A dozen high school football teams will advance to play in state championship games tonight—semi-final contests in three 11-man classes take place around the state. One school searching for a playoff win is among the few teams in West River that typically see success in football.
The St. Thomas More Cavaliers won all nine of their regular season games this year—the St. Thomas More defense has earned three shutouts, and held four more teams to eight or fewer points. It’s common to see a St. Thomas More team at state championship events in several sports. Head Football Coach and school Principal Wayne Sullivan says the teams all feed off one another to keep winning.
”Oh, definitely—they want to make sure they’re up with the other teams, they don’t to let the alumni down, and they just want to keep the tradition going. And that’s one of the things—one of our sayings is, “tradition never graduates,” so those are some things they want to live up to and be a part of.”
St. Thomas More has made plenty of deep trips in the playoffs—on a few occasions, the school has been the only West River team in the finals. Sullivan says that’s a banner the team is willing to carry.
“We want to represent, you know—and, again, you know, it’s hard because all you hear is ‘East River dominates everything,’ and unfortunately, you know, it’s true until somebody dethrones that. So, of course, you know, one of our goals is to win a state title and represent Rapid City and West River.”
Tonight, the Cavaliers host Madison, a team that has been very successful in the past few seasons; the Bulldogs have one loss, that against Tea Area, and are defending 11-A Champions. The winner takes on Dell Rapids or Tea Area next weekend at the Dome.