The South Dakota High School Activities Association board of directors met on Wednesday to approve the football classifications, based on the average daily male membership (ADM). In November, and after months of debate, the board decided to keep seven classes of football. This came as a surprise to some after lengthy discussions of a potential five class and six class layout.
Both Watertown and Aberdeen Central voiced their concerns about remaining in the top class of football, and under the new format, will move down. Additionally, Sioux Falls Jefferson will join 11AAA to give South Dakota’s top class of football a total of nine teams. Class 11AA then takes the next eleven teams with 11A taking the fourteen teams following that, again, depend on the ADM numbers. The lowest 11-man class, 11B, looks to hold a total of 29 teams for the 2021-22 classification cycle.
Here’s what the four 11-man classes will look like...
Class 11AAA (nine teams) – Sioux Falls Jefferson, Sioux Falls Lincoln, Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Sioux Falls Washington, Rapid City Stevens, Rapid City Central, Brandon Valley, Harrisburg, and O’Gorman (petition up)
Class 11AA (11 teams) – Brookings, Yankton, Mitchell, Douglas, Pierre, Sturgis, Huron, Spearfish, Tea Area, Aberdeen Central, and Watertown
Class 11A (14 teams) – Belle Fourche, West Central, Vermillion, Lennox, Sioux Falls Christian, Dakota Valley, Madison, Milbank, Canton, Chamberlain, Tri-Valley, Custer, Dell Rapids, and Sisseton
Class 11B (29 teams) – Beresford, Hot Springs, Lead-Deadwood, Flandreau, Elk Point-Jefferson, Redfield, Winner, Wagner, Sioux Valley, Mobridge-Pollock, Rapid City Christian, Baltic, Hill City, Groton Area, Parker, Bennett County, Deuel, Webster Area, Aberdeen Roncalli, Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan, McCook Central/Montrose, Miller/Highmore-Harrold, Clark/Willow Lake, Tripp-Delmont/Armour/AC/DC, Woonsocket/Wessington Springs/Sanborn Central, Dakota Hills, Scotland/Menno, St. Thomas More (petitioned up), and Mt. Vernon/Plankinton (petitioned up)
The 9-man classifications are expected to be released in the next week or so, but by a rough count, they’ll have around 61 teams. As mentioned by multiple sources to this point, if 9-man football, which currently has three classes in South Dakota, stays below 64 teams for two consecutive classification cycles, the number of 9-man classes will move from three to two.
Regardless of all the debate about reducing the number of high school football classes in South Dakota, it could be forced into a change as early as 2024, or unless additional changes to policy are made. The current classification cycle is for just one-year, but the next cycle is planned for a two-year window.
Special thanks to Brian Haenchen of The Argus Leader for assisting in the confirmation of these classifications.