South Dakota high school football: Plan for five-class system gains steam

Brian Haenchen | Argus Leader

With at least two proposals circulating ahead of the advisory committee's year-end meeting, it was clear the state's seven-class high school football system was likely in for a facelift ahead of the next two-year cycle (2021-23).

Thursday afternoon, the seven-member board took the initial step towards a radical overhaul, putting forth a five-class proposal for consideration by the state's athletic directors in March and ultimately, the South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors.

"All parties involved essentially came to the meeting with (classifications) as a priority for discussion," SDHSAA assistant executive director John Krogstrand said. "It was a prevalent topic throughout the meeting, really."

WHITNEY: Time to overhaul South Dakota's seven-class football system

Per the terms of the proposal, the five classes would be renamed 11AA, 11A, 11B, 9A and 9B, just as they were in 1999, the last time South Dakota had five football classes.

"The 11-man part of it, we just tried to be fair to everybody," Bon Homme coach Byron Pudwill, the 9-man representative, said. "11AAA is a beast of its own with the Sioux Falls and Rapid City schools enrollment wise... The 11AA and 11A, that was kind of the crux of the situation."

Krogstrand said the committee members essentially "started from scratch," examining the language they've had on the books for the last seven years and considering trends across the state with respect to the increasing number of consolidations and co-ops, variances in enrollment and growth of the Sioux Falls metro.

"The committee took all those things and tried to balance it out," he explained. "(They) looked at what was best for everybody, and not just any one part."

"It's kind of like the family inheritance. You're going to make somebody mad," Pudwill laughed. "We were just lucky enough to be on the advisory board and be the ones everybody hates. Thankfully, they're going to be moving it up to the activities directors."

Here is how the classifications would break down:

Class 11AA — Nine largest schools (likely including Sioux Falls Jefferson), plus O'Gorman, which has traditionally petitioned up to the state's largest classification.

The committee considered the shifting dynamics and discussed different numbers of teams for the state's largest classification. But they ultimately agreed upon 10, as it allows the round-robin schedule and playoff system to remain in place.

Class 11A — The next 16 largest schools.

"We felt 20 was too many because we were trying to keep that 2:1 ratio, but 10 really wasn't enough," Pudwill said, "because then you're kind of pickling the 11B guys for an 11AA problem."

Class 11B — The remaining schools with a male ADM of 56 or higher.

The advisory members discussed moving the cut-off line, but after considering the ratios between the largest and smallest schools, they felt comfortable with the balance between the 11B and 9-man ranks.

There was some concern from the committee about moving the top end of 9-man teams up to 11B, as some of the larger 11A teams may also wind up in the new 11B. "That change would probably be just a little too much to do," Krogstrand explained.

Class 9A and 9B — The teams would be divided evenly into two classes.

With respect to schools wanting to petition up or down, those appeals will continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

IN SPORTS: 'It's a powerful song': McLaughlin basketball honors late Dupree freshman

'These are things you never think about having to deal with': GoFundMe set up for family of Dupree freshman who died suddenly during practice

Are you in favor of the 5-class 🏈 proposal put forth by the advisory board today? Story: https://t.co/OWyyzRY2Nv #ArgusPreps #SDPreps — hank 🇰🇷🎅🏽 (@Brian_Haenchen) December 6, 2019

Projected alignments

Projections based on latest male ADM provided by SDHSAA. (Credit: Submitted)

Scheduling and playoffs

Scheduling rules were not proposed for amendment or discussion, so the rules will stay intact with 11A teams required to play two-thirds of their games within their own classification or higher.

Conference affiliations will continue to dictate some of the scheduling within the lower classifications. 11AA will play a nine-game round robin.

The playoff format was also left alone. The top eight teams from 11AA and 11A, and the top 16 from 11B qualify for the postseason. The 16-team, regional format will continue within the nine-man ranks.

Other proposals

• The committee advanced a proposal to change the 10 percent rule for co-ops to 20 percent, which means if a school brings five or more players to a co-op, its entire enrollment would be counted in addition to the base school's enrollment.

• The mercy rule was proposed for 11AAA and 11AA, calling for a running clock when the margin reaches 35 at any point during the second half.

Where to from here?

The proposal now advances to the athletic directors, who will review and render a recommendation during their annual conference in March. It must then pass two readings by the SDHSAA board of directors before being implemented.

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.