PIERRE – A lengthy discussion about football schedules highlighted the bi-monthly meeting of the South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors, which concluded Wednesday.
There have been complaints from two schools about scheduling. One is Irene-Wakonda, who plays in Class 9B in football. However, Superintendent Dave Hutchinson noted that there are no other 9B teams on the Eagles’ 2022 schedule, noting that it would be hard for players to receive recognition if other conference coaches don’t see them play.
Assistant Executive Director Randy Soma said that neither conference games nor games within a classification are guaranteed. Soma is in his first year of creating schedules.
Hutchinson asked if there was the possibility of changing this year’s schedule, but the board said that it is too late to do that.
Also, it was discovered that a rule about conference play is not in the SDHSAA athletic handbook. This rule says that a conference with more than seven teams must split into two divisions, with the last game of the season to declare a conference champion from the top team in each division.
The board instructed Executive Director Dan Swartos to inform schools about this oversight and to ask schools’ opinions about the 2023 football schedule, including whether they would like to have it changed.
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