Update To High School Football Classification In South Dakota

Argus Leader – Earlier this week, the SDHSAA Board of Directors unanimously approved the seven-class proposal for classifying high school football teams based on the male average daily membership. The top eight largest schools plus O’Gorman will make up 11AAA. The next 11 largest schools will be placed in Class 11AA, the next 14 largest in 11A and all remaining schools with a male ADM over 56.001 in 11B.

There will be three 9-man classes, though it should be noted that this will be the first enrollment cycle with fewer than 64 9-man teams (currently 61 teams). Per SDHSAA by-laws, if the number of 9-man teams falls below 64 for two consecutive alignment periods, the number of 9-man classes will drop to two. It is unclear if that rule will take effect with the next two-year cycle 2022-24, or the following one.

Madison will still be in 11A, some of the changes to area schools include: Baltic moving up to class 11B and Arlington/Lake Preston has petitioned to move down in 9-man.