A Night of Statements

I was at three different games Friday night; Lincoln vs. RC Central, Chester vs. Freeman and Colman-Egan vs. DR St. Mary.

Here are my thoughts on the night that was:

Lincoln did not play a very pretty first half. Without penalties, they probably would’ve led the Cobblers 35-7 or better at halftime. Instead, it was a two score lead. I wasn’t at the game, but listening to the radio broadcast, it sounded like some interesting choices were made offensively by Lincoln, that may have prevented them from sealing the game earlier. Either way, Lincoln needed the win so kudos to them.

I no longer believe the four best schools in the state are in Sioux Falls. RC Stevens took care of O’Gorman rather easily, that is if you look at the final score. I’m not sure of the penalty situation and how that played into the game, but Stevens took care of business. I still wouldn’t bet against O’Gorman in many games. I really like the way the play, which says A LOT about Stevens.

In 11B, the top two teams won, but the three and four teams lost. There will be a shakeup and I expect Garretson will get into the poll, despite beating a banged up Bon Homme team who is probably a better team when healthy. Flandreau only lost by four, but to an inconsistent Tri-Valley team. Will Mobridge-Pollock get into the rankings or will Roncalli sneak back in?

The big story in nine-man was Canistota beating Hanson. Hanson had annihilated the competition all season and I didn’t expect them to lose. I didn’t think they’d rout Canistota, but I certainly thought they would win. The rankings in 9A will be interesting, because I don’t know that second ranked Sully Buttes is the best team. Who will be number one?

Back to the games I was at…

Chester rolled Freeman and it doesn’t sound like it was close. I left really early (gotta scoot in the TV world!) but the Kreutzfeldt twins were their dominating selves early. (I apologize to Dylan and Drew for mixing their names up on air.)

I thought the Colman-Egan vs. Dell Rapids St. Mary game was great. When I got there, C-E led 6-0. DRSM scored right away, tying the game. C-E couldn’t respond right away but got a key interception to ultimately set up a go-ahead score just before the half. They had all the momentum in the world, but you knew DRSM would come out firing. It was a halfback pass that really got the Cardinal sidelines into it in the third quarter before St. Mary finally punched it in and took a 14-12 lead. St. Mary wound up winning 22-20 (those two point conversions sure are big!). Everyone knows DRSM is a good squad. People heard C-E was good. I was very impressed by the way they played. I don’t care that St. Mary is a class below C-E. Come time to rank, I will be voting generously in favor of Colman-Egan based on a very solid performance against a very good Dell Rapids St. Mary team.

Jim Nelson
KSFY Sports

Stagnant week of excitment

Kind of late, but some reaction from this past week:

Washington, O'G win at Pres. Bowl
Washington is that good. A 21-3 win over Roosevelt may not sound like a blowout, but Washington controlled the game. They simply wore the Riders out by the end. What impressed me the most was the Warriors ability to dictate the game by field position. Not many high schools fully grasp the importance of pinning opponents deep. Everyone wants to have the ball and score. That’s not always how you win.

That said, Roosevelt is still a good team and I assume they’ll be in the picture come season’s end.

O’Gorman beating Lincoln was expected, so was the margin in which they did it. O’G may be a better team than Roosevelt, but the loss to the Riders is what obviously keeps them at number three in the rankings.


Sisseton rolls, Winner drops
Sisseton continues to roll what’s impressive is their ability to run the ball relatively well. Everyone knows about their passing game, which has opened doors for the run-game.

In 11B, Winner’s loss to Mobridge-Pollock isn’t as concerning as some may think. M-P is pretty formidable. That said, its Wagner at the top of the poll by virtue of taking care of business (combined with the Winner loss). Sticking in the class, Garretson has been playing well. I watched the first half of the Dragons game against Sioux Valley and was impressed with the way Garretson played. They’re one loss away from entering the top five.

