THE SCW Blackhawks football team playing against the Wolsey Warbirds in their 2016 fall season. The team will need to come up with new tactics for 11-man teams as they enter the Class 11B division next season.

The Woonsocket/Wesssington Springs/Sanborn Central football team competed at the Dome at Vermillion in back-to-back Class 9AA state championships in 2014 and 2015, but that won’t be happening again in the near future. Due to an increase in male membership enrollment at all three schools, compiled by the SD Department of Education, they will enter new territory and become part of the Class 11B ranks in the fall of 2017.
“As a program, we’re excited about the challenge,” stated head coach Jason Kolousek. “We’ve seen this coming, and now that it’s here, we’re excited to join in the 11-man ranks.”
The SDHSAA website shows Wessington Springs with a male-only enrollment of 26, while Woonsocket was at 23 and Sanborn Central at 19. That is a total of 68 for the co-op team, which began in 2011. The cutoff for Class 9AA and Class 11B is 56, with anything above 56 moving up to 11-man football.
In preparation for this new challenge, Kolousek and his assistant coaches had their junior high and junior varsity teams play in some 11-man contests last year, and also have been talking to area coaches to learn as much about 11-man tactics as possible.
The Blackhawks, who went 5-4 in 2016, will continue to play games at all three fields in Forestburg, Woonsocket and Wessington Springs.
“It’s a little bit different game, but I think the exciting part is playing at some different venues and some different teams,” Kolusek said.
The SDHSAA will reexamine football classifications in 2019.