12 South Dakota high school football games to watch as season nears

Jul. 25—MITCHELL — The South Dakota high school football season is officially under a month away from kicking off.

With the first handful of games on Thursday, Aug. 17, followed by a full Friday slate, the countdown to the season is on.

Here's a look at 12 of the top football games for the upcoming 2023 season, listed chronologically.

Friday, Aug. 18, 7 p.m., in Alexandria

Starting off the season with a contest that didn't disappoint last season, Howard and Hanson are each faced with a tough Week 1 draw.

While Hanson lost Jackson Jarding, Ethan Cheeseman and Hadley Wallace to graduation, the Beavers return quarterback Jayce Slaba and fullback Brock Tuttle after an 8-2 season and a Class 9AA state quarterfinal appearance.

Howard, which dealt Hanson its lone regular-season loss last year in a 20-12 win in Howard, brings back quarterback Taiden Hoyer and running back Karsyn Feldhaus from last year's squad that was 9-0 before falling to eventual runner-up Parkston in the 9AA quarterfinals.

Friday, Aug. 25, 7 p.m., in Dell Rapids

The defending Class 11A state champions from Dell Rapids begin their title defense with a familiar nearby foe, as Madison makes the 30-mile trip for the season-opener.

In last year's season-opening meeting, the Quarriers handled the Bulldogs, winning 33-14 in Madison.

Quarterback Jack Henry, the championship game MVP and South Dakota State football commit, leads a talented group of returning seniors from last season's 12-0 team that includes 2022 all-state selections in running back Mason Stubbe, defensive lineman Treyse Eastman and linebacker Aiden Geraets.

On the other side, Madison posted a 4-6 mark last season (1-4 in one-score contests) that saw the Bulldogs bow out in the state quarterfinals. Behind returners such as honorable mention all-state lineman Parker Johnson and quarterback Ben Brooks, who impressed as a sophomore last season, the Bulldogs will look to return to contention at the top of the class, where they've been state finalists six times since 2013.

Saturday, Aug. 26, 6 p.m., in Harrisburg

In Class 11AAA, the 2023 season starts just as the 2022 season ended, with defending state champion Sioux Falls Jefferson facing off with Harrisburg.

The Cavaliers controlled both meetings with the Tigers a year ago, opening the season with a 43-13 win and claiming the state championship with a 48-21 victory.

After a historically dominant 12-0 campaign last season, the Cavaliers look to reload following the graduation of seven all-state honorees, but they're hardly starting from scratch. The process will likely start on the defensive side of the ball, where Wisconsin football commit Thomas Heiberger and DaShawn Rohlik return on the defensive line and Dawson Sechser is back at linebacker after all three earned all-state recognition in 2022.

Meanwhile, Harrisburg brings back dynamic all-state playmaker Max Carlson and one of the top returning pass-catchers in the state in Tytan Tryon, who was honorable mention all-state a year ago.

Friday, Sept. 15, 7 p.m., in Elk Point

The defending champs in Class 11B certainly have their work cut out for them, and a Week 4 matchup with McCook Central/Montrose is one of the highlights of the schedule.

While Elk Point-Jefferson handled the Fighting Cougars with relative ease last year — trumping MCM 35-0 in Salem — MCM brings back a load of talent. The win for the Huskies came during a stretch of games where they outscored their opponents 354-14 over the first six games of the season and 190-0 in the first four.

Jackson Remmers and Boston Katzer highlight a lengthy list of returnees for MCM, which graduated just seven seniors last year, as opposed to the 15 the Huskies lost to graduation, while EPJ will have to replace all-state players Devon Schmitz, Lucas Hueser, Chace Fornia, Ty Trometer and Hunter Geary.

Friday, Sept. 22, 7 p.m., in Presho

En route to a rare West River state title in Class 9AA last season, Wall bashed its way through the regular season, winning by an average margin of 52-4.

Though the Eagles have holes to patch following the graduation of all-state standouts Cedar Amiotte, Blair Blasius, Mason Heath, Norman Livermont and Rylan McDonnell, bringing back talents such as all-state quarterback Burk Blasius and defensive back Brodi Sundall should help bridge the gap.

Lyman is coming off of a state semifinal run in Class 9A, and was one of two squads to deny the Eagles a 50-point rule victory during the regular season last year. Like Wall, the Raiders are likely to experience growing pains with the departure of several key playmakers. However, this contest is as far east as Wall will venture during the regular season, giving it some extra eyes in the mid-season slate.

Friday, Sept. 29, 7 p.m., in Parkston

The Class 9A champs from a year ago return star quarterback and reigning

Mitchell Republic Player of the Year Rylan Peck

to a Gregory team poised to be among the top teams in the class.

But Parkston, which was runner-up in Class 9AA last season, has the likes of Brayden Jervik, Luke Bormann and Kolter Kramer set to come back to lead a deep backfield, while all-state pick Will Jodozi will anchor the defensive line as a senior.

