Every once it a while I have a Eureka moment. No, I am not talking about the town of Eureka (ADM=52), but rather an epiphany of sorts. That happened for me on Thursday while the 9 Man teams from the Cornbelt Conference were winning their three state championships. Sure, I wasn’t at all pleased with the outcome of the 9A game, but there was something else that kept gnawing away at me, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Where else on this planet could the second and third best teams in a conference win a championship the same day that the best team in the conference also claims a state championship? Ok, smarty, that might happen in the NIT and the NCAA in basketball, but the NIT hardly counts as a real championship like the 9AA, 9A and 9B football championships are supposed to.
To make the point even clearer, the ‘largest’ team from the Cornbelt Conference, Bridgewater-Emery-Ethan, was the third best team in the conference this season. To make that point still clearer, 9AA Bridgewater-Emery-Ethan was pounded by 9B Canistota 46-2 during the regular season. To help see where I am headed here, let’s consider the 11 Man parallel, ask yourself whether the 11B Flandreau Fliers could beat 11AA Sioux Falls Washington Warriors 46-2? Never. In other words, the distinction in talent between the 11 Man and 9 Man classes is very, very different.
To get at the heart of the issue we need to first look at how the football classes are divided up by the SDHSAA in terms of Average Daily Membership (scheme used to approximate attendance and number of students):
11AA ADMs greater than 450
11A ADMs between 449-200
11B ADMs between 199-112.5
9AA largest 33% of remaining schools
9A middle 33% of remaining schools
9B lowest 33% of remaining schools
The distinctions above for the 9 Man classes require a bit of digging to get a feel for their ADM differences. The ADMs for the six 9 Man Dome teams are as follows:
Bridgewater-Emery-Ethan, ADM=122 (data is a year old, current combined ADM must be less than 112.5)
Viborg-Hurley, ADM=100
Hanson, ADM=69
Harding County, ADM=66
Canistota, ADM=61
Hitchcock-Tulare, ADM=55
The ADM difference between Hanson and Hitchock-Tulare is only 14! In other words, the distinction between 9A and 9B is so slight that, in my opinion, they should be combined into a single class. I can appreciate the ramification$ of eliminating a football champion$hip, but at some point it needs to happen to keep the championships credible in the eyes of the players and the fans.
A good start might be to drop down to four championships, 11AA, 11A, 9AA and 9A. This could be done by moving down some of the lower current 11B teams like Hill City (ADM=120.5) and Miller (ADM=112.5) into the 9AA class, combining 11A and the remaining 11B schools, and combining 9A and 9B. If the SDHSAA wants to keep participation high (read $$ rolling in) they could form a version of the NIT for the second-tier teams that don’t quality for the Big Dance. The SDHSAA NIT championships could be played at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on the old Indoor footall turf the same weekend as the state championships are played at the Dome. I am sure there are some fans, including me, that would like to see two teams that fell in the semis like Winner and Roncalli square off at the Plaza. Between the Plaza games and the Dome games the whole dealio (eight games total) would probably make the SDHSAA more $$ than the current six Dome games, so the accountants and those yammering for participation would be happy.
At the end of the day a reduction in the number of state football championships would be good for all concerned, and ultimately result in more competitive and interesting games. I am confident that the SDHSAA will not make this move readily, but with the declining demographics and continued school closures and coops it is probably inevitable. If we can live with three basketball champions (there are more basketball teams than football teams) I think we could live with four football champions. The change should happen sooner rather than later.
November 13th, 2010 at 8:24 am
I see where your coming from, but in saying that, where the problem would arise is between the 11AA and the 11A.. If you are going add to the number of 11AA schools I think it’s going to be really unfair to have the (now teams of today) Harriburg’s, DR’s, WC’ Tea, etc going up to play the Sioux Falls Schools.. I do think they could play with the ESD teams in certain years, but not always competitively every year.. I agree the nine man teams are too close in size where there needs to be three divisions, but there should be at least three classes of 11 man teams..
November 13th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Post season games with no purpose other than to pad pocket books? Don’t they call that the BCS already?
November 13th, 2010 at 9:07 am
Sod:
I’m just trying to be creative in a way that would make sure the SDHSAA keeps their revenue stream flowing at its current level. I seriously doubt they will change anything if they lose a dime in the process.
SB1
November 13th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Nut:
I don’t think 11AA should be changed in terms of their ADM cutoff from its present level. I just cannot see any teams from the ESD challenged the SF schools in the coming years though……..
SB1
November 13th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
I know, I just thought the uncanny similarities were too close to not comment upon. It was intended as more of a dig at the BCS than your suggestion. I would say cut the number of playoff teams back if we are going to keep all classes, then maybe offer those teams that did not qualify a post season game. Maybe with a past rival that is no longer on their schedule, maybe with the coach’s home town, maybe an 11 man team would lose two lineman and play 9 man team down the road, or something along those lines. Operate it all under the playoff rules where the two schools and Pierre split the gate.
