Harrisburg and Brandon Valley High School logos.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KWSN.com) — Much has been made about 2020 marking the first time in 17 years when at least one school in Sioux Falls isn’t playing in the state football championship of South Dakota’s largest class.
But to make Saturday’s 11AAA final matchup to be some earth-shattering changing of the guard or sign of the times would be a bit overblown.
Yes, it is impressive how No. 5 Harrisburg and No. 2 Brandon Valley have overcome the “Sioux Falls mystique” with excellent and stable coaching, relentless offseason strength training, a “can-do” attitude, and learning how to finish games after both schools experienced some years of falling short — in both the regular season and postseason — to Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and O’Gorman.
Those four schools took turns winning every title in the largest class for 15 years, from 2003-17 before BV broke through in 2018, ending Washington’s three-year run.
But the Lynx and Tigers are not little engines that could. These are blossoming football factories that have taken their lumps and been able to beat the SuFu 4 more in recent years. While coaching and willpower have helped, the main reason the Tigers and the Lynx have broken their ceilings is that they continue to have more people move to town, and therefore more students in their schools, and therefore a larger pool of football players, and therefore bigger rosters, which means few players playing both sides of the ball, which means fewer games lost due to sheer fourth quarter exhaustion against the big boys.
In doing so, both schools have become regulars in the Dakota Dome, with each playing in the title game for a fifth time this past decade on Saturday. Harrisburg reaches the event in just its second year in AAA, while BV is in its fourth final in five years.
“It’s really not a shock,” said Kurtiss Riggs, the Sioux Falls Storm head coach who will serve as SDPB’s analyst on the statewide TV broadcast of the showdown.
“Both (schools) are at about 1,000 students (enrollment). Harrisburg is going to surpass some of the Sioux Falls schools pretty soon, the way they’re growing,” Riggs said.
Roosevelt, Lincoln, and Washington have the state’s three largest enrollments, with over 1,900 each. BV sits at just over 1,000 while HHS is at 986.
The other component of breaking the Sioux Falls mold — These two schools are in the metropolitan area. They may not be in Sioux Falls, but they are of Sioux Falls. They have the same access to the wealth of elite fitness facilities, strength and conditioning trainers, and programs like the Riggs Football Academy, as the 800 lb. gorillas from the big city.
“We maybe see more Brandon Valley and Harrisburg kids than we do from the Sioux Falls kids,” Riggs said of his academy, which was founded about 10 years ago and has its home in the sparkling Sanford Fieldhouse on the northwest part of Sioux Falls.
Aberdeen Central — which has petitioned down to 11AA mainly because of its futility in recent years against the Sioux Falls schools — does not have these resources. Neither does Watertown nor the two Rapid City schools, which have also struggled to field teams with the sheer depth of talent as metro teams.
(Yes, Rapid City’s two AAA schools have the fourth and fifth largest enrollments in the state, and their lack of competitiveness continues to be a wonderment. Part of it is large turnover in coaching, but part of it is, again, year-round resources for football training that are slim compared to Sioux Falls.)
So, what is shocking about the 11AAA matchup?
“That Roosevelt isn’t here,” Riggs said. “And I think the Harrisburg win over Roosevelt is the big surprise.”
The Riders were the only undefeated team in the class, winning by an average of 33 points per game coming into last Friday’s semifinal against Harrisburg. RHS had the best athlete on a football field in the state in receiver, returner, and defensive back Tyler Feltkamp, a collegiate-caliber offensive line, and a flashy stable of skill players, including slippery and speedy dual-threat sophomore quarterback Taylen Ashley.
Roosevelt pummeled Harrisburg 46-21 in a showdown of unbeatens in Week 5, with an early 17-0 lead thanks largely to a 78-yard punt return and a punt block for a touchdown, plus some mammoth plays on both sides by Feltkamp.
The Tigers reversed the result in just five weeks mostly by making fewer mistakes, with the Riders owning both of the game’s turnovers. The Tigers led wire-to-wire and won 21-19, benefitting from a missed 32-yard field goal by RHS with one second remaining.
Now, Harrisburg looks to flip the script on a 63-27 loss to Brandon Valley in Week 7. Keeping the ball away from a Lynx offense that has averaged 49 points in its seven consecutive victories will be the clearest path. That way, they’ll avoid a repeat of the steamrolling rushing performances of BV quarterback Joel Kolbeck (201 yards, 3 TD) and all-state running back Tate Johnson (189 yards, 3 TD).
Part of that may just be winning the coin toss.
“This might be one of the few games a team takes the ball instead of deferring to the second half,” Riggs said. “I don’t know if there has ever been a game where the team that gets ahead has such a distinct advantage. Harrisburg wants to get ahead to take Brandon Valley out of their offense. If they can get up by two scores and make (BV) have to throw the ball more and get them out of their ground-and-pound running back / quarterback combination, (the Lynx) will be a little more prone to errors.”
So, there you have it. For Harrisburg to complete its meteoric rise to the top of 11AAA — after all its city’s growth and program’s roster building and overcoming adversity against the Sioux Falls schools — scoring first may be the key.
