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Nine-game regular season schedule brings flexibility for area high school football teams

PLATTE, S.D. — For Platte-Geddes, Winner, and Chamberlain, the 2025 high school football season has come with a new wrinkle: A nine-game regular season schedule.

In South Dakota high school football, teams in Class 11B and the nine-man divisions typically play eight games with a built-in bye week to rest, reset and recover. But this year, the schedule change for select programs means one less break and one more opponent, bringing new challenges and potential benefits.

Each team has to adjust to the physical demands of one additional game and the adjustments that come with having no off week. While the change adds complexity, it also offers a chance for added experience for players on each team and can also help squads gain momentum before the playoffs begin.

According to Chamberlain head coach Josh Garry, the nine-game schedule has helped the Cubs gain valuable playing time because there is no junior varsity squad this season.

“It allows us to eventually get those rotations in and play against somebody other than ourselves,” Garry said. “Not saying that playing against ourselves or practicing against ourselves isn’t giving us the best look, but it’s always different when it comes to playing against somebody else.”

A few teams reached out to Chamberlain (4-3) to fill in its Week 2 bye after Sisseton opted to play a JV-only schedule this season. Chamberlain ultimately landed on Aberdeen Roncalli, who the Cubs defeated 27-0 at home. The Cavaliers lost a home game due to the scheduling, but Chamberlain fit both teams' regular-season schedules.

While playing nine games can benefit your team with added experience and needed playing time, there are obvious downsides.

Winner head coach Trent Olson said playing nine games comes with its disadvantages in regard to injury risk and not gaining a week off to regroup.

“It does give you a chance to rest a little bit,” Olson said of the bye. “I’ve always liked bye weeks because it gets you back to the fundamentals. You can add a few things here and there, but at the same time just felt it was worth the risk because we only got seven (games) last year.”

In 2024, Winner lost a contest in its eight-game regular season schedule, due to Lakota Tech forfeiting its matchup with the Warriors in the second-to-last week of the regular season. (The Warriors are scheduled to meet the Tatanka this week.) That cancellation led to gaining an extra contest this season with Groton Area for the Tigers’ homecoming on Sept. 12. Winner (3-4) defeated Groton Area 36-22.

For Platte-Geddes head coach Bruce Hanson, playing an extra game this season dates back to last year’s scheduling. The Black Panthers had eight games set up, but Lyman only had seven games after the schedules were set because White River opted to play All-Nations Conference football in 2024 and 2025.

P-G decided to add the Raiders for its ninth game because it only had two Class 9A games on the schedule before adding the Black Panthers. Platte-Geddes beat Lyman 64-28 in Platte on Sept. 26.

Platte-Geddes is also playing in the Great Plains Conference crossover week on Oct. 17. The league has an odd number of teams, so P-G is filling the void to even out the schedule. That opponent will be announced after the Oct. 10 games are complete.

When it comes to playoff implications, adding another game can be complicated depending on which team you face, whether you win the game, and that opponent's win-loss record, which affects the seed points a team can earn.

“Actually, last year it hurt us, so this year maybe it will help us,” Hanson said. “It also depends on who we draw, too. With our record, we can draw a pretty good opponent that last week. To play Parkston, Bon Homme, then another good opponent is kind of a grind before the playoffs. It could affect us a little bit, but we’re just going to do what we can every week.”

Garry said if he had the choice to pick how many games his team played each regular season, he would opt to compete in nine every time. It could provide a boost for the playoffs in certain situations, Garry said, because total games played is a key tiebreaker for seed points after head-to-head is considered.

“Completely nine, if it was up to me,” Garry said of his preferred schedule. “When it comes down to a tight, Class 11B (seeding) can come down to some of those tie breakers. If you haven’t played them head-to-head, then it looks at the total number of games. That was something that our coaching staff kind of looked at, so let’s get another team on our schedule if possible.”

Trey Houchin is a sports reporter for the Mitchell Republic. Trey graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 2025 with a bachelor's degree in sports media and covers a wide variety of topics. A Missouri native, Houchin can be reached at thouchin@mitchellrepublic.com.

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