back, but they will survive. In the old days Huron depended on the Class B tourney every year. With the packing plants closing, Huron is a much different community than it was in the 1950's and 1960's. Huron slowly is regaining strength, and its not been easy. Aberdeen and Rapid are both strong enough that if they lost this tourney, they could survive. Why should we deny our students the opportunity to play their games in the biggest and best venue, which most likely will be the new arena in SF?
I have this opinion about the addition of another class to 11 man, and that is there is not enough schools to make it worth while. We are speaking of 8 in 11AAA and 8 in 11AA. Thats not enough to judge competitiveness. I know one of the former CAS All star team players Gary Maffett recently resigned as head coach of Brookings High school. Gary is a great coach, but I think he might have gotten tired of losing to SF schools. I think he planned to retire anyway. He has been at it for 31 years. Also the talent level at BHS is rather streaky and one year you have an excellent season followed by a decade of mediocare seasons. Mitchell and Yankton, who are equal in size seem to have more tradition in winning. Also Watertown who is traditionally tough had a real bummer of a season this year. My point is there are ups and downs and creating two classes amongt the big schools might not solve much of anything. The state needs more population growth before we add another class. Three 9 man classes makes no sense whatsoever.
I know some of these schools only have 19 or 20 players participating, but when you play a game that requires 11 players, a watered down version does justice to no one.
About the new arena. I know Nebraska has for years had 6 classes for bb and they all play their state tourney in Lincoln and they start at the exact time. They use Devaney, the downtown Auditorium and two of the local high schools. The girls play one week and the following week the boys play. This works for small schools such as Wallace, who is in the south east part of the state, and to start out in Lincoln Southeast High gym is not the same culture shock that they would have if they played in Devaney. The smaller classes do not see Devaney until the last day of the tourney. They also do not mess with a consolation bracket. If you lose in the first round, you go home
Its worked for Nebraska for years and for Sioux Falls to host all three at the same time, might work. In terms of economic activity loss to other communities such as Aberdeen, this is a draw back, but they will survive. In the old days Huron depended on the Class B tourney every year. With the packing plants closing, Huron is a much different community than it was in the 1950's and 1960's. Huron slowly is regaining strength, and its not been easy. Aberdeen and Rapid are both strong enough that if they lost this tourney, they could survive. Why should we deny our students the opportunity to play their games in the biggest and best venue, which most likely will be the new arena in SF?
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