The Dakota-XII Preview
The Dakota XII Conference. The league with the some of the best talent in the state and always several state title contenders. PHD previews the league with practice one month out.
Last Year. The state title game in 2017 was Tea Area vs Madison, a pair of Dak-12 schools going head to head for the second time. Both teams came into the contest 20-4 but it was Tea who one upped Madison in many ways on that final day. Both squads bring solid portions of their rotation back and will be among the top contenders once again.
Sioux Falls Christian had the number of several teams in the league a year ago (Dell Rapids and Vermillion were beaten twice while most the league fell at the hands of the 20 win squad. Madison though was the SFC kryptonite so they will try and solve that issue this year.
In all five of the top six teams in the final Class A rankings were from this league (add in Tri-Valley as well as Vermillion) plus Dakota Valley finished the year a top ten squad.
Conference Commentary
State Contender: Tea Area, Madison, SF Christian
Tea Area gets the top spot as they won the tournament last year and bring back everyone not named Ethan. Noah Freidel is ready to step into a huge role and has so many returning teammates coming back with him. Madison has the Janke twins back along with SDSU bound Aaron Fiegen so you can expect them to be battling for state as will Sioux Falls Christian who may not have as much star power but they may have the deepest group of upperclassmen.
Top Ten: Dell Rapids, Vermillion
Dell Rapids and Vermillion are also contenders but the question will be if they are as deep as the teams above them. Dell Rapids has a great senior trio in Schuch, Schmidt, and Rentz plus they are really big up front. If the guard depth is there they will be right with the top group. Vermillion has AJ Plitzuweit who is likely the preseason Player of the Year in South Dakota and he will take over a lot of games but how much depth he has with him will be the question.
Potential Top Ten: Tri-Valley
I would expect them to be in the top ten at times like they were last year at the start and end of the year and with Jewett and Falor back this will be a good team. What do they have up front? If they are solid there then they will be a consistent top ten.
Compete with Most: EPJ, Lennox, Dakota Valley
Preston Kollbaum had an all conference season a year ago and they have a solid senior class. They could be better than people expect as could be Lennox who will be led by Quincy Ihnen who we expect to have a big year. Dakota Valley? Kind of getting a boost to this spot on reputation after graduating so many pieces from a year ago.
Will Compete: Canton, West Central, Beresford
These are all teams that have a solid name or two back from teams with losing records, but we just don’t know how deep they will be.
Conference Predictions
Power Rankings.
- Tea Area
- Madison
- Sioux Falls Christian
- Dell Rapids
- Vermillion
- Tri-Valley
- Elk Point-Jefferson
- Lennox
- Dakota Valley
- Canton
- West Central
- Beresford
Preseason All Dak-XII
First Team
Noah Freidel, Tea Area, Jr
Koln Oppold, SF Christian, Sr
AJ Plitzuweit, Vermillion, Sr
Aaron Fiegen, Madison, Sr
Jeffrey Schuch, Dell Rapids, Sr
Second Team
Mason Schmidt, Dell Rapids, Sr
Noah Jewett, Tri-Valley, Sr
Lincoln Unruh, SF Christian, Sr
Justin Hohn-Mack, Tea Area, Jr
Jaxon Janke, Madison, Sr
Jonah Larson, Beresford, Sr
Third Team
Jaden Janke, Madison, Sr
Quincy Ihnen, Lennox, Jr
Presston Kollbaum, Elk Point-Jefferson, Sr
Jackson Miller, West Central, Sr
Le Vande Kamp, SF Christian, Sr
Fourth Team
Cade Falor, Tri-Valley, Sr
Kayden Verley, Canton, Soph
Mitchell Goodbary, SF Christian, Jr
Christian Beachler, Canton, Jr
Jared Merkley, Elk-Point Jefferson, Sr
Carson Rentz, Dell Rapids, Sr