This video is the culmination of a summer long fantasy baseball bet made by Journal copyeditor/reporter Josh Russo and assistant sports editor Jeff Budlong. Let this video serve as a lesson to all you kids out there, watch what you bet…you might have to pay up.
Andrew

Was it another lost weekend for the West River Class AA schools? Maybe at first glance. After all the four schools — Spearfish, Sturgis, Central and Stevens — went 2-14 this past weekend against their Sioux Falls counterparts in boys and girls basketball.

The Argus Leader had some tidbits in a story I came across on Sunday.

According to the Leader, the Class AA Sioux Falls schools have a record of 15-1 against their Class AA Black Hills brethren this season, with an average score in those 15 wins of 71-46, while the Sioux Falls girls are also 15-1, posting an average winning score of 62-37.

But at least there were some bright spots this past weekend, with the Central boys beating Sioux Falls Roosevelt, 65-55, on Saturday, and the Cobbler girls getting past O’Gorman, 42-39, on Friday.

Andrew

What a shock it was to pick up the paper and read about Jack Tennyson’s passing.
As an eight-year old growing up in Rapid City, Jack Tennyson was it.
As kids we would pretend to be either him or John Dutton in the driveway shooting hoops or playing backyard football.
I told my 3rd-grade teacher Mrs. Naasz, (Howard’s wife) that when I grew up, I wanted to be Jack Tennyson.
Jack was all-everything on the football field, the track and the basketball court.
My older sister was a classmate, so I got to tag along to all the Cobbler games back then.
My folks took us to Sioux Falls to watch the Cobblers clean up the State A basketball tournament.
Dave Strain’s best team and one of the all-time great basketball teams in my mind.
Who can forget him firing softballs past hitters all over the surrounding area in later years. He was the Nolan Ryan of fast pitch softball.
Thank you for all the wonderful memories Jack, a Cobbler great for all-time.

-Lenn

The Class 11AA football team came out today and three West River players were on it. I don’t have a problem with the number — it’s hard to argue for much more representation than that when you look at a season’s worth of results — but I found it a little tough to swallow that Sturgis didn’t get a single nod, even amongst the honorable mentions. No Seth Mulvehill? Really? I don’t know if he deserved mention ahead of the four SF defensive backs (Carlson, Heck, Powell and Wright) that were named to the actual team, but he certainly deserved at least an HM. I thought a few others did, too.

I don’t know if Sturgis didn’t have a rep at the all-state meeting or what, but it’s too bad that a community that has fought so hard to claw back to football respectability didn’t get a little love for that.

Keep battling, Scoopers. The recognition will come.

Sooner or later.

- Padraic

Sitting in the office on a beautiful Saturday afternoon made me yearn for some high school playoff football. It made me remember my days as a sports editor in Oregon and covering Saturday afternoon state playoff games in November. It made me miss it.

Then I thought that here we are in South Dakota, in the middle of the state playoffs and yet, it doesn’t feel like it. Through two rounds of state football games have been held on Tuesday and, after Nov. 3, on Monday. That doesn’t feel like playoff football. I mean it just seems wrong to have playoff football on a Monday.

I’ve asked around, trying to find some sort of logical answer to why South Dakota plays the first round on a Tuesday, then follows with the second round on a Monday. It seems that fans would be more likely to travel to a game — whether to Sioux Falls or to Aberdeen or those fans back to Rapid City or Sturgis — on a Saturday afternoon as opposed to a Monday or a Tuesday.

I have yet to find someone who knows or has a logical explanation. On the surface, it looks like we go through an eight- or nine-week regular season only to have the playoffs become an afterthought and crammed into whatever day we possibly can play them.  We don’t have state basketball tournaments on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They are held on a weekend so as many fans as possible can attend. Why aren’t the state football playoffs done with the same thing in mind?

I must be missing something. Anyone have any theories on why the state playoff schedule plays out like it does?

Andrew

The South Dakota state football playoffs begin today all over the state, so I was thinking we might as well take a look at the pairings and how they might shake out in the 11-man classes.

Class 11AA first round
Top-seeded Brandon Valley shouldn’t have a whole lot of trouble with No. 16 Stevens.

No. 8 Watertown topped Yankton in a 15-14 nail-biter at Yankton earlier this season, making me think the Bucks will get a little revenge this time around.

Roosevelt should roll over Mitchell in the 5-12 game.

Lincoln hammers Douglas (it was 49-0 last I checked).

O’Gorman does the same to Huron.

Sturgis gets a home playoff win in the 10-7 game over Aberdeen Central. 

Sioux Falls Washington rolls over Spearfish.

I’m going to go with an upset — the Cobblers knock off Brookings at home in the 11-6 game.

Quarterfinals

Brandon tops Yankton for the second time this year.

Lincoln’s offense is too much for Roosevelt.

O’Gorman’s rushing attack overwhelms a game Sturgis team.

Washington’s too good for Central.

Semifinals

I’m going with Lincoln to knock off Brandon Valley in a shootout.

OG gets back to the Dome.