How’s this for a suggestion: four classes, three of which are eleven, one nine man. Lose the idiotic rules of how when you coop that all of the ADM of the merging school or schools does not count toward the teams total ADM. Your would end up with several current 9 man schools that would become 11 man then. I want to see the state correct this, and this would be a great way to force it. For teams like Harding County or Jones County where merging is not an option, 9 man remains an option. Leave it for the schools and teams that really need to remain 9 man. The rest of you: you’re gonna need two more on the field.
Just a couple random and outside the box thoughts. Somewhat right or left of middle. Not sure which though.
November 13th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Timely article in Wednesday’s Mitchell daily Republic, credit to writer Chris Aarhus
BLOWOUTS STILL A PART OF THE GAME
Can eliminating a 9-man class close the competition gap?
By: Chris Aarhus, The Daily Republic
Dale Taylor isn’t sure how he feels about the 9-man football alignment in South Dakota.
The Kimball football coach was the beneficiary of a system that allowed his Kiotes to make the playoffs this year despite a 2-6 record.
With only 14 healthy players, Kimball made the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Gettysburg, where it fell to the host team 40-6 in the first round.
But was it a positive experience?
“At the time, it wasn’t really because we had quite a few injuries,” Taylor said. “People were sick. Going up there, we were pretty shorthanded. Maybe it wasn’t a real good positive experience because of the situation we were in.”
Blowouts at the 9-man level have become commonplace nearly every week, sometimes with teams from lower classes beating teams from higher classes. It’s a situation that leaves Taylor with mixed feelings regarding the current system of three 9-man classes. Taylor does think condensing 9-man into two classes would work.
“There’s a need to maybe cut 9-man,” Taylor said. “In a way, it wouldn’t hurt to go back to two classes. I’d be in support of it if it happened.”
But at the same time, Taylor looks back at the playoff game and is still glad his team got a chance to experience the postseason. Taylor said the situation may not have been overly positive, but the act of playing the game was good for his team.
“I don’t think it hurt us,” Taylor said. “It gave us another game to play. It’s nice to see young kids go up there and give a maximum effort. That was a positive experience.”
Participation seems to be the ultimate trump card in high school sports. More classes mean more playoffs and more championships, but there are also concerns about watered-down competition.
Bob Lowery, of the South Dakota High School Activities Association, said his organization makes decisions based on recommendations from advisory committees in each sport. If a change is in the future, Lowery said it will be up to that sport’s advisory committee, which is made up of administrators around the state who gather input from their schools.
“We take that lead from the member schools as far as reducing classes,” Lowery said. “This is the policy, right now, recommended by the schools.”
The state has 81 9-man schools, but a rule is in place if that number drops below 70 for two consecutive alignment periods, Lowery said.
“If that number drops below 70 … we’ll look at going back (to two classes),” Lowery said.
An exception or a rule?
Over the final three weeks of the 9-man season, the average score of a game was 43-11. Canistota, which plays in 9-man’s smallest division, blew out all but one of its opponents this season, including a 66-0 win Thursday over Hitchcock-Tulare in the state championship game. Before the game, Canistota watched Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan beat Viborg-Hurley to claim the title at 9-man’s highest division. Canistota beat B-E/E 46-2 on Oct. 15.
Andes Central coach Darryl Deurmier said Canistota is more the exception than the rule.
“There should be three classes,” Deurmier said. “They have good athletes in the town, so more power to you. That’s part of the luck of being in the right town.”
Canistota coach Lenny Schroeder said he likes the way system is set up, noting that he agrees with the below-70 rule.
“We’re pretty much the exception to the rule,” Schroeder said. “Yeah, we can compete with any 9-man team in the state, but is it going to be like that every year? No.
“To generalize and say it’s going to happen every year, I don’t think so. It goes in streaks.”
Schroeder said taking a class away with as many 9-man teams still in existence wouldn’t be fair to the kids.
“You take one class away, you’re taking opportunities away from kids to compete,” Schroeder said. “It’s a matter of having the number of kids to compete. It’s not that these kids don’t want to compete.”
Past changes
Still, Taylor won’t deny what everyone knows what is going on, week in and week out.
“It wasn’t just this year there were a lot of lopsided games; it’s been every year,” Taylor said. “There are good teams and not-so-good teams.”
In an effort to prevent teams with below-average records from making the playoffs, the SDHSAA changed its policy on playoff seeding. Previously, four teams from each region made the playoffs in all three 9-man classes and the bottom two 11-man classes.
The SDHSAA bumped automatic qualifiers down to the top three teams in each region with the final four spots in each class being decided by the remaining highest four seeds. The SDHSAA also decided to reseed the playoffs after the first round, rather than letting regions play out to decide a region champion, which went by the wayside to ensure better competitive balance in the remaining rounds of the playoffs. Of the 146 high school football teams in the state, 96 make the playoffs.
However, teams such as this year’s Kimball squad still get in, though Lowery said that shouldn’t be looked at as a bad thing.
“Football’s the only sport we have where you have to qualify to get to the postseason,” said Lowery, referring strictly to team sports. “You can be 0-20 in basketball and you still get to go to the playoffs. That’s why we have more classes — to get as many teams into the playoff experience as possible.”
