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NEW ALL NATION FOOTBALL CONFERENCE




INDIAN COUNTRY – After discussions during the summer and fall of 2018, a plan for the new All Nations Football Conference was approved by the SD High School Activities Association In January and play in the new Conference is set for Fall 2019.

When the dust settled, we had 12 nine man teams that would play in two divisions, there would be a six game regular season starting September 6 with a post season bracket that gets underway on October 17,” said Yamni Jack, Lower Brule Athletic Director, we planned on starting the season after Labor Day, maximizing our school attendance, one of the primary reasons for the new conference was to try and bring up the numbers in our football programs.”

The West Division includes Red Cloud, Oelrichs, Crazy Horse, Takini, Cheyenne Eagle Butte and Little Wound while the East Division includes Lower Brule, St. Francis, Marty, Flandreau Indian, Tiospa Zina and Crow Creek. Teams would play each team in their own division and one team from the opposite division. Games scheduled for Sept. 27 are scheduled to take place in Rapid City during the LNI weekend. After six regular season games, the 3, 4, 5 and 6 teams in each division open the playoffs in a cross bracket manner, the first and second teams in each division get a first round bye. The quarter finals are scheduled for Oct. 24 with the semis on Nov. 1 and the championship game on Nov. 8.

“We’re doing this on a trial basis, our numbers have been down” said Christian McGhee, Red Cloud Athletic Director, “we lost out in the first round of 11B playoffs last year and in the second round the year before that but at the end of each season, our numbers tailed off.”

“Our numbers of students have been falling off as well, we wanted to give this a try,” said Arlo Provost, Little Wound Athletic Director, “if it doesn’t work, we’ll just go back to the drawing board.”

Formation of the new conference had an impact on schools that chose to stay the course, for Pine Ridge and Todd County, five of the teams that are normally on their schedules, are no longer available to play; this fall, the Thorpes play SF Christian, Tri Valley and Canton while the Falcons play Lennox, Vermillion and Canton.

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