Nine-Man Schools Stick to Plan
In the nine-man game, things stood still in terms of rankings, as the “favorites” took care of business with relative ease this week.

Looking Ahead
As we look ahead, these are the games to keep an eye on…
O’G vs. Stevens – two top five teams, time to see what (if any) difference there is between the East and West.
Washington vs. Sturgis – see above.
Canistota vs. Hanson – Could be a nice game.
Colman-Egan vs. DRSM - #5 in 9A vs. #1 in 9B
Garretson vs. Bon Homme – Garretson likely cracks our rankings with win.
Tri-Valley vs. Flandreau – up and down year for TV so far, will it be another “up” week?

Knee-jerk Reactions

Please note than some of these games are based purely on scores and limited information. That’s why I’m considering them knee-jerk reactions…and am asking YOU for input as to what really happened.

Tri-Valley thumps Harrisburg. Didn’t see it, haven’t heard much. Score makes it look like TV came to play and Harrisburg didn’t. What’s the story?

West Central throttles Milbank. I was there for only the second half, at which point the game was 20-20. West Central methodically moved the ball and didn’t let up.

Washington holds off Lincoln. Wasn’t there but it sounds like the Pats were in it for a bit. Washington simply proved its power by continuing to apply pressure.

Watertown edges Pierre. Another close game in the ESD. Hard to read that conference right now but I still think Pierre is solid. Watertown obviously has a good team. How good is TBD.

Hanson creates separation from Avon. Not sure how close the two were, but Hanson definitely put themselves that much above Avon and everyone else. Although, we can't forget that it was Avon who won the regular season game last year, before Hanson turned the tables in the championship game. I presume that Avon is still going to wind up with a nice season…in fact it’d be foolish to think otherwise.

What else should we be talking about from this week?

More reaction after the Dakota Bowl.

Looking Ahead

The first week is just a few days behind us and we're already looking ahead. I know many of our readers are South Dakotans, but at KSFY we cover parts of Iowa and Minnesota, which begins play on Thursday.

For people who really like good high school football, there is a great week one matchup in Adrian this Thursday night. The Dragons look to avenge last season's state championship game loss to Minneota at 7:00 p.m. Minneota looks to be very solid again this year, but has to replace its starting QB...which obviously is easier said that done.

In South Dakota, here are my games to watch:
Hanson vs. Avon - Could be the best game of the regular season.
West Central vs. Milbank - As many have said, this will leave a pretty good team 0-2 to start the season.
Best of the rest:
O'Gorman vs. Roosevelt
Dell Rapids vs. Canton
Lincoln vs. Washington
Tri-Valley vs. Harrisburg

Week "Zero"

Week one or “zero” as it’s called in South Dakota was certainly eventful.

11A definitely had the most interesting of weeks with the top two teams – Milbank and West Central – losing. For now, it’s safe to say either Sisseton or Harrisburg is deserving of the top spot in the latest rankings. It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out this season, especially with Milbank and West Central set to play each other this week. There’s going to be (at the very least) a good team beginning the year 0-2.

In 11AA there really weren’t any surprises at the top. Washington and O’Gorman rolled and Roosevelt didn’t really have any major issues with Mitchell, though some may have been surprised with the Kernels final tally. I wish I could have seen the Pierre/Lincoln game to really get a feel for how each team looked. The Patriots came out with a narrow win. I was at the O’G/Aberdeen game on Saturday and it really wasn’t close. Aberdeen struggled to move the ball and didn’t look good at all in passing situations.

11B also saw some interesting games. Roncalli was considered one of the better teams in the class, but fell to Redfield/Doland on Friday night. Before the season, I heard good things about Redfield/Doland and for now, there seems to be reason to believe it. The other upset was Canton beating Tri-Valley. The Mustangs are certainly down this year, but I’m not sure a whole lot of people outside of Canton saw this coming.

Nothing really sticks out in the nine-man classes in terms of jarring wins/losses.

