Roger Merriam|Watertown Public Opinion
Tradition is a big thing in high school sports, especially football, and that’s why you may not be surprised by some of the teams and players in the Public Opinion’s coverage area who are expected to make their mark during the 2021 season.
The season opens on Friday for most area teams.
Teams to Watch
• Hamlin — It wouldn’t be fair to start off the list of area teams expecting to lead the way this fall without talking about the one team that enjoyed the most successful 2020 season. The Chargers started 11-0 and advanced to the state Class 9AA championship before a combination of some key injuries and a very talented Platte-Geddes team spoiled Hamlin’s hopes with a 42-12 win.
The Chargers graduated some key pieces, including a number of skill-position players, but do welcome back 16 letter winners for head coach Jeff Sheehan. The Watertown native has led Hamlin to a 78-15 record in nine seasons, including a state Class 9B championship in 2014.
“We have a good core group of athletes and we will be competitive in every game,” said Sheehan, whose team is ranked fourth in Class 9AA in the South Dakota Prep Media Preseason poll.
• Milbank Area — The Bulldogs are a Class 11A team, but let’s continue with some Class 9AA discussion here. Milbank Area head coach Brian Allmendinger guided Gregory to three state Class 9AA titles before heading north. His first season with the Bulldogs last fall ended with a 4-4 mark.
Class 11A is typically a very-loaded division and it’s likely going to be the same in 2021, but there’s a lot of excitement brewing in Milbank about what the Bulldogs can do. They return a number of key performers.
“We have tremendous overall numbers and talent, along with very good team speed,” said Allmendinger. “The senior class has great potential to be special in terms of skill and leadership. We just want to take another step forward as program and continue to progress on the offensive of the ball, be more balanced and execute at a higher rate.”
• Florence-Henry — Hamlin punched its final ticket to the DakotaDome last fall with a semifinal playoff win over Lemmon-McIntosh, a team that rallied to beat the Falcons in the quarterfinals.
Still, it was a successful 7-4 season for head coach Travis Schmidt and Florence-Henry. They’d like to continue the upward trend this fall, with a mix of returning standouts and a group of newcomers stepping into bigger roles.
“It’s going to be a challenge for replace the most successful class of seniors our program has ever had. We had 10 seniors graduate who played a lot of snaps for us,” said Schmidt. “We lost quite a bit of size due to graduation, but we should be quick. Our team speed will allow us to play differently on offense and defense this season.
• Castlewood — The Warriors compiled a 5-5 record for veteran head coach Doug Ruesink (21 years with his hometown team) that included a first-round Class 9A playoff victory.
With a strong returning cast, Castlewood is looking for even more in 2021.
“We have a lot of experience back at some key positions, but it would be guessing game to see what our record is going to be,” said Ruesink. “We could be 8-0, 6-2, 5-3 or something else. The key for us is going to be staying healthy.”
• De Smet — One of the teams Castlewood will be competing with for Class 9A success De Smet, which is ranked second in the South Dakota Prep Media preseason poll.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 6-3 season last fall that included a first-round playoff loss. De Smet has a new head coach in Brendon Pitts, who will look for leadership from a strong group of talented returnees.
• Sioux Valley — Head coach Dan Hughes has the Cossack program heading in the right direction — one that included a 9-2 season last fall that ended with a semifinal loss in the state Class 11B playoffs.
The Cossacks, rated third in the preseason poll, are capable of another big year this fall.
“Our players are very intelligent, athletic and coachable,” said Hughes. “They expect the coaches to have a great plan each week and they work hard to execute at a high level. Our biggest challenge is going to be on the road to begin the season. We want to hit the ground running and play well right out of the gate.”
• Tiospa Zina — Now the Wambdi did suffer some heavy graduation losses from a team that capped a 7-0 season last spring with a 38-8 championship victory over Winnebago (Neb.) in the All-Nations Conference.
Tiospa Zina’s squad, however, deserves mention after coach Michael Peters guided the team to the first championship in program history.
The third season of the league starts Aug. 27 and now features 18 teams — nine in a 9A division and nine more in 9B. Tiospa Zina will play in the 9B division.
• Others — There area number of area schools who are adjusting to classification changes this fall and others with coaching changes.
Former nine-man schools Clark-Willow Lake, Dakota Hills and Deuel are moving up to 11-man as Class 11B teams. Sisseton is returning to Class 11A from Class 11B.
Other area teams include Webster Area in Class 11B; Arlington-Lake Preston and Deubrook Area in Class 9AA; Britton-Hecla and Great Plains Lutheran in Class 9A; Estelline-Hendricks, Langford Area and Waverly-South Shore in Class 9B and Tri-State in North Dakota.
