Friday is the final Friday of Summer. High School football in South Dakota has roughly reached the mid-season mark. One school in Sioux Falls is off to a good start in the early season, with a new coach for the first time since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.
It’s pretty hard to argue with the success of Sioux Falls O’Gorman Football under Steve Kueter. In 33 seasons as coach of the Knights, he won a state-record 289 games, and his teams won seven state championships in 13 title game appearances. Kueter retired from coaching after last season. The man now running the program is Jayson Poppinga, who comes to Sioux Falls from a successful run in Pierre. Poppinga knows he will take some getting used to.
”No matter how long it lasts, the next 10, 15, 20 years, people who see O’Gorman football are gonna see Steve Kueter and what he accomplished. I mean, you don’t see many coaches around the country, or the state or anywhere who coached as long as he did, and was as successful,” Poppinga says.
Kueter remains as athletic director at O’Gorman—that makes him Poppinga’s boss. Despite this, the new coach says the Knights will play within his system. That includes throwing the ball more than in Kueter’s traditionally conservative offense.
“No matter what, if you try to do something somebody else did really well, and try to copy it, it isn’t gonna be a good fit. You know, our personalities as coaches, and as a coaching staff, and our personalities as players is different than it was before—and you know, we’re trying to play to the strengths of our team. And as the season goes on, I think you’re gonna see our kind of brand of football as ‘This is what O’Gorman football is now, and not what it was 30 years ago,” says Poppinga.
O’Gorman has two wins in three games this season—with wins over Rapid City Stevens and Brandon Valley, and a loss to Sioux Falls Roosevelt. The Knights take on unbeaten Sioux Falls Washington Friday night, at McEneaney Field on the O’Gorman campus.