South Dakota Football Classifications Approved for 2021-2022

The South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors  met on Wednesday, January 13, to approve South Dakota’s 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 many after lengthy discussions of a potential five class and six class layout.

Both Watertown and Aberdeen Central had voiced their concerns about remaining in the top class of football.  Under the new format, they 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 takes the next eleven teams with 11A taking the fourteen teams following that, depending on the ADM numbers. The lowest 11-man class, 11B, looks to become 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 nine-man classifications are expected to be released in the next week or so, and by a rough count, they’ll have around 61 teams. This is the first enrollment cycle where there will be less than 64 teams. Multiple sources suggest that, if nine-man football, which currently has three classes in South Dakota, stays below 64 teams for two consecutive classification cycles, the number of nine-man classes will move from three to two.  It could force a change as early as 2024, unless additional changes to policy are made. The current classification cycle is for just one year, to align South Dakota with its neighboring states, but the next cycle is expected to be for two years.

Special thanks to Nate Wek of SDPB for information in this article.