The seven high school football classes, from 9B up to 11AAA will remain through the 2016/2017 season. The South Dakota High School Activities Association made the decision at its meeting in Pierre Tuesday. John Krogstrand with the activities association says many of the coaches and athletic directors were satisfied with the class system this year. One change that the association will make is considering male-only enrollment numbers when classifying.
“You could have two schools with 100 kids in their enrollment numbers, with 65/35 splits with 65 boys in one school and 65 girls in the other schools in those other classes. And our schools felt that looking at the boy-only number, because of the things we talked about that’s where the majority of football participants come from is a more accurate way to classify those and to give those schools the best chance to participate against a like-size school and like-size team when it comes down to playoffs,” Krogstrand says.
The male-only enrollment classifying will start during the 2015/2016 season. Krogstrand says the activities association also decided to do away with the opt-up or opt-down option in classes because it didn’t protect smaller schools. He says schools can still petition to show a hardship to appeal classification.