The helmets go back on. The bands get loud. The concession stands start selling things that somehow taste better at a football game than they do anywhere else. After months of talking about what might happen, South Dakota high school football finally gives us something better than predictions: actual football.
The 2026 season arrives with an interesting setup. The defending champions in all four 11-man classes are back in the conversation, but none of them gets to simply pick up where last November ended. Graduation has taken some very good players out of the picture, and several programs that finished just short of a championship have plenty of reason to believe this could be their year.
Class 11AAA begins Friday night, August 28. Classes 11AA and 11A get going that same weekend. Class 11B already got its first taste of the season, with games beginning August 21, and the SDHSAA lists August 27 as the first allowable contest date for 11AAA, 11AA and 11A football.
If the preseason polls are any indication, South Dakota's football hierarchy hasn't changed all that much. But there are some cracks in it.
11AAA: Brandon Valley has the trophy, Lincoln has the quarterback
Last November's 11AAA championship game was about as good as it gets. Brandon Valley beat Sioux Falls Lincoln 34-27 to win the state title, closing out an 11-1 season. Lincoln finished 10-2, with its only regular-season loss to anyone other than the eventual champion nowhere to be found — the Patriots had beaten Brandon Valley in October before losing the rematch in November.
Eight months later, the two are right back at the top. The preseason media poll put Lincoln first with 16 of 20 first-place votes. Brandon Valley was second with three first-place votes, followed by Sioux Falls Jefferson, Harrisburg and O'Gorman.
That's a pretty good indication of where the state thinks this class is headed. But Brandon Valley has an obvious problem: the Lynx lost one of the most productive running backs in recent South Dakota football history. Levi Veskrna graduated after rushing for 1,741 yards and a state-record 34 touchdowns during the 2025 championship season. He left as Brandon Valley's career leader in rushing touchdowns with 64 and its second-leading rusher all-time with 3,727 yards. That's not a hole you fill by simply handing the ball to the next guy.
The Lynx also lost Hudson Parliament, an offensive lineman and Iowa commit who was named Most Outstanding Lineman of the 2025 11AAA championship game. Mekhi Zacher, another 2025 All-State selection on the defensive line, is gone as well.
So why is Brandon Valley still ranked No. 2? Because this program doesn't exactly look like it's rebuilding. The Lynx have 20 seniors on the 2026 roster, and six players were named team captains: Miles Fokken, Gavin Johnson, Austin Dowd, Will VanLeur, Jack Blomgren and Kuper Irey.
Austin Dowd is especially interesting. A 2025 All-State selection at tight end/fullback, he's already committed to South Dakota State.
Brandon Valley opens Friday at 7 p.m. against Bellevue West in Nebraska. It's not a gentle opener designed to let everybody get their feet wet. Bellevue West is a respected Omaha-area program, and the matchup is part of the SDHSAA's expanded scheduling relationship with Nebraska.
Lincoln gets an even more familiar test. The Patriots play O'Gorman at Howard Wood Field Friday night, and Lincoln has the player everyone will be watching: Brody Schafer.
Schafer is a three-year starter who has already committed to South Dakota State. MaxPreps named him South Dakota's 2025 Player of the Year after he threw for 3,023 yards and 39 touchdowns while adding 1,288 rushing yards and 18 more scores.
That makes Lincoln a little unusual. The Patriots lost several major pieces from last year's team, including All-State receivers Mikey Roche and Louison Akossi, along with All-State lineman Andrew Werner. But defensive standout Isaac Krempges returns as a team captain this fall, giving Lincoln some continuity up front. And they still have Schafer. When you've got a quarterback capable of accounting for 57 touchdowns in a season, “reload” becomes a much more believable word.
The other team worth watching closely is Sioux Falls Jefferson. The Cavaliers are third in the preseason poll, not far behind Lincoln or Brandon Valley in the state's view. Jefferson went 7-2 during the 2025 regular season and had several All-State players, including Eddie Whiting, Daevion Simonsen, Noah Duran, Anthony Patron, Cael Nofziger, Brody Jacobson and Beau Koerner. The problem is that many of those names are now playing college football, so the Cavaliers have to prove their next group is ready.
Harrisburg and O'Gorman round out the preseason top five. Washington, which received votes, could also make things uncomfortable for somebody. Opening weekend already gives us a good game to watch: Jefferson visits Harrisburg Saturday at 6 p.m.
11AA: Pierre wants another one
Pierre doesn't have to guess what it feels like to win this class. The Governors won the 2025 11AA championship, beating Yankton 56-35. Yankton entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed, while Pierre came in at No. 3.
The preseason poll doesn't seem particularly interested in punishing Pierre for that. The Governors received 19 of 20 first-place votes. Huron was second, Yankton third, Tea Area fourth and Sturgis Brown fifth.
Pierre does have some losses to replace, but it isn't defending a championship with an entirely new cast. It brings back two of its biggest 2025 contributors, receiver Carter Schiefelbein and tight end Cooper Terwilliger, both All-State selections as juniors. There's more evidence the Governors aren't resting on last year's title, too — the current roster lists 47 players, including Terwilliger, Schiefelbein and Porter Hunsley, the sophomore running back who scored five touchdowns in the championship win over Yankton.
