It is indeed that time of the year in high school sports around the state. The football state events were last weekend in Vermillion at the DakotaDome. And has been the case all too often in recent years the teams from the southern part of the state seem to dominate the results. And unfortunately that proved to be true again this year.

Two nine-man area teams were defeated at the Dome! Class 9B Potter County went down in two overtimes 44-42 to Dell Rapids St. Mary and Class 9A Herreid/Selby Area sustained a 55-18 setback to Howard. There was one 11-man team from the northern part of the state and that would be Milbank, which lost its 11A bid to Madison 31-0. Pierre was about as far north as any team would be this year and the Class 11AA Governors were able to win their fifth straight title 30-27 on a last second field goal. In the other results Platte-Geddes defeated Canistota/Freeman 14-8 in Class 9AA and Winner topped Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan 40-8 in the 11B results. The remaining game to be decided would be in the biggest class (11AAA) on Saturday evening and Harrisburg capped a perfect season with a 27-0 whitewash of Brandon Valley.

Meanwhile the northern part of the state will be well represented in high school volleyball with three teams from the LRC alone. But believe it or not, Northwestern Area didn't make it back to the B this year which is slated for later this week in Rapid City. Abedeen Christian, Faulkton and Warner will indeed all be preparing for their trip West. Here are the match-ups on Thursday. Top seeded Platte-Geddes plays number eight Burke, fourth seeded Chester Area plays number five Colman-Egan and Warner and Aberdeen Christian will actually be facing each other. Yes, Warner is the number-two seed and Christian is seeded seventh. Arlington will then face Faulkton Area in the number-three-seed vs. six-seed nightcap.

Getting back to football in that Potter County vs. Dell Rapids St. Mary's clash the latter team was able to get back to the Dome and wound up winning its first title, as I understand. This game was one for the ages. And so was that one college game in the Dome on Saturday afternoon. It saw USD edging SDSU with a game ending Hail Mary tipped ball pass completion to the end zone! And that's what makes championship athletics so exciting particularly at the college level and below in the high school ranks!