Thursday night and Friday continue the football state championships at the Dakotadome in Vermillion as the 9AA state title takes place Thursday night while the 11B and 11A state title will be played Friday afternoon.
in 9AA, the Parkston Trojans will be looking for its first state title since 2023 and are back in the state championship for the first time since 2024. At 11-0, the Trojans are the top seed and will look to beat the Platte-Geddes Black Panthers twice to the win the state title. Platte-Geddes is at 10-1 with its only loss against the Trojans in a 30-6 game back in the second game of the season. However, since the loss, the Black Panthers have dominated the nine opponents to reach the four seed and then going on the road to beat Hamlin last Friday in the state semifinal 45-24. Platte-Geddes will look to make up over 24 points in the rematch in the Dome Thursday night.
The 11B state title game is a rematch from last year’s state title game as St. Thomas More looks to win its second straight state title against Elk Point-Jefferson. The Huskies are the top seed beating Winner 26-0 last Friday while St. Thomas More beat Clark/Willow Lake 37-28. Noah Wald leads the Cavaliers in its quest for a second straight state title, the second in school history. Brody Van Roekel leads the rushing attack of Elk Point Jefferson as 1000 yard rusher while Aiden Hammit will most likely join him before the final whistle. The 1-2 punch of Van Roekel and Hammit are tough to stop and the defense of the Cavaliers will have its hands full. Elk Point-Jefferson is looking for its first title since 2022 and is in the title game for the fourth time in that span.
The 11A state championship game will also be a rematch from last year as Sioux Falls Christian and Lennox. In fact, its the third straight season with both teams reaching the 11A title game. The Chargers beat the Orioles 28-24 last year in the state title and Sioux Falls Christian, the top seed, will look to do so again. The two teams are meeting to start and end the season as Sioux Falls Christian won 38-20 in the first game of the year. Since the game, only Dell Rapids put up double digits on the Chargers. Lennox, who is the three seed, had to go on the road last Friday and beat the West Central Trojans with an 18-15 victory to reach the title game. Lennox beat Sioux Falls Christian two years ago winning 14-6 winning its second title in school history with the other in 1982. Sioux Falls Christian is looking for its fourth title in school history, all since 2017.
Kickoff of the 9AA state championship is at 7:00 Thursday night with kickoff at 10:00 AM Friday for the 11B state title and 1:00 for the 11A state title. The 11AA Pierre Governor preview and 11AAA state title preview will be on Friday.
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