• Note — A preview of Watertown High School’s football team, which is returning to Class 11AA this fall, will run next week.
Players to Watch
• Bennett Schwenn, Milbank Area Senior — The 6-foot-2, 170-pound all-around athlete earned Class 11A All-State honors as a special teams player last fall. He ran for 212 yards, caught nine passes for 188 yards, made 30 tackles and can also kick.
• Marshall Voeltz, Milbank Area Senior — The 6-1, 205-pound running back-linebacker received Class 11A honorable mention All-State honors last fall after rushing for 608 yards and nine touchdowns to go with 22 tackles.
• Parker Puetz, Sioux Valley Senior — The talented quarterback is one of the reasons the Cossacks aren’t expecting to miss a beat. He earned Class 11B All-State honors last fall after completing 59 of 93 passes for 1,085 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also ran for 324 yards and eight scores. The 6-3, 205-pound flamethrower has 2,816 yards passing and a school-record 37 TD passes in his career to go with 155 tackles as a linebacker.
• Damian Danziesen, Sioux Valley Senior — The 6-1, 155-pound receiver-defensive back was an honorable mention Class 11B All-State selection after compiling 358 receiving yards and nine touchdowns last fall.
• Xander Sheehan, Hamlin Senior — The 5-11, 188-pound son of Hamlin’s head coach passed for 1,016 yards and 15 touchdowns last fall, earning Class 9AA honorable mention All-State honors. He will likely need to play an even bigger role this fall if the Chargers want to make another run to the DakotaDome.
• Michael Stevenson, Hamlin Senior — The 6-0, 210-pound senior was part of a solid group of linemen for the Chargers last fall and returns as the leader of the group in 2021. He recorded 34 solo tackles and 17 assists on defense in 2020.
• Ashton Hanson, Florence-Henry Senior — The 5-10, 190-pound senior earned Class 9AA All-State honors last fall after a season in which he rushed for 1,598 yards and 21 touchdowns and also made 59 tackles as a linebacker on defense.
• Chase Kelly, Florence-Henry Senior — The 6-2, 275-pound lineman was part of an offensive line that helped produce 2,477 rushing yards last fall and also made his presence felt on defense with 65 tackles.
• Carson Kirwan, Castlewood Senior — The 6-2, 180-pound running back-linebacker received honorable mention the Class 9A All-State team with 768 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns, 21 receptions for 174 yards and four TDs and 56 tackles.
• Ryder Mack, Castlewood Senior — The Warriors have other skill-position players returning, but this 6-0, 250-pound senior is a three-year starter and the mainstay for Castlewood’s offensive and defensive lines.
• Kalen Garry, De Smet Senior — Another Class 9A honorable mention All-State selection, Garry rushed for 601 yards and five touchdowns last fall. The 6-3, 195-pound running back-defensive back led De Smet to the state Class B boys basketball title last winter and is hoping to help the Bulldogs make a run at a state football title this fall.
Others
There are a number of other returning players who earned all-conference or honorable mention all-conference honors last fall. The players are listed by classification their squads will compete in this fall:
• 11-Man Players — Northeast Conference (senior running back-linebacker Jaydon Keller of Webster Area); Big East Conference (Senior tight end-linebacker Carson Christopherson and senior lineman Layson Lucas of Sioux Valley); and Eastern Coteau Conference (Senior tight end-defensive end Dalan Dahl, junior running back-defensive back Owen Quail, senior lineman Jace TeKrony and junior tight-defensive end Ty Lovre of Deuel; senior tight end-defensive end Trey Jurgens and senior quarterback-kicker Seth Gaikowski of Dakota Hills; senior running back-linebacker Gage Burke and junior quarterback-defensive back Trey Huber of Clark-Willow Lake). Dahl, Quail, Huber and Burke also earned All-Northeast Conference nine-man honors last fall.
• Nine-Man Players — Dakota Valley Conference (Senior wide receiver-defensive back Rett Osthus and senior quarterback-linebacker Colt Wilkinson of De Smet; senior tight end-defensive end Jonah Wiersma and junior running back-linebacker Jeremiah Wiersma of Castlewood; junior quarterback-linebacker Colin Bauman of Deubrook Area; junior quarterback-linebacker Braxton Saathoff and junior running back-linebacker Joseph McAninch of Estelline-Hendricks;); and Eastern Coteau Conference (Senior Aidan Fredrickson of Britton-Hecla and junior lineman RJ Perry of Great Plains Lutheran).
