South Dakota
S.D. High School Activities Association releases the state’s 2024 football schedules
PIERRE — South Dakota’s 2024 high school football schedules have been released by the South Dakota High School Activities Association.
Official dates and times have not been finalized but each team knows who it will face, what week and whether it’s at home or away.
Class 11B and nine-man (9AA, 9A and 9B) can begin play in Week 0 (Thursday through Friday, Aug. 22-24) and conclude their regular season by Oct. 18. Playoffs are set for Oct. 24, Oct. 31 and Nov. 8.
Class 11AAA, AA and AA can begin play on Week 1 (Aug. 29-31) and conclude their regular season on Oct. 25. Playoffs are set for Oct. 31 and No. 8.
State championships in all classes are slated for Nov. 14-16 in the DakotaDome at Vermillion.
Here are the schedules for each of the Watertown and Aberdeen area schools. Links to the complete 11-man and nine-man schedules are posted online at www.thepublicopinion.com.
Most games will be scheduled on Fridays, but Thursdays and Saturdays are options. Here is the schedule key: Week 0 (Aug. 22-24), Week 1 (Aug. 29-31), Week 2 (Sept. 5-7), Week 3 (Sept. 12-14), Week 4 (Sept. 19-21), Week 5 (Sept. 26-28), Week 6 (Oct. 3-5), Week 7 (Oct. 10-12), Week 8 (Oct. 17-19) and Week 9 (Oct. 24).
Class 11AA
Aberdeen Central — Week 1 (Pierre), Week 2 (at Tea Area), Week 3 (Sioux Falls Lincoln), Week 4 (Spearfish), Week 5 (at Sturgis), Week 6 (Mitchell), Week 7 (Huron), Week 8 (at Brookings) and Week 9 (at Watertown).
Watertown — Week 1 (at Sioux Falls Jefferson), Week 2 (Spearfish), Week 3 (at Sturgis), Week 4 (Pierre), Week 5 (at Douglas), Week 6 (at Yankton), Week 7 (Tea Area), Week 8 (at Mitchell) and Week 9 (Aberdeen Central).
Class 11A
Milbank — Week 1 (Lakota Tech), Week 2 (at Tri-Valley), Week 3 (Groton Area), Week 4 (Dell Rapids), Week 5 (at Vermillion), Week 6 (Sisseton), Week 7 (at Aberdeen Roncalli), Week 8 (West Central) and Week 9 (at Madison).
2024 11-Man Football Schedules: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24549785-2024-11-man-schedule-final?responsive=1&title=1
Class 11B
Aberdeen Roncalli — Week 0 (at Clark-Willow Lake), Week 1 (Bye), Week 2 (Deuel), Week 3 (Mobridge-Pollock), Week 4 (at Miller/Highmore-Harrold), Week 5 (Webster Area), Week 6 (at Groton Area), Week 7 (Milbank) and Week 8 (at Sisseton).
Clark-Willow Lake — Week 0 (Aberdeen Roncalli), Week 1 (Bye), Week 2 (at Sisseton), Week 3 (Sioux Valley), Week 4 (at Parker), Week 5 (Groton Area), Week 6 (Deuel), Week 7 (at Mobridge-Pollock) and Week 8 (at Webster Area).
Deuel — Week 0 (Flandreau), Week 1 (Sisseton), Week 2 (at Aberdeen Roncalli), Week 3 (Winner), Week 4 (Bye), Week 5 (at Groton Area), Week 6 (at Clark-Willow Lake), Week 7 (at Webster Area) and Week 8 (Mobridge-Pollock).
Groton Area — Week 1 (Mobridge-Pollock), Week 2 (at Webster Area), Week 3 (at Milbank), Week 4 (Deuel), Week 5 (at Clark-Willow Lake), Week 6 (Aberdeen Roncalli), Week 7 (at Sisseton) and Week 8 (Baltic).
Mobridge-Pollock — Week 0 (Lead-Deadwood), Week 1 (at Groton Area), Week 2 (at Miller/Highmore-Harrold), Week 3 (at Aberdeen Roncalli), Week 5 (Bye), Week 6 (Belle Fourche), Week 7 (Webster Area), Week 8 (Clark-Willow Lake) and Week 9 (at Deuel).
