SDHSAA Approves State Football in Brookings, Instant Replay, and Ending Combined Basketball Tournaments

The South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors has approved multiple hot button issues including moving state football to Brookings, instant replay, and ending the combined basketball tournaments.

The SDHSAA Board of Directors held its final meeting and readings for rule changes heading into the 2019-2020 sports season. Each major topic has been reviewed three times with the final approval coming today (June 6).

Brookings will become the home of the South Dakota 2019 high school football championships. The contract has been approved and Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium will hold the games on November 14 and 15. This is a one-year change with the renovations to the DakotaDome in Vermillion. The championships will return to Vermillion in 2020.

Instant replay has been approved for basketball and football at the state championships. Replay can only be used in certain situations such as last second shots for basketball, and to correct game-changing mistakes/calls in football. Both sports will follow the guidelines from the National Federation of State High School Associations for football and basketball.

The Combined basketball tournaments for Class AA and A will end beginning with the 2020-2021 basketball seasons. The SDHSAA Board of Directors approved the change and will revert the tournaments back to the old format of having a girls weekend and a boys weekend. Both Class AA and A will play one more combined tournament for the 2019-2020 season with AA in Sioux Falls and A in Rapid City.

Class 11AAA football will see changes in the way seeding is done for the postseason. Instead of using the power point system that the SDHSAA has used for years, Class 11AAA will go to standard seeding based on wins and losses. With ten teams in the class, and every team in 11AAA playing against each other during the regular season, the seed point system became worthless.

11AAA Tiebreaker Scenarios

1. Head-to-Head results
2. Common opponent results, comparing results of opponents from “best to worst” in classification standing
3. SDHSAA Power Point system ranking
4. Random Draw

To see a full list of items discussed, visit the SDHSAA website and click on "Agenda" and "Minutes" under the Board of Directors meetings on June 6.