South Dakota Surprise Teams
Pre-Season Picks stumble and fall. Other teams mature and come together early. Here are PGH’s observations at mid-season. Class AA: SF Lincoln (7-2) Tough schedule left for pre-season #1 pick. South Sioux City (12-time Nebraska State Champs) on Tuesday, SF…
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Continue ReadingPre-Season Picks stumble and fall. Other teams mature and come together early. Here are PGH’s observations at mid-season.
Class AA: SF Lincoln (7-2) Tough schedule left for pre-season #1 pick. South Sioux City (12-time Nebraska State Champs) on Tuesday, SF Washington (4-4) on Thursday, and off to O’Gorman (11-0) on Friday. Patriots lost to both SF foes in December. Does Morgan Hansen have team chemistry re-aligned?
Harrisburg (11-0) – Has the Feb 7th face-off at SF O’Gorman and two Feb matches with SF Lincoln, home-&-away, with seed point implications. As a dark-horse, Harrisburg won Class A in 2013 and was second in both 2017 & 2018 Class AA finals. Now looking strong and growing confident, with good team unity.
Brandon Valley (6-5) – Defending Champions face fewer challenges from now until playoffs begin. Could also lose most games; new coaching staff seems to be struggling.
Brookings (1-11) – Baffling slide downhill. Had to leave the state to get a win over Fairmont, MN.
Class A: Florence/Henry (7-4) – Remaining strength of schedule (SOS) is weaker than first half, and doesn’t ready team for playoffs. Great start for team new to Class A.
Crow Creek (11-1) – Lost to Winner 86-48 for the usual reason: ball pressure forced turnovers and poor shot selection. With back-to-back games versus Pine Ridge and Hill City, at home Feb 14th & 15th, Crow Creek must learn from a loss and keep eyes on the prize.
Aberdeen Roncalli (9-1) – Sneaky good and improving. Faces Hamlin away tonight; good measure of improvements the Blue Cav’s have made with 2022’s Morgan Fiedler & Madelyn Bragg.
Flandreau (8-1) – Athletic Parsley sisters, and sharpshooter Tishara Hardy could run the table. DeSmet and Clark/Willow Lake games, both away, are question marks. Again, Coach Megan Severtson building a SoDak 16 contender.
Tea Area (7-1) – Buzzsaw just ahead, with contests away at SF O’Gorman, Hull/Western Christian (IA), & Hanson. Home tilts versus Lennox, Madison & Beresford.
Red Cloud (11-1) – One rough home foe in STM, otherwise, February schedule in manageable Only one roster senior shows young team has developed and thinking about bigger victories ahead, like SoDak 16 from Region 7A.
Hill City (10-3) – Curious performance at Spearfish is only blemish on record. Going to Crow Creek in mid-Feb to guage playoff readiness. Should qualify from Region 8A.
Miller (8-3) – After opening game loss at CEB, played both Crow Creek and DeSmet even. Faulkton Area on Feb 18th is a huge rivalry game; then, away to Winner for final regular season test.
Class B:
Langford Area (9-1) – Ambushed by Bridgewater/Emery at the Hanson Classic, the Lions recovered. Now they have Warner, Waubay, Faulkton & Roncalli ahead. Will team be prepared for the faster speed of those games?
Waubay/Summit (8-3) – Tough week: one-point win at Sisseton and losing at Faulkton, before seeing Wilmot today and Warner at home on Friday. Langford and Castlewood do battle early next week. Coach Tony Howard says it’s a character builder.
Howard (10-2) – Ethan comes calling on Friday, then contests look less stressful. Seed points are becoming precious. SOS compared to Hanson might drop Howard down to #3 in Region 4B.
Colman-Egan (11-3) – Great win at home last night versus Castlewood, 53-39. Only five games in February; all are winnable to lift the Hawks higher in seeding.
New Underwood (8-3) – Puny SOS remaining until Belle Fourche shows up Feb 20th. Still, the Tigers have an inside path to the SoDak 16 scramble now that CVP is out of the White River lineup, due to an ACL injury.
Irene-Wakonda (10-2) – Great SOS to prepare for Region 5B playoffs, the SoDak 16, and a top State B finish at BHSU March 12-14th. Vermillion, Bridgewater, Wynot (NE), Howard and Corsica/Stickney are each formitable and well coached.
Faith (11-1) – The Longhorns are on glide path to land in the SoDak 16, with only Belle Fourche on Feb 21st as a worthy obstacle. 2022 Kaycee Groves is the real deal, PGH friends.