Sioux Valley — Week 0 (St. Thomas More), Week 1 (Bye), Week 2 (Baltic), Week 3 (at Clark-Willow Lake), Week 4 (Sisseton), Week 5 (at Deuel), Week 6 (at Flandreau), Week 7 (at Beresford) and Week 8 (Elk Point-Jefferson).
Sisseton — Week 0 (Webster Area), Week 1 (at Deuel), Week 2 (Clark-Willow Lake), Week 3 (at Flandreau), Week 4 (at Sioux Valley), Week 5 (Bye); Week 6 (at Milbank), Week 7 (Groton Area) and Week 8 (Aberdeen Roncalli).
Webster Area — Week 0 (at Sisseton), Week 1 (McCook Central-Montrose), Week 2 (Groton Area), Week 3 (Woonsocket-Wessington Springs-Sanborn Central), Week 4 (Bye), Week 5 (at Aberdeen Roncalli), Week 6 (at Mobridge-Pollock), Week 7 (Deuel) and Week 8 (Clark-Willow Lake).
2024 Class 9AA Football Schedules: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24550322-2024-class-9aa-schedule?responsive=1&title=1
Class 9AA
Britton-Hecla — Week 0 (at Hamlin), Week 1 (Leola-Frederick Area), Week 2 (at Redfield), Week 3 (Florence-Henry), Week 4 (Bye), Week 5 (at Great Plains Lutheran), Week 6 (Waubay-Summit), Week 7 (at Wilmot) and Week 8 (Waverly-South Shore).
De Smet — Week 0 (at Kimball-White Lake), Week 1 (Garretson), Week 2 (at Hanson), Week 3 (Elkton-Lake Benton), Week 4 (Bye), Week 5 (at Florence-Henry), Week 6 (Hamlin), Week 7 (Great Plains Lutheran) and Week 8 (at Estelline-Hendricks).
Elkton-Lake Benton — Week 0 (Waubay-Summit), Week 1 (at Viborg-Hurley), Week 2 (Freeman-Marion/Freeman Academy), Week 3 (at De Smet), Week 4 (Great Plains Lutheran), Week 5 (Bye), Week 6 (at Garretson), Week 7 (at Deubrook Area) and Week 8 (Hamlin).
Florence-Henry — Week 1 (Waverly-South Shore), Week 2 (Great Plains Lutheran), Week 3 (at Britton-Hecla), Week 4 (at Hamlin), Week 5 (De Smet), Week 6 (at Wilmot), Week 7 (at Redfield) and Week 8 (Waubay-Summit).
Great Plains Lutheran — Week 0 (Waverly-South Shore), Week 1 (at Waubay-Summit), Week 2 (at Florence-Henry), Week 3 (Hamlin), Week 4 (at Elkton-Lake Benton), Week 5 (Britton-Hecla), Week 6 (Bye), Week 7 (at De Smet) and Week 8 (Wilmot).
Hamlin — Week 0 (Britton-Hecla), Week 1 (Hanson), Week 2 (at Waubay-Summit), Week 3 (at Great Plains Lutheran), Week 4 (Florence-Henry), Week 5 (Redfield), Week 6 (at De Smet), Week 7 (Bye), Week 8 (at Elkton-Lake Benton).
Leola-Frederick Area — Week 0 (Redfield), Week 1 (at Britton-Hecla), Week 2 (Stanley County), Week 3 (at North Central), Week 4 (Faulkton Area), Week 5 (Bye), Week 6 (Northwestern), Week 7 (at Ipswich) and Week 8 (at Warner).
Redfield — Week 0 (at Leola-Frederick Area), Week 1 (Kimball-White Lake), Week 2 (Britton-Hecla), Week 3 (Stanley County), Week 4 (at Waubay-Summit), Week 5 (at Hamlin), Week 6 (at Warner), Week 7 (Florence-Henry) and Week 8 (Bye).
Waubay-Summit — Week 0 (at Elkton-Lake Benton), Week 1 (Great Plains Lutheran), Week 2 (Hamlin), Week 3 (at Waverly-South Shore), Week 4 (Redfield), Week 5 (Wilmot), Week 6 (at Britton-Hecla), Week 7 (Bye) and Week 8 (at Florence-Henry).
Class 9A
Castlewood — Week 0 (Warner), Week 1 (at Chester), Week 2 (at Wolsey-Wessington), Week 3 (Bye), Week 4 (Wilmot), Week 5 (Oldham-Ramona-Rutland), Week 6 (at Waverly-South Shore), Week 7 (Estelline-Hendricks) and Week 8 (at Deubrook Area).