The opening game is Saturday, August 29, when Pierre hosts Sturgis Brown at 5 p.m. That's a fun first test. Sturgis is fifth in the preseason media poll and has enough experience back to make Pierre work for every yard, even after losing standout running back Sully Jost, whose 2025 season ended early with an injury.
Yankton may be the most interesting challenger. The Bucks reached the state championship game last year and return enough talent to remain firmly in the conversation, even after losing several All-State seniors, including receiver Owen Eidsness. Yankton opens Friday against Aberdeen Central.
Tea Area is another team that shouldn't be ignored. The Titans were fourth in the preseason poll and had several 2025 All-State selections, including Cody Petersen, Chase DeBoer and Carter Brown. The question for Tea Area is simple: can it replace the players who made the 2025 team so good? We'll find out quickly.
11A: Sioux Falls Christian has a lot to replace
If you're looking for the class with the most interesting combination of defending-champion status and roster turnover, this might be it. Sioux Falls Christian went undefeated at 12-0 in 2025 and beat Lennox 28-24 in the state championship game, rallying from a 17-point deficit to win the program's first 11A title. Lennox finished 9-3.
Then the Chargers lost a large chunk of their All-State talent. Jensen Pixler was an All-American linebacker. Canyon Prins was an All-State athlete and the championship game's MVP. Nicholas Popkes was an All-State tight end. All were seniors on that championship team, and all of them are gone.
That should matter, yet Sioux Falls Christian was the runaway No. 1 in the preseason poll, receiving all 20 first-place votes. Lennox was second, Dell Rapids third, West Central fourth and Madison fifth. That tells you what the people who follow this class think of the Chargers' program. But this is where preseason rankings can be misleading — Sioux Falls Christian isn't defending a championship with the same defense. It has to build a new one.
The first chance comes Friday night at Lennox. That's about as appropriate as it gets: the two teams that played for the 2025 championship meet in the first week of the new season, with Sioux Falls Christian traveling to Lennox for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Lennox has plenty of motivation, too. The Orioles lost the championship game by four points after leading by 17 — the kind of loss that tends to stay on a locker-room wall for a while. Several names from that 2025 group are moving on, so Lennox has its own replacement problem. But if the Orioles can handle Sioux Falls Christian on opening night, the entire 11A conversation changes immediately.
Dell Rapids and West Central are the other two teams in the preseason top four. Both finished 7-4 last year, with Dell Rapids falling to Lennox in the semifinals and West Central falling to Sioux Falls Christian. Their opening-week matchup is worth watching, too: West Central hosts Dakota Valley Friday night at 7.
The first weekend tells us less than we think
Every August, somebody wins a football game by 40 points and immediately becomes the favorite to win the state championship. Somebody else loses by three and suddenly the season is supposedly in trouble. Neither conclusion is particularly useful.
Opening weekend is about finding out what a team actually looks like. Who's playing quarterback? Who replaced the running back who carried the ball 25 times a game? Can the new offensive line protect the quarterback? Does the defense have a linebacker who can make the calls? And, perhaps most importantly, what happens when something goes wrong? That's the part you can't get from a preseason poll.
South Dakota's opening weekend has several games that can start answering those questions. In 11AAA, Lincoln hosts O'Gorman while Brandon Valley travels to Bellevue West, and Jefferson travels to Harrisburg on Saturday. In 11AA, Pierre gets Sturgis and Yankton hosts Aberdeen Central. In 11A, Sioux Falls Christian goes to Lennox while West Central hosts Dakota Valley. Those aren't bad games for a first weekend.
And there's a larger storyline running through the classes. The defending champions aren't necessarily the teams with the most returning stars. Brandon Valley lost Veskrna and Parliament. Sioux Falls Christian lost a group of All-State players. Pierre, on the other hand, may have the best argument for continuity among the defending champions, because its two biggest offensive stars, Cooper Terwilliger and Carter Schiefelbein, are back.
The preseason polls reflect the parity at the top. Lincoln, Pierre, Sioux Falls Christian and Elk Point-Jefferson enter as the No. 1 teams in their respective classes, but only two of them actually won a state title last November: Pierre in 11AA and Sioux Falls Christian in 11A. Lincoln and Elk Point-Jefferson are last year's runners-up, ranked first anyway on the strength of what they return. And of the two true defending champions, only Pierre kept its two biggest offensive playmakers, both already All-State a year ago.
Then there's Brandon Valley. The Lynx have something the others don't: a championship culture reinforced very recently, plus 20 seniors who apparently aren't interested in handing the trophy back. Lincoln has something different — a quarterback who can ruin a defense's Friday night all by himself. And Sioux Falls Christian has something that may be more important than returning names: a program that has become accustomed to winning.
That's why opening weekend is so much fun. We think we know who the good teams are. We just don't know yet which ones are actually good enough. By about 10:30 Friday night, we'll know a little more. Not everything. Just enough to start arguing about it again next week.