Q: What is your thoughts on 11A after 1 week?
A: I’m going to turn this question into my thoughts for each class on a different article, but for the Monday Mailbag, we’ll preview 11A
I think Canton is really good and their win against SFC really impressed me. I talk about their ranking earlier, but they had the second most first-place votes in the class. And after Madison lost, don’t be surprised if some of those fall towards the C-Hawks.
Obviously, Dells played really well against Madison, and West Central cruised to victory. This is going to be a great battle throughout the season, and I don’t think we’ve seen the end of Madison yet. They have a really tough schedule, and get back into the top of the ranking very quickly.
Q: What are some high school football teams that you think are underrated in each class?
A: This is a great question!
AAA
- Stevens
- It’s easy to dismiss the Raiders after the dominance that has been seen over the last three years in the suburbs of Sioux Falls, but Stevens has been slowly improving and picked up a big win over Washington. I said in my preview that Stevens is going to take a couple wins at home. They have a brutal stretch of games in the middle of the season, but this is a 3-4 win team.
AA
- Brookings
- It’s tough to say anyone is underrated in this class, but let’s go with the Bobcats. They haven’t gotten many headlines but I think this is a solid team that will be a tough semi final matchup for any of the top 3 teams in this class.
A
- Dell Rapids
- That was a big first win for the Quarriers. This class is going to be really tough, but I think Dells is another team, similar to Brookings, that hasn’t been talked about that much.
B
- Roncalli
- Unranked to start the season, they had a great regular season in 2021, and they have a really favorable schedule for a good playoff spot.
9AA
- Parkston
- Another team that is unranked to start the year, and they took down #3 Platte-Geddes. Now they have #4 Wolsey-Wessington, and #5 Hanson. I think if they go 1-1 in that span with a close loss, or even 2-0, that’s a top 5 team for sure.
9A
- Timber Lake
- Another team that is unranked but is going to win a lot this season. They don’t have any marque matchups right now until the last week against Harding County-Bison, so a good team in that scenario is a quietly dangerous team.
9B
- Kadoka Area
- I was going to say Avon, but it’s hard to say the #3 team in a 9-man class in underrated. So let’s go Kadoka Area, who has a ranked win already, plus two really good teams in Lyman and Wall next on the schedule. A win against those two teams will get you noticed!
Q: Who is your #1 in each class?
A: I got a couple of these questions, so I’m just going to put them together and talk what I think the media will predict.
AAA:
- Jefferson
- It’s sooooo tough to pick between Jefferson and OG. I made a funny tweet earlier, but both teams have unbelievable offenses. I am going to say Jefferson is #1 because I thought they had the slight edge defensively, but gosh, it’s so close that I could see both being in the top spot.
AA:
- Pierre
- Until these guys are beaten, they are #1.
A:
- West Central
- I think it’s going to be West Central, who is default after crushing Custer as the #2 team, but Canton or Dell Rapids deserve some votes at the top spot as well. Canton beat a very good Sioux Falls Christian team who will have plenty of chances to prove themselves next week. Dell Rapids, on the hand, took down the #1 team by a couple of scores. All those teams have a legitimate argument in my opinion for the top spot.
9AA:
- Howard
- They picked up a huge win on the road, and showed a lot of toughness in the final minutes.
9A:
- Canistota
- You can lose to Howard in the Game of the Year, and you still deserve the #1 spot. I don’t think a loss in 9-man should automatically mean you fall from the top rank.
9B:
- Herreid/Selby Area
- They are a really good team who beat a tough Timber Lake squad.
Q: A lot of high school football players just got done with a busy season of baseball during the summer. Do you think some of the aspects of playing baseball benefits the players during the quick transition to football?
A: Playing multiple sports will always help your athleticism. I think that the transition can be tough, and I think that there probably should be a bit more of a break, but that break will always come at the expense of cutting the baseball season short, like in Iowa, where the entire season is basically June and one week of July for a lot of the small town teams.
But I think that you will have a great chance to be in shape, get use to the weather, and the obvious benefits of competition that help baseball players transition into the fall.