Deubrook Area — Week 0 (at Centerville), Week 1 (Wolsey-Wessington), Week 2 (at Howard), Week 3 (Bye), Week 4 (at Chester), Week 5 (Waverly-South Shore), Week 6 (at Estelline-Hendricks), Week 7 (at Elkton-Lake Benton) and Week 8 (Castlewood).
Estelline-Hendricks — Week 0 (at Wolsey-Wessington), Week 1 (Howard), Week 2 (Chester), Week 3 (Bye), Week 4 (at Waverly-South Shore), Week 5 (at Colman-Egan), Week 6 (Deubrook Area), Week 7 (at Castlewood) and Week 8 (De Smet).
2024 Class 9A Football Schedules: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24550321-2024-class-9a-schedule?responsive=1&title=1
Ipswich — Week 0 (Timber Lake), Week 1 (at Faulkton Area), Week 2 (at Warner), Week 3 (Northwestern), Week 4 (Bye), Week 5 (at Herreid-Selby Area), Week 6 (at Hitchcock-Tulare), Week 7 (Leola-Frederick Area) and Week 8 (North Central).
North Central — Week 0 (Lemmon-McIntosh), Week 1 (Dupree), Week 2 (at Timber Lake), Week 3 (Leola-Frederick Area), Week 4 (at Northwestern), Week 5 (Bye), Week 6 (at Faulkton Area), Week 7 (Warner) and Week 8 (at Ipswich).
Potter County — Week 0 (Harding County-Bison), Week 1 (Warner), Week 2 (at Lemmon-McIntosh), Week 3 (at Dupree), Week 4 (Sully Buttes), Week 5 (Bye), Week 6 (at Herreid-Selby Area), Week 7 (Timber Lake) and Week 8 (at Stanley County).
Warner — Week 0 (at Castlewood), Week 1 (at Potter County), Week 2 (Ipswich), Week 3 (Faulkton Area), Week 4 (Bye), Week 5 (at Northwestern), Week 6 (Redfield), Week 7 (at North Central) and Week 8 (Leola-Federick Area).
Waverly-South Shore — Week 0 (at Great Plains Lutheran), Week 1 (at Florence-Henry), Week 2 (Wilmot), Week 3 (Waubay-Summit), Week 4 (Estelline-Hendricks), Week 5 (at Deubrook Area), Week 6 (Castlewood), Week 7 (Bye) and Week 8 (at Britton-Hecla).
Class 9B
Arlington — Week 0 (at Sunshine Bible Academy), Week 1 (at Wilmot), Week 2 (Dell Rapids St. Mary), Week 3 (at Sioux Falls Lutheran), Week 4 (Oldham-Ramona-Rutland), Week 5 (Bye), Week 6 (Iroquois-Lake Prerston), Week 7 (at Colman-Egan) and Week 8 (Hitchcock-Tulare).
Faulkton Area — Week 1 (Ipswich), Week 2 (Herreid-Selby Area), Week 3 (at Warner), Week 4 (at Leola-Frederick Area), Week 5 (at Sully Buttes), Week 6 (North Central), Week 7 (at Hitchcock-Tulare) and Week 8 (Northwestern).
Herreid-Selby Area — Week 0 (Faith), Week 1 (Northwestern), Week 2 (at Faulkton Area), Week 3 (at Lemmon-McIntosh), Week 4 (at Timber Lake), Week 5 (Ipswich), Week 6 (Potter County), Week 7 (at Sully Buttes) and Week 8 (Bye).
Hitchcock-Tulare — Week 0 (Corsica-Stickney), Week 1 (at Iroquois-Lake Preston), Week 2 (at Northwestern), Week 3 (at Sully Buttes), Week 4 (Bye), Week 5 (Sunshine Bible Academy), Week 6 (Ipswich), Week 7 (Faulkton Area) and Week 8 (at Arlington).
Iroquois-Lake Preston — Week 0 (at Wilmot), Week 1 (Hitchcock-Tulare), Week 2 (at Canistota), Week 3 (Bye), Week 4 (Sunshine Bible Academy), Week 5 (Dell Rapids St. Mary), Week 6 (at Arlington), Week 7 (at Oldham-Ramona-Rutland) and Week 8 (Colman-Egan).
