Closing out the sixth season
As the saying goes, all good things must reach their end. And so it goes this week, the final six games will be played for the 2010 South Dakota high school football season in Vermillion’s Dakota Dome.

It is the dream of many a high school football player in this state to reach this point and still be playing for a state championship. But getting here isn’t easy. It takes good coaching, players who will buy into that system, to have that desire to win it all. It takes a little bit of luck to get here, and an awful lot of preparation. Above all, it takes a team effort to win this, the consummate team game. It takes all 11 players (or 9 in many cases) working in unison to achieve the best end result on any given play of a game. Several coaches we have talked to echo this sentiment:

John Nyhaug, Viborg/Hurley head coach:
“We say it is a team game, and we win as a team, and lose as a team, so every member of the team has gotten us to where we are.”

Chad Stadem, Flandreau head coach:
“We do not believe in that [individual] type of concept. We preach unity, dependence upon one another, and a feeling of oneness. We do not give out individual awards or single any one person out. Our reward is a win, a team win.”

Steve Hansen, Dell Rapids head coach:
“I think the only way you are going to get to this point in the season is that it has to be a team effort, from the starters to the scout players in practice.”

They, as well as the other nine teams that are going to play between Thursday and Saturday, will either win as a team, or lose as a team. Whether this is the team’s first trip here or their tenth, I hope the players and fans enjoy this experience as much as I do, and as much as I have enjoyed commenting about this wonderful game for the past six seasons, and next summer, will be ready to start this journey we call football season anew for a seventh time.

Before we get to the games and close out the 2010 Dakota Dozen, I will now present the sixth edition of the Dakota Dozen season awards. As usual, these are limited to games, teams, events and places I have actually seen in person during this season, even though there’s no actual hardware for these awards.

THE DAKOTA DOZEN SEASON AWARDS
1. Best Game Thus Far – Harrisburg at West Central, August 27, 2010
After considering several great games I have been at this season, I went to the first game I was at this season as the best thus far. Of course, I misread the start time, and thought the game kicked off at 7:30 rather than 7:00, so I walked onto the field about 30 seconds before the game kicked off. Going in I was expecting another West Central win, but not a blowout. Instead, the Trojans seemed to come out a bit flat, and couldn’t contain Harrisburg’s superquarterback Steven Miller. Miller scored three times that night, and was on the ball on an inordinate number of defensive plays, including the game-clinching interception in the 21-19 Harrisburg win, handing West Central their first regular season loss since 2004.

Honorable mentions go to the Dakota Bowl, when Roosevelt upended O’Gorman at their own big game 12-9, as well as Rapid City Stevens playing at Roosevelt as well, a game that Stevens nearly tied on the final play of the game, and the Howard vs. Chester game at the Prairie Bowl, which Howard pulled off the upset 22-18 with a strong defensive performance.

2. Best Home Crowd – Canistota Hawks
There are a lot of great home crowds, that are all supportive of their home teams, but when I took the 40 minute drive to Canistota, I found a home crowd that knew all about their team, and supported them unconditionally. Even though it’s easy to cheer for a team when they’re winning, I’ve seen this crowd as part of the Canistota/Bridgewater co-op over the past few seasons, and they’ve been just as knowledgeable and supportive of their home team even in not-as-good times. They also respect the game, and the officials at these games as well, and I have not seen a better bunch of fans this season.

3. Best Football Event – Semifinal Saturday, November 6, 2010
There are a lot of great games and fundraising events throughout the football season, such as the President’s Bowl, Mount Rushmore Bowl, Dakota Bowl and even the Prairie Bowl, something just seemed to be missing from each of these this season, though many had good football games tied to those events. Last Saturday, the semifinal games were scheduled and I set out at 1:00 p.m. and attended four of the 12 games during the day. These four games, especially the middle two (Roosevelt vs. O’Gorman and West Central vs. Dell Rapids) were great games, and great football atmospheres with great fans. Add to that the near-perfect weather for the day, and it made for a great day and night of football.

