Brian's Tuesday Tweet.....

Say it ain't so! In a year where it seemed like, perhaps aside from the top two in the State, parity was coming back to somewhat of a reality in Class 11AA, still - somehow - the Final Four comes down to all four Sioux Falls schools! Washington and Roosevelt have clearly been the best two teams throughout the season, so the blowouts they registered Monday night are really no surprise - much to the chagrin of Pierre Governor fans. But two teams the Govs probably should have beaten during the regular season, Watertown and RC Stevens, couldn't get it done in close losses to O'Gorman and Lincoln. There have been a lot of good teams outside of Sioux Falls this season, but for whatever reason, those SF schools just seem to have a way of making plays when plays need to be made, and I'm guessing that was the case in those two close games Monday. Can't wait to read the Argus sports page about their Dream Final Four - well, actually I can. Looks like Washington and Roosevelt are destined to meet in the Dome again, though. As for the Govs, 7-4 is a fine season, but it may be a season that they will leave wondering what might have been.

In 11A, the Final Four is decidedly a Sioux Falls Metro event as well. It'll be Dell Rapids hosting West Central and Harrisburg hosting Canton on Saturday. Four obviously good teams, with Canton maybe the most obscure - and the team my family and I root hard for. West Central may have benefited from a windy night to hammer a pass-happy Sisseton team in the first round, but they still went out and easily handled St. Thomas More on Monday night, so apparently nothing has changed for the perennial power. Can they pull the upset over unbeaten Dell Rapids, though? Well, I'm sure they can, but unbeaten Dells beat West Central, 37-22, in Hartford just a few weeks ago. Harrisburg probably has too many weapons for Canton to overcome in the other semifinal. Should be some quality football in 11A and AA on Saturday, but not a lot of local interest, unfortunately.

But now in 11B, a Saturday semifinal might have a lot of local interest, and rightfully so. The powerhouse of Tri-Valley will not go to the Dome for a fourth straight year, after they were upset (I use that term loosely) by Flandreau Monday night. Flandreau is a very good #8 seed, though, and they will provide a lot of problems in the semis for Aberdeen Roncalli. But of course, it's the other semifinal that will have us all watching. In Week 3, Mobridge-Pollock went down to Winner and flattened the Warriors, 26-10. The defending champs have shown some vulnerabilities this season, and even still in the postseason, and I've got a sneaking suspicion that this is just simply Mobridge's year. Keep in mind, their only loss was back in Week 1 against Linton, the #1 team in North Dakota, and a reliable source tells me, even that never should have happened. For the final eight, 11B was the most balanced, and we should get ready for a great championship game between.....mmmm.....Flandreau.....and.....a very good Big Dakota Conference team. ;o)

There seems to be a somewhat quietly stacked Final Four set up in 9AA. It'll be Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan hosting Chester Area in one semifinal, and I think the eventual champion comes from this game. The other semi has Leola/Frederick hosting Viborg/Hurley. V/H brings perhaps the best 9-man player in the state, depending on who you ask, in quarterback Cory Jacobsen, but Leola/Frederick has gone unbeaten for the second regular season in a row. Still, for some reason we just don't hear a lot about them, and we really don't know just how good they can be. I have a hunch they'll be good enough to contain Jacobsen and meet up with Chester in the championship. Chester is a #4 seed, but they are going to be a dangerous opponent for top-seeded Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan.

In 9A, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Hanson upset Avon in the Dome last year, and they will meet again, but this time it'll be Saturday in the semifinals. Early this year, I was thinking Avon lost a lot, but even though they lost to Hanson in their first game of the season, they really haven't missed a beat since. Clearly the consensus favorite for the 9A title will be the winner of this game, but I'd like to think that people might underestimate what the other two teams have to offer. Harding County hosts Sully Buttes in the other semifinal Saturday, and not that I know for sure, but I'm thinking there are two distinctly different styles here. Harding County seems to always be a bruising, hard running team, and they have man-handled almost everyone on their schedule a little more this year than in most years past. Harding is usually big and strong, but Sully Buttes probably has more team speed than anyone left in the 9-man postseason, and the Ranchers might not be able to tackle what they can't catch up to. This one's gonna be a fun one! Harding Co. has a somewhat weak schedule, but they did shut out both Philip and Wall - easily, I might add. In fact, they've only given up two scores all season. The Chargers will play well, but I wonder if this isn't the best Harding County team they've ever had. Whoever wins this one, I will definitely be pulling for in the title match.

The 9B Final Four will clearly have the four best teams in the class, which will include three unbeatens. The exception to the rule will be Gettysburg, and if you ask some of the Battler faithful, they'll probably say they should have been unbeaten as well. But even with two losses, the Battlers are probably playing as well as anyone. Get this - as I covered their 46-36 win over Colome Monday night, I had the Battlers in a total yardage advantage of 547 to 427!! A fun game indeed, but now the 4th seeded Gettysburgers draw the top seed Canistota, and I think everyone is aware just how tough of an assignment this will be. One look at the season schedule for the unbeaten Hawks says an awful lot -- a tough win at 9A power Hanson, and blow-out wins over 9AA semifinalists Chester and Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan, and also a tough White Lake/Plankinton team -- it seems Canistota is probably the best 9-man team in the state, regardless of class. Hopefully the underdog will put it all together on Saturday. The other semifinal pairs two unbeatens - Dell Rapids St. Mary and defending champion Hitchcock-Tulare, in a rematch of last year's title game. This will be a great game, but you might just have to go with the home team, and that'll be DRSM this time around. Still, good luck to anyone that tangles with Canistota this season.

So that's a look ahead to the high school semifinals, and what should be a fun day of football come Saturday. In the meantime, for what it's worth, I apologize for not having much to say lately. I guess it's just been really hectic around here lately.....either that, or we just can't stay off of Facebook long enough to say what's on our minds. As for a couple of other tidbits, is it me, or is it just really, really stupid that the World Series ends in November? Congrats to the Giants! And also, wouldn't it have been nice if the Vikings would have have given up a third round draft pick to get Brad Childress, and then gotten rid of HIM after only three games? Think about that for a while.

Don't forget - volleyball postseason starts Tuesday night - good luck everyone! Peace out....and Rock the Vote!