2024 Class 9B Football Schedules: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24550320-2024-class-9b-schedule?responsive=1&title=1
Northwestern — Week 0 (Sully Buttes), Week 1 (at Herreid-Selby Area), Week 2 (Hitchcock-Tulare), Week 3 (at Ipswich), Week 4 (North Central), Week 5 (Warner), Week 6 (at Leola-Frederick Area), Week 7 (Bye) and Week 8 (at Faulkton Area).
Oldham-Ramona-Rutland — Week 0 (at Dell Rapids St. Mary), Week 1 (Sunshine Bible Academy), Week 2 (Sioux Falls Lutheran), Week 3 (at Irene-Wakonda), Week 4 (at Arlington), Week 5 (at Castlewood), Week 6 (Colman-Egan), Week 7 (Iroquois-Lake Preston) and Week 8 (Bye).
Sunshine Bible Academy — Week 0 (Arlington), Week 1 (at Oldham-Ramona-Rutland), Week 2 (at Colome), Week 3 (Burke), Week 4 (at Iroquois-Lake Preston), Week 5 (at Hitchcock-Tulare), Week 6 (Corsica-Stickney), Week 7 (Bye) and Week 8 (Sully Buttes).
Wilmot — Week 0 (Iroquois-Lake Preston), Week 1 (Arlington), Week 2 (at Waverly-South Shore), Week 3 (Bye), Week 4 (at Castlewood), Week 5 (at Waubay-Summit), Week 6 (Florence-Henry), Week 7 (Britton-Hecla) and Week 8 (at Great Plains Lutheran)
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association awarded the the 2024 Officer of the Year award to Anoka County Deputy Tanner Shipman because of an off-duty intervention during a shootout in South Dakota last August.
Shipman was on vacation in Sturgis, South Dakota, in 2023 when he intervened during a shootout between an attendee and South Dakota state trooper at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, according to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office.
He assisted the trooper in detaining the shooter and assisted with medical care afterward.
Anoka County Sheriff Brad Wise said it wasn’t surprising Shipman instantly helped out and it’s the highest honor to be recognized for this award because it comes from law enforcement peers.
“Deputy Shipman is an inspiration to law enforcement, as well as all in our community,” Wise said.
MPPOA will formally honor Shipman on Saturday.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – A website focused on home security and community safety, Safe Home, recently released rankings of each U.S. state and the District of Columbia based on safety for LGBT+ community members. The list and accompanying article have spread around social media this week, and particularly in South Dakota. The Mount Rushmore State ranks dead last according to Safe Home’s criteria.
Rapid City Native American Two-Spirit Activist Monique “Muffie” Mousseau agrees.
“The Governor’s office, until they educate themselves with all of these beautiful, wonderful colors and why they exist,” Mousseau said while holding up a pride flag-themed notebook. “I really don’t feel like this state is going to move up the ranks.”
Mousseau’s organization, Uniting Resilience, advocates for members of the Native American LGBT+ community and environmental issues. Since marrying her wife 18 years ago, she said she has seen positive and negative moments for people like her in South Dakota, but there has not been a significant increase or decrease in quality of life.
Safe Home’s criteria for ranking states in terms of safety for LGBT+ individuals include state laws and recent hate crime statistics. South Dakota reported 16 sexual orientation-related hate crimes and one gender orientation-related hate crime from 2020 through 2022 per the Department of Justice.
Particular laws that Safe Home’s writers cited as reasons for South Dakota’s bottom ranking and “F” grade include including criminalization of exposing others to HIV, preferential adoption policies favoring heterosexual couples, bans on individuals using opposite-sex bathrooms in public schools, and bans on gender transition medical care for children.
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This paid piece is sponsored by South Dakota State University.
Iowa native Kennedy Roland grew up more than five hours from Brookings but chose to attend South Dakota State University as an undergraduate “on a leap of faith” after college visits were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“South Dakota State checked all my boxes; it is a midsized university and allowed me to attend college out of state at an in-state price,” she said.
Four years later, Roland again found herself faced with figuring out her next move. She earned an undergraduate degree in biology but wasn’t sure about graduate school.
“I never wanted to pursue a Ph.D.,” she added. “However, I wanted to be part of this program in particular.”