4. Best Home Field – Sanford Sports Complex, Sioux Falls
This season, I saw my first two games at this field, even though neither was to see the team that normally plays their home game there. It reminded me of a smaller version of Augustana’s Kirkeby-Over stadium, a great field in itself. I like the main grandstands and bleachers giving great sight lines to the field, and the press box, which I did not visit while I was there, looked to be excellent as well. Add to that the on-site locker room facilities and even the lighted practice fields behind the main fields and this was one impressive stadium.

5. Most Sportsmanlike Team – Elk Point-Jefferson Huskies
The fans and this team impress me every time I visit Elk Point for a game. The way the team carries themselves on the field is a breath of fresh air considering what we generally see at other levels of football, and the way the coaching staff instructs their players on the sideline is something I don’t usually see either – I did not hear the coaching staff yell at a single player or official throughout their game against the Wagner Red Raiders earlier this season. They even let us use their bug spray before the game, when the mosquitoes were really bad that night.

6. Best Pep Band – Garretson Blue Dragons
Now it’s time for my favorite of these awards – The last piece of the puzzle so to speak.  The pep bands that play before and during halftime of these games just complete the atmosphere that is high school football for me. This season, I heard plenty of good bands, as Elk Point-Jefferson always puts out a good performance. Good enough this season that they’ll be playing at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis this season. I heard Flandreau’s band put in a good performance this season too, but since I wasn’t able to attend one of their home games, I couldn’t give them the award. The award this season goes to the pep band of the Garretson Blue Dragons. They played great during their game against Bon Homme, even placing a few nice song selections during halftime as well.

Enough awards, let’s get to the final six games of the 2010 season!

ALL CO-OP STATE TITLE SPECIAL
7.  Viborg/Hurley (10-1) vs. Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan (9-2)
No doubt about it – Cory Jacobsen has been a great quarterback this season. The Viborg/Hurley Cougars have been every bit the team that was advertised at the beginning of the season, with a strong, and as we found out, deep backfield. Viborg/Hurley had to face some injuries this season, and came through with flying colors. I do worry about their defense, which has proven to have some holes, evidenced through their loss to Avon, and even during their semifinal game against Leola/Frederick, a team that has been held by a few other teams, scored 46 on the Cougars. That will need to tighten up considerably when they take on the Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan Seahawks, another well-coached team that is making their fourth trip to the Dakota Dome in the last ten seasons. Though Viborg/Hurley has the better record, their opponents only have a combined 44-44 regular season record, and have had trouble with the better teams they’ve played. I think the Seahawks are clearly the better team in this game, though it’s been proven that teams can move the ball against them. Their better defense and physical play should translate into a 14-point win.

THE PICK: Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan 44, Viborg/Hurley 30

SOUTHERN SPEED VS. NORTHERN EXPERIENCE
8. Hitchcock-Tulare (11-0) vs. Canistota (11-0)
Both teams have pretty much blown out their competition this season, but Canistota has done this in grand fashion, knocking around some very good teams and winning their games by an average score of 51-3. The Hawks have a very speedy four-person track team backfield that has never ceased to gain great chunks of football real estate this season.

Their concern is their inexperience with this game. This is the Hawks’ first time to a state championship game, whereas the Hitchcock-Tulare Patriots are making their third straight trip to Vermillion, and are the defending state champions. Joey Mitchell and Jordan Cole have filled the shoes vacated by Ryan Huizenga and Connor Skaare very nicely this season and their defense is very quick by all accounts as I saw during the second half of their semifinal game against Dell Rapids St. Mary last Saturday. Having seen both of these teams play, I don’t see a problem for Canistota getting into their game plan quickly and doing what they’ve done to every other opponent they’ve faced this season.

THE PICK: Canistota 44, Hitchcock-Tulare 8

SO, EXACTLY HOW GOOD ARE THE RANCHERS?
9. Hanson (10-1) vs. Harding County (11-0)
Hanson is a known commodity this season – They’re the defending class 9A champions, and have perfected their double wing offense to the point that they don’t need to pass more than about five times per game. The Beavers have played the toughest schedule of any team playing in the dome. Their opponents have a combined 52-36 record, and they’re the only team that gave Canistota any kind of a game this season, and that was with an injured Pierce Smith.

