Tomorrow morning, the football state championships begin at the Dakotadome in Vermillion as the 9B state title takes the stage at 10:00 AM and then the 9A state title at 1:00.
Starting in the 9B state championship, two of the teams maybe picked to be at the Dome at the beginning of the season, the Wall Eagles and Dell Rapids St. Mary’s Cardinals. Both teams are defending state champions as the Cardinals won the 9B state title and the Eagles were the 9A champions last year. Both teams come in at 11-0 on the year and both teams have not loss since the 2024 state semifinals when Wall lost to Wolsey-Wessington and Dell Rapids St. Mary’s against Faulkton Area in the 9B semifinal. Wall has had five games end early with the 50 point mercy rule while the Cardinals have won seven games with a 50 point win. The Cardinals beat Warner 36-20 last Friday while Wall, the top seed, beat Avon 36-28.
The 9A state title sees Freeman looking for a second straight state championship after winning the 9AA state title with Marion and Freeman Academy last year. The Fliers face the Bennett County Warriors seeking its first state title in program history after a wild win last Friday at home to reach the Dome. Bennett County, the five seed, beat the four seed Sully Buttes on the road two weeks ago in the quarterfinals holding off the Chargers last gasp attempt, before than having its own last gasp attempt in the semifinals against Kimball/White Lake. A couple of laterals and a slight hesitation to make everybody think the game was over, sprung the Warriors to the end zone and beating the WiLdKats by one, 35-34. At 10-1, the Warriors only loss is to the team playing in the 9B state title game, Wall, which began the season. Freeman is coming in undefeated at 11-0 as Tayden Kerrigan has thrown for over 2200 yards and 37 touchdowns and only three interceptions. On top of it, the Fliers have four guys with over 200 yards on the ground and three receivers with over 500 yards each. Easton Tschetter has over 800 yards receiving leading the team with 11 touchdowns, but David Walter leads the team with 13 touchdown grabs.
Kickoff of the 9B state title game is at 10:00 AM between Wall and Dell Rapids St. Mary’s with the 9A state title game kicking off at 1:00 between Freeman and Bennett County on Thursday. We’ll have previews of the 9AA state title game and Friday’s state title games on Thursday.
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