So Roland is staying at SDSU. She’s pairing a passion for teaching that she discovered through coaching gymnastics with her enjoyment of human anatomy and roles as a tutor and teaching assistant for the course.
Her doctorate program “will help me become an expert on both anatomy and education,” she said. “Additionally, I’m excited for guest lecture opportunities to prepare to be an effective professor. Earning a Ph.D. will also allow me to be a competitive candidate for professor positions.”
SDSU aims to attract many more doctoral students such as Roland.
One of the goals of the university’s 2023 Pathway to Premier strategic plan is research, driven by a plan to obtain R1 Carnegie Classification, which would be a first for South Dakota.
The classification framework was developed by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education in the early 1970s to support its research program. The R1 designation indicates the highest level of research activity and is achieved based on factors such as how much the university invests in research and how many research-based doctoral graduates are produced.
South Dakota is one of just five states without an R1 university.
“R1 really isn’t about SDSU,” President Barry Dunn said. “South Dakota needs SDSU to do this so our state and region’s economy can compete on a national scale.”
For SDSU, which currently is classified as R2, “we’re already exceeding how much is spent on research — but where we need to grow is in educating future researchers at the highest level and creating a research and development workforce,” said Daniel Scholl, vice president for research and economic development and an SDSU professor.
“That’s a big focus of ours.”
Like Roland, Brandon Scott also became somewhat of an accidental SDSU doctoral student. After receiving his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, he stumbled upon SDSU at a conference and decided to apply. He ultimately earned his graduate degree and Ph.D. in biochemistry, spending seven years in Brookings and advancing his research in microscopy techniques.
“When I came out, I was very impressed,” he said. “I couldn’t have gone to a better place, actually, especially with my mentor, Adam Hoppe. It couldn’t have worked out any better for me.”
He’s now an assistant professor in nanoscience and biomedical engineering and a CZI imaging scientist at South Dakota Mines.
SDSU’s pursuit of R1 classification is more about what it takes to earn the distinction than the number itself, he added.
“What you have to do to get there and maintain it is the biggest thing,” Scott said. “You look at R1 institutions, and they keep turning out graduates and research because they have that momentum behind them. It’s not just the students you attract but the faculty you’re able to attract once you reach that status. I’m still very much integrated into what’s happening at SDSU, and I think some of the labs there, especially in biochemistry, already are rock stars.”
Achieving the R1 classification would reflect both a learning and business environment powered by research and its impacts. More research tends to drive business spinoffs, resulting in economic growth and a more educated workforce.
That’s already starting to happen in South Dakota, Dunn said. He points to companies such as animal vaccine developer and manufacturer Medgene, which “has well over 100 employees and is innovating how we protect our nation’s food supply,” he said.
“Its platform technology started on our campus with our facility. R1 will help us multiply those kind of successes in the private sector.”
SDSU typically graduates about 50 doctoral students and needs to reach 70 annually to achieve R1 classification.
The first step in that direction “is remarkably simple and affordable,” Dunn said.
“We have to offer graduate assistants benefits. Think about it. They’re typically around 25 years old and coming off their parents’ health insurance. Often, they’re starting families of their own. If you’re one of those students, are you going to pursue a doctoral degree at SDSU, an R2 university with no benefits, or are you going to seek out a prestigious R1 that covers your health insurance?”
The classification also helps in recruiting and retaining faculty, Scholl added.
“Because this is a place where they can visualize having a successful career in their field,” he said. “That serves as an added attractor for Ph.D. students, and it all adds up to greater research activity. And when we do research, the funds we bring in through grants and contracts are spent locally, so it stimulates the local economy and the knowledge spills over into the economy.”
The Research Park at SDSU further supports its progression to R1 classification.
“It serves as a place where the private sector can be very close to the university without being in the university,” Scholl said. “You’re very close to the faculty expertise and expertise of the doctoral and undergrad students who are potentially recruitable.”
Companies such as General Mills, POET and Raven Industries, which is part of CNH Industrial, regularly use the research park for their work and to build relationships at SDSU, he said.
“Having things like a university research park and having the private sector close at hand will help us grow research and research education to perform like an R1 university,” Scholl said.
The good news is, achieving R1 classification isn’t far out of reach, Dunn added.
“From the strength, scope and scale of our academic programs to our beautiful, modern campus to our outstanding faculty, we are well on our way to achieving this status, which will benefit the entire state.”
To learn more about research at SDSU, click here.
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