FOOTBALL WRAPS UP

There are arguably too many classes in South Dakota high school football, resulting in some possible lop-sided state-championship decisions at the Dome each season.

And that was indeed true again this year! But even those outcomes can be attributed to really solid defense by at least one team. An old sports cliche says that offense wins games, but defense wins championships. And that was the case in Class 9A (our class), where it wasn't Howard's defense that made the difference, but Canistota/Freeman's D for a 46-14 Dome championship. (Their road to the Dome started with a post-season playoff opening win over Ipswich/EC.)

And Class 11A wasn't particularly close either with a 39-7 win by Tea Area over Dell Rapids. Class 11B produced yet another snoozer, a 43-8 win by Sioux Falls Christian over Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan. And there were two more games where defense ultimately made the difference. In 9AA Bon Homme spotted Kimball/White Lake an early 20-0 lead, but blanked K/WL over the last three quarters for a 35-20 win. The same was true in the 11AA game where Pierre T.F. Riggs' second-half defensive effort procured a 38-20 win over Huron.

But believe it or not, the very smallest and the largest class ultimately produced the two nailbiters, which were both eventually decided by huge late-game defensive efforts by the eventual winners. What can you say about 9B's 48-42 OT win by Colome over our area Yellowstone Trail Conference team Sully Buttes. The Chargers had tied the game with an unbelieveable nearly length of the field touchdown pass play, but failed on the conversion attempt. Then in overtime Colome elected to go on offense and responded with an immediate 10-yard touchdown run, but also not the PAT(s) attempt. Sully Buttes used up three plays to get within Colome's one-yard line, but Colome responded with a huge goal-line stand to end the game.

Finally in the weekend's finale in 11AAA, Brandon Valley edged defending champion Sioux Falls Washington 28-22. The Sioux Falls team put together a promising late-game drive, but eventually sputtered and BV took over on downs with the game clock winding down rapidly. That BV defense would bend but not break throughout the game and helped produce three costly turnovers.

VOLLEYBALL HOPEFULS INCLUDE LOCAL TEAMS

Now it's time for girls' high school volleyball, state tourney week in Sioux Falls for all three classes. And the Lake Region Conference will be well represented by three teams this year still in the Class B hunt, featuring the defending champion Northwestern Area, Warner and Faulkton.

Top-seed Northwestern plays #8 Kimball/White Lake at 12 noon, followed by #4 Faith vs. #5 Faulkton at approximately 1:45 p.m. Then at 6 p.m. #3 Chester Area plays #6 Ethan, followed by second-seeded Warner against #7 Burke in the nightcap.

Meanwhile only two area teams qualified for the State A meet, Aberdeen Roncalli and Miller Area.