Championship

The OG Knights win the state title despite giving up 45 points to Lincoln in the Dome … 53-45.

Class 11A first round
Region 1
West Central tops Dell Rapids again for the Region 1 title.

Region 2
Harrisburg tops Vermillion to win Region 2.

Region 3
Winner doesn’t even get tested.

Region 4
Belle rolls through this one as well.

Semifinals

Harrisburg will have to travel to Belle Fourche for a semifinal and a combination of the long road trip, the Bronc defense, Alex Kling and maybe a tiny little bit of East River football arrogance combine to topple the Tigers.

West Central beats Winner in Hartford.

Championship

Does it make any sense at all to pick against West Central?

Class 11B
Semifinals

Aberdeen Roncalli travels to Bennett County and gets beat.

Platte-Geddes/Dakota Christian, toughened by a brutal Region 3, narrowly escapes the semis with a win over Tri-Valley.

Championship

Platte’s passing game isn’t enough to stop the Warriors, who win a rare 11-man title for West River.

*We’ll do a little 9-man forecasting after the first round.

- Padraic

Winner’s 27-22 win over St. Thomas More was a big one for the Warriors, probably good for the Cavaliers, and obviously great for all the More haters in the area.

I don’t necessarily think More was getting cocky — Wayne Sullivan doesn’t allow for that, and a 51-13 beatdown in the Dome last year should probably eliminate any delusions of grandeur — but it’s got to be a little hard to stay entirely focused on a regular-season schedule that hasn’t provided a loss since 2003. And we are talking about high school kids.

That’s why I think the Belle Fourche-More game at the end of the regular season is going to be so good. There’s no love lost between the two schools (when is there when STM’s involved?) and there’s no doubt that the Broncs are going to get More’s best shot, which still may not be enough to keep the Cavaliers from losing. That’s been a hard-hitting game over the last few years and this year’s version will live up to that, guaranteed.

And then we get the playoffs, where we’ll probably get to see a rematch (or two) between some combination of Winner, Belle and More. It should be fun.

Who’s going to come out of the West in 11A?

- Padraic

It was a fun weekend for area football, especially for fans in New Underwood (nice win over Wall), Winner (first West River team to beat STM since 2003, did it on homecoming no less) and Sturgis (anytime you go on the road and get a win on the other side of the Missouri, that’s cool).

The Winner win must have perked up some ears in Bronc country as Belle Fourche knocked off Winner earlier this season. Everybody likes beating STM, but the Broncs are looking at avenging two losses to the Cavs last season and there are a couple of STM players (Ty Kok and Dan Herman) who used to go to school in Belle. I don’t think the Broncs are going to have any problem getting up for that one.

New Underwood’s win over the Eagles sets up a big conference game against Lyman in Presho on Oct. 17. Lyman has been steamrolling opponents so far this season, but NU has to be feeling pretty good about their chances against anybody right now.

Meanwhile, the Scoopers are looking at the very real possibility of a winning season and hosting a first-round playoff game after beating Mitchell. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but that would be the first time since 1995 or ‘96 that the Scoops have been on the high side of .500. It’s good to see Sturgis heading in the right direction.

I got to watch Central play S.F. Lincoln and the four most impressive skill position players on the field were RB Gannon Moore, WR Brett Anderson (guys that fast shouldn’t be that big) and QB Ryan Hander of Lincoln and WR Dimitri Fahey of Central. Fahey’s just got that knack for going and getting the ball. Some people can catch and some people can’t – Fahey certainly can.

- Padraic

Fun stuff this opening weekend of football … Rapid City Central picked up a win on Friday night and South Dakota School of Mines did the same on Saturday. The USD Coyotes beat up on St. Ambrose in their first game as a D-I program (against an NAIA school?), Rapid City’s Dusty Nowotny caught a TD pass for the ‘Yotes, SDSU got whipped by Iowa State, Sioux Falls O’Gorman got beat by Brandon Valley and a whole host of big-time D-I schools hammered overmatched opponents.

I’m wondering if beating an inferior, overmatched opponent is a good thing early in the season (for confidence, reps, etc.) or does it simply make for an empty win with no real learning experience?

Is the ESD better than people have given it credit for early this season? Are the Sioux Falls schools maybe not as dominant as everyone seemed to believe?

- Padraic

Yesterday, I was treated to watching Rapid City Central and Aberdeen Central at O’Harra Stadium. It was the first time that I was able to see a game there.

What a great atmosphere for a game. At first I was a little disappointed to see that the stands were only half full for a city this size. But, as Padraic assured me, about 75 percent of the fans were parked on the hill, watching the game from in their cars. Some were grilling, as I could tell from the smell of charcoal. It was a good turnout for what turned out to be a good game for the home team.

As for the game itself, Central came out with some jitters on the first Golden Eagles drive. But, the defense gelled and gained strength as the game went on. It was not much of an offensive game, but Central did make plays when it counted, including key catches by Oakley Erck and Dmitri Fahey. The 51-yard grab by Fahey was a spectacular grab that rivaled some catches I’ve seen live, prep or college.

Congratulations Central. It was a good win.

- Russo