The unknown commodity to us on the eastern side of the state is the Harding County Ranchers. Even though they’ve played a west-river schedule, which is by most accounts a weaker schedule than those teams on the eastern half of this state, it’s still an awesome accomplishment to have only allowed 3.6 points per game this season, as well as possessing the speed and talent to have a +29 turnover differential this season and ended eight of their 11 games via the mercy rule. Hanson will have a difficult time keying on any one player in this game, as the Ranchers have four receiving options out of a spread offense, and four-year starting quarterback Austin Brown has been a great leader as well. That said, the Ranchers haven’t met a team as good as Hanson has been this season either, and I can’t imagine that Hanson will give Brown much time to throw the ball in this game, and have been able to contain the running game as well.

THE PICK: Hanson 20, Harding County 8

CAN EITHER DEFENSE BE CRACKED?
10. Flandreau (10-1) vs. Mobridge-Pollock (10-1)
Both teams have been ranked for most of this season, though Flandreau fell a little out of favor when they lost to Tri-Valley earlier this season. Meanwhile, Mobridge-Pollock’s only loss was on opening night to a North Dakota team that is currently undefeated. Flandreau has the distinction of being the only team in these finals to have not played a single home game during the playoffs. The Fliers are very solid on defense and have just knocked off a high-powered offensive team, only allowing 14 points to Aberdeen Roncalli. Mobridge-Pollock is an even more powerful offensive team, scoring almost 45 points per game. But lost in those gaudy numbers is the Tigers’ defense. They’ve only allowed 10 points per game this season (By comparison, Flandreau has allowed 6.5 points per game).

Flandreau faces a very balanced offense in this game, while Mobridge-Pollock must deal with a very precise double-wing option attack that is incredibly hard to stop if it’s clicking. I happen to think this game will be low-scoring and decided by a field goal by Anton Bengtsson, whose parents are flying in from Sweden to attend this game on Friday afternoon.

THE PICK:  Mobridge-Pollock 10, Flandreau 7

A CHAMPIONSHIP RIVALRY REMATCH
11. Harrisburg (9-2) vs. Dell Rapids (11-0)
When these teams met three weeks ago on the final day of the regular season, this was a very close game for just over three quarters. Then Dell Rapids turned Cole Langer loose and ran a few very pretty screen passes that resulted in long touchdowns for the Quarriers, partly due to good execution of the play by Dell Rapids, and partly due to Harrisburg flat out missing tackles on those plays.

As for this game, Dell Rapids will have to use their team speed on both sides of the ball again, and somehow be able to contain Harrisburg quarterback Steve Miller, which is something most teams have not been able to do. Harrisburg must eliminate their defensive lapses they had during their first meeting and they can very possibly win this game. Dell Rapids is able to play with any team in any type of game, and have the superior ability to adapt their game plan, which is how they’ve won the preceding 11 games, and it’s how they’ll win their 12th game this season.

THE PICK: Dell Rapids 28, Harrisburg 20

CAN ANYONE STOP THE WARRIOR BULLDOZER?
12. Sioux Falls O’Gorman (9-3) vs. Sioux Falls Washington (12-0)
What hasn’t been said about this Warriors team? They’ve lived up to, and in some cases completely exceeded all preseason predictions this season. Matt Hermanson continues to lead this great team, and with a supporting cast of running back Devonte Clay, who has proven to be an excellent ballcarrier, as well as Nate Gerry, who has turned out to be their best receiver this season, there’s been no surprise to their successes this season. Add to that their state-leading defense, and it’s a wonder anyone has been able to score on them. No team has yet to score on the Warriors during these playoffs.

So how can the Knights even compete in this game?

They’ll have to play an absolutely flawless game on each and every play, and not get worn down by the Washington running game, which is what happened to Aberdeen Central in last year’s championship game. They’ll likely have to catch Washington on a less than perfect game as well. Washington is too disciplined and too good of a football team to let that happen, though. O’Gorman has one of the cooler traditions for state title games – Once the team qualifies for the state championship, the players get their names on the back of their jerseys, which the players then get to keep. The question is, will the names go on their normal road whites, or will they wear the green uniforms that we usually see them wear against Washington?

THE PICK: Sioux Falls Washington 42, Sioux Falls O’Gorman 6

LAST WEEK: 6-6
PLAYOFFS: 20-16
SEASON: 75-51