Though not an in-class matchup, Gregory and Parkston seem poised to be two of the top nine-man teams in the state this season, and the tilt gives each squad an opportunity to gauge where it's at against other top teams during the midway point in the season.

Friday, Sept. 29, 7 p.m., in Winner

Though Winner handled Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan to the tune of a 36-0 win last season, the Seahawks figure to make this year's contest a closer game.

Before last season, these two squads met in the Class 11B championship game three years in a row, and while BEE lost its final four games, the Seahawks started the campaign 5-0 and seem to consistently be in the Class 11B picture under coach Jeff VanLeur.

The Warriors are coming off a loss at the DakotaDome last season in the Class 11B championship but bring back key playmakers Aiden Barfuss and Karson Keiser as they search for their fifth-straight trip to the state title game.

Friday, Sept. 29, 7 p.m., in Hayti

Another Class 9AA-versus-Class 9A matchup pits a pair of norther powers against one another, as Hamlin, a state semifinalist last season, against Warner, a state runner-up.

When the two sides met last year in Warner, the Monarchs fended off the Chargers in an 8-6 defensive struggle to defend their home turf. Now, Warner makes the trip to Hayti for a rematch of that slugfest.

Hamlin's returners are headlined by all-state running back Luke Fraser and a pair of honorable mention picks in Evan Stormo and Jameson Nebel. Opposite, Warner boasts its own all-state rusher in Hunter Cramer, who'll be at the forefront of the Monarchs' charge to get back to the DakotaDome.

Friday, Oct. 6, 7 p.m. in Hartford

Historically speaking, there isn't a matchup steeped in as much tradition and prestige as a clash between the Warriors and the Trojans.

While the pair aren't geographic or long-standing rivals and now play in different classes, in the playoff era, no school has more state titles than West Central's 12, with Winner tied for second-most at nine.

When the two storied programs met last season in Winner, the Warriors broke open the game in the second half of a 46-12 final that wound up as West Central's lone defeat of the regular season.

The Warriors are coming off a Class 11B state title game loss that ended a 34-game winning streak and the quest for a three-peat. Among the Winner contingent looking to start the next march toward Vermillion is all-state fullback Aiden Barfuss.

West Central experienced its fair share of turnover from last year's team that went 10-2 and finished as Class 11A runner-up, but will be anchored by all-state defensive lineman Crew Heier as the new group of playmakers gets up to speed.

Friday, Oct. 6, 7 p.m., in Marion

This late-season meeting features two young squads last season that profile to be two of the better teams in their respective classes this year.

Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy, which went 6-2 in its inaugural season as a program, has quarterback Riley Tschetter back for his sophomore season after throwing for 2,225 yards and 30 touchdowns and rushing 71 times for 300 yards and three scores.

For Corsica-Stickney, Waylon Bolle rushed for 17 touchdowns and 1,278 yards on 144 carries as a freshman. In all, he had more than 1,500 yards from scrimmage and 22 touchdowns as the Jaguars bounced back for a 6-3 season.

Last season the Jaguars won 48-18 at home, but now on the road with FMFA in its second season as a program with Tschetter coming back under center — while the Jaguars graduated quarterback Shad Bosma — this game could be an exciting matchup coming down the homestretch of the season.

Friday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m., in Tea

Another installment of the past two Class 11AA state championship matchups promises to be intriguing, even with a new cast of characters.

In three meetings between the Governors and Titans since Tea Area joined Class 11AA ahead of the 2021 season, Pierre has won all three, including last season's title game by a 35-20 score.

Gone are the high-octane talents of Lincoln Kienholz and crew, but Pierre has already shown it can reload multiple times during its run of six-straight state titles. Among those tasked with carrying on the streak are all-state players such as tight end Jett Zabel, offensive lineman Matthew Coverdale and receiver Cade Kaiser.

Tea Area also has a large rising senior class headlined by all-state fullback Keegan DeYoung that will aim to extend the Titans' active streak of three straight state championship game appearances and four in five years.

Thursday, Oct. 19, 6 p.m., in Harrisburg

The Knights and Tigers treated the South Dakota prep football scene to a pair of highly-entertaining bouts last season and with both teams reloaded for another run, 2023 could be more of the same.

Capitalizing on late miscues, O'Gorman swiped a 24-20 win off the Tigers in the regular-season finale last season to secure the No. 2 playoff seed and set up for a state semifinal rematch. Two weeks later on the same field, Max Carlson ran wild, accounting for all six Tiger touchdowns in a 42-21 victory that saw the then-junior playmaker rush for 184 yards, throw a 61-yard scoring strike and return a kickoff 78 yards for a score to punch Harrisburg's ticket to Vermillion.

Led by all-state fullback and recent North Dakota State football commit Ryland Satter in addition to all-state talents in running back Maverick Jones and defensive back Henry Theobald, the Knights are set to maintain their status as a top contender in the top of the state's largest class. Theobald recently committed to play defense at the University of North Dakota.

Just like last year, the 2023 meeting will take place on the final night of the regular season, with playoff seeding implications likely at play again.