I actually spent my Friday in NW Iowa at a pair of Siouxland Conference games. First up was Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley vs. Hull Western Christian. HWC was dominant from the start. They wound up winning 18-2 in an ugly game. Either way, a nice start for them. The other game I watched was West Lyon vs. Central Lyon/George-Little Rock. West Lyon rolled. No surprise in that CLGLR is down again and West Lyon continues to produce talented teams year after year.

One final note, I’m going to try my best to start tweeting from the guys I’m covering…feel free to follow: @JimNelsonKSFY

Surprises on the first Friday!

It's definitely a new season. Throw out the pre-season rankings, there are some new teams that have something to say early in the season.

What surprised you the most? West Central losing their first regular season game in over five years? Tri-Valley going down in a close one to an improved Canton team? Milbank losing traction in the 4th quarter and losing to Sisseton? Aberdeen Roncalli going down to Cameron Pudwill and Redfield/Doland?

Tell us what surprised you the most this week!

Top Games of the week

It’s hard to believe the football season is already here. It seems like only a few weeks ago that champions were crowned.

In the television sports world, the beginning of fall and the high school sports season signifies a renewed sense of “work.” During the summer months, things slow down considerably. It gets to the point where you’re almost bored. Fortunately, there is always the glimmer of Friday Night Lights in the distance.

I look forward to offering my thoughts throughout the season and into the playoffs. On a typical Friday night, I’ll be at two different games. Those are the games I’ll have the most insight into in this blog. Otherwise, it will simply be a reflection of the week that was…and the week to come.

Speaking of the week to come…here are my top five games for this week:

Harrisburg at West Central

Sisseton at Milbank

Lincoln at Pierre (Saturday)

Central Lyon/George-Little Rock (IA) at West Lyon (IA) - CLGLR is down again, but the rivalry trumps talent

Roncalli at Redfield/Doland

-Jim Nelson

KSFY Sports

Pre-Season Rankings: Harmless or Dangerous?

I was listening to sports talk radio this morning and heard two different shows talk about college pre-season rankings. One host thought they were pointless and actually had a negative effect on the way the season progressed and one host thought they were awesome and harmless.

Here at KSFY we put together a top five in each class even before the first game is played. Do you think this negatively affects teams or is it just harmless fun. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Practice Makes Perfect

Teams will begin practicing next Monday. Most teams start play August 27th while others don't start until September 3rd. Do you think that teams practice too much or too little?

2010 Season Coming Soon...

The 2010 Pigskin Preview is being put together as we speak. We're in the process of writing articles, tweaking predictions and compiling lists. The first big decision was honoring seniors in our viewing area by putting them on the cover. This is no easy task. There are over a dozen seniors that we considered before finally deciding on these six deserving athletes. Derek Farniok is the biggest and most highly recruited of the bunch. Farniok is the starting offensive tackle for the Class 11AA champion Washington Warriors and will be playing for the Oklahoma Sooners this time next year. Matt Hermanson of Washington also is on the cover. Although Hermanson did a great job at quarterback for the state champs last year he is regarded as possibly the best defensive player in the area. Brendan Ter Wee is a three year starter for West Lyon at offensive line and defensive linebacker. Brendan helped lead the Wildcats to a 10-2 finish last season. Matt Lupkes of Dakota Valley was an all-state defensive back who almost single handedly led the underdog Dakota Valley team all the way to the semi-finals. He picked off seven passes last year and also got it done leading the offense. Christian Cox of Aberdeen Roncalli was named all-state as a quarterback and a kicker. Cox threw for over 1,400 yards in a traditionally run-oriented offense. Jordon Connor led Emery/Ethan to a championship game last season on the power of his legs. Connor rushed for 1,882 yards and earned all-state honors. There are plenty of other players who are elite talents who weren't on the cover but we wish to honor these six for their high character and great play on the field. Tell us who you would have put in your top six.