Other states
Taylor said he wouldn’t mind seeing the enrollment cutoff of 11-man lowered. Currently, a school with an enrollment of at least 113 must compete in 11-man. However, in surrounding states, that number varies.
North Dakota, which has the smallest number of football classes in the upper Midwest at four, doesn’t look at overall numbers in each school — just the amount of boys. South Dakota’s neighbors to the north have only one class of 9-man football and to avoid it, a team has to have 80 boys, whether they come from one high school or multiple schools that make up a co-op.
Taylor said he’d like the boys-only factor thrown into the discussion as it could provide more realistic balance.
“That might help the (competitive) situation,” Taylor said. “We’ve had times where there were lots of boys and not so many girls. It wouldn’t be hard to go by boy enrollment. You’ve got to report both.”
In Nebraska, the enrollment cutoff for 8-man football is 83, but schools are allowed to participate if their enrollment is expected to drop below that number within a year. Some schools, such as Omaha St. Peter Claver, compete in 8-man with an enrollment of nearly 200. However, those schools are not allowed to compete in the postseason. There are seven classes of football in Nebraska, though the 6-man state championship is run by the state’s coaches association and not by the activities association.
Iowa’s current cutoff is at 85, but only because the state takes the bottom 65 enrollments and places them in the bottom class. Of the six classes, the rest play 11-man.
In Minnesota, 9-man schools can have up to 165 students. However, like Iowa, there are six classes and five are devoted to 11-man. Wyoming has five classes — four 11-man and one 6-man.
What the future holds
Many coaches are in agreement that the number of 9-man teams continues to shrink each year. With the below-70 rule in place, some think it’s just a matter of time until a 9-man class is eliminated.
“It’s going to happen,” Schroeder said. “The SDHSAA has their bets covered. We’re probably looking at two more alignment periods. It could be four years down the road.”
If it does happen, it will most likely be a product of co-ops by schools that struggle fielding a team on their own.
Menno competes by itself in Class 9B and numbers recently proved to be a problem when it had to forfeit its final game of the regular season to Irene-Wakonda because of injuries, illnesses and other activities.
“We did not have enough high school kids available to play,” said Jacque Liebl, athletic director at Menno. “We didn’t want to put eighth-graders on the front line, so to speak. We only had six or seven high school kids available.”
Liebl said that, along with sicknesses and injuries, an FFA convention was at the same time, so kids had to make a decision.
“It’s one of those things that you can’t really control,” Liebl said. “Our lack of numbers hurt. You hope it doesn’t happen, but it did.”
Menno seems like a perfect candidate to consider a co-op agreement with another school. But Liebl was quick to point out the school tried and failed to get an agreement with nearby Scotland a few years ago. She also said Freeman is a possibility, though she added the school has “good numbers.”
“I think we’ll be OK,” Liebl said. “We have a lot of numbers in the kids coming up.”
Regardless of the concerns that come with blowouts and lack of numbers, people involved in the sport seemed to be in agreement that more playoff participation, at this point, is an essential part of South Dakota high school football.
“With the 2-6 teams, in general, I think if you ask any of those kids, ‘Would you want to be 2-6 and be done, or play one more game?’ I think you would have a tremendous response to play one more game,” Schroeder said.
November 13th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
I think you make a solid point. There really should be less classes in football… there should also be less classes in college, but that’s a different story.
November 14th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Look at Gettysburg, they have bounced from 9A to 9AA to 9A to 9B since 2001
9A Dome appearences 2001,2002,2006 and 2008
9AA Dome 2004
9B playoffs the last 2 years.
Obviusly the numbers between bottom 1/3 and top 1/3 are close if teams are bouncing around that much. Lots of schools are losing population and are starting to drop from the 11 man ranks (Gregory and Miller for example). I Think 2 11 man classes, 2 9 man classes would be sufficient. Most 11B schools play a mixture of 11B/11A on the schedule now and the difference between 9man is even closer with 9AA teams playing 9B teams in the same conference. Eight out of the top eleven ADM schools have not been a factor in 11A football in some time so keeping the current dividing numbers for 11AA and 11A would work. Put the 11A/9AA split at about 150 and let schools smaller than that play 11A if the wish. Put the 9man split at 75 and see how it works, adjustments can be made. We got to the system we have because 1st to many good 9 man teams didn’t make the playoffs (2 classes, top 4 from each region 32 total teams) and then to many bad teams were making it (top 8 from each region, 64 total teams) so 9AA was invented, with 3 classes of 16 playoff teams (48 total some tweeking over the years to include wildcards). While we are at it power points need some re-vamping. When a team like Miller at 3-5 makes the playoffs becuase they played a tough schedule (Wagner, Mobridge and Winner added a lot of opponets wins the the formula) Granted you should be rewarded for playing tough teams but they were demolished in the five losses. The three teams they beat were 7-17 (Sioux Valley, Crow Creek & Chamberlain) the five teams they lost to were (Platte,Winner,Mobridge,Stanley Co and Wagner) were 30 and 10 and the only competive game among the 5 was againt Platte. I think it is time for the SDHSAA to look at the number of classes and how the teams get into the playoffs.