It's Week 2 of the 2026 South Dakota high school football season and that means that officially, every area team will have at least one game under its belt.
South Dakota's Class 11AAA, 11AA and 11B teams (along with the All Nations Conference teams) are each kicking off their seasons this week most of the state's Class 11B, 9AA, 9A and 9B squads opened last week. A handful of teams in those classes will also open this week.
Here's the schedule of 26 games involving Watertown and Aberdeen area teams (all games will start at 7 p.m. Central unless otherwise noted):
Thursday, Aug. 27
- Walthill at Tiospa Zina — The Walthill (NE) Blujays are new to the All Nations Conference and will make their ANC debut at 1 p.m. at the Tiospa Zina Tribal School in Agency Village. The Wambdi had a 4-6 season in 2025 that ended with an ANC Class 9B semifinal playoff loss.
STATE RANKINGS: See this week's South Dakota state polls for football, volleyball, soccer
Friday, Aug. 28
- Spearfish at Watertown — The Arrows open their season by hosting Spearfish in the first of five home games this fall at the Allen Mitchell Athletic Complex. Both squads, which received votes in the state's preseason poll, went 5-5 last fall and suffered first-round Class 11AA playoff losses. Watertown would love to avenge last year's 23-12 loss at Spearfish.
- Yankton at Aberdeen Central — The Golden Eagles went 2-7 last fall and just missed the playoffs after a 33-27 four-overtime loss to Watertown in their season finale at home. They open the new season at home against third-rated Yankton, which went 9-3 and reached the state Class 11AAA championship before falling to Pierre. These two teams did not meet last season.
- De Smet at Canistota — These two Class 9A teams each started 0-1 but had tough openers last week. De Smet fell to No. 2 Howard 54-22 and Canistota lost to No. 4 Elkton-Lake Benton 28-0.
- Herreid-Selby Area at Lemmon-McIntosh — A late fumble return for a touchdown in the final 30 seconds helped Class 9B HSA open its season with a 26-18 win over Class 9A Harding County-Bison. Lemmon-McIntosh, another Class 9A team, fell 22-20 to Timber Lake.
- Colman-Egan at Gayville-Volin — No. 5 Class 9B Colman-Egan defeated Oldham-Ramona-Rutland 34-14 in its season opener and hits the road to take on Gayville-Volin, which is making its season debut.
- Howard at Castlewood — Castlewood downed Hamlin 46-34 in the highlight game of the opening week in the area and has another big game this week. The Warriors, now rated third in Class 9A, host No. 2 Class 9A Howard. The Tigers, as previously mentioned, beat De Smet last week.
- Flandreau at Aberdeen Roncalli — Two Class 11B teams coming off opening losses are set to square off. Roncalli lost to No. 5 Sioux Valley 30-6 and Flandreau lost 35-6 to a Clark-Willow Lake team receiving votes in the poll.
- Centerville at Elkton-Lake Benton — The fourth-rated Class 9A Elks will look to go 2-0 when they host Centerville, which is also 1-0 after a 58-14 win over Sioux Falls Lutheran.
- Sisseton at Estelline-Hendricks — The nine-man football debut for Sisseton went well with a 39-12 Class 9AA win over Webster Area. Estelline-Hendricks' move up to Class 9AA also went well with a 48-8 victory over Florence-Henry.
- Sunshine Bible Academy at Arlington — These two Class 9B are coming off losses. SBA lost to Iroquois-Lake Preston 52-0 and Arlington came up short against Wolsey-Wessington 14-6.
- Beresford at Groton Area — Host Groton Area won its opener 21-0 over Miller/Highmore-Harrold and will take on a Beresford team that opened with a 40-8 victory over Mount Vernon-Plankinton.
- Waubay-Summit at Florence-Henry — This matchup of Eastern Coteau Conference teams is part of Henry's homecoming festivities. The visiting Mustangs beat Wilmot 46-20 and the host Falcons lost to Estelline-Hendricks last week.
- Hamlin at Britton-Hecla — Hamlin did slip to No. 5 in the Class 9AA rankings with the loss to Castlewood and will need to play well to avoid a 2-0 start against a Britton-Hecla team that opened with a 44-0 win over Waverly-South Shore. Britton-Hecla received votes again this week in the state poll.
- Deuel at McCook Central-Montrose — Fourth-rated Class 11B Deuel kicked off its season with a 22-6 win at home against Parker-Marion and now hits the road to face the Fighting Cougars, who lost to No. 1 Elk Point-Jefferson 28-13.
- Mobridge-Pollock at Mount Vernon-Plankinton — Mobridge-Pollock dropped its opener 41-6 to defending state champion and No. 2-rated Class 11B St. Thomas More. Things also didn't go well in the opener for MVP.
- Hitchcock-Tulare at Northwestern — Hitchcock-Tulare enjoyed a 40-12 victory over Leola-Frederick Area last week and Northwestern lost to third-rated Class 9B Warner 48-8.
- Dell Rapids St. Mary at Oldham-Ramona-Rutland — No. 1-rated Class 9B St. Mary kicked off its title defense with a 58-6 win over Deubrook Area and now hit the road to take on ORR (0-1).
AREA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 2026: Landing page for all the Public Opinion's football coverage this fall
- Ipswich at Redfield — Class 9A Ipswich actually had a bye week to start the season and will head to Redfield, which lost at Great Plains Lutheran 42-0.
- Clark-Willow Lake at Sioux Valley — Here's another key game on this week's area schedule, matching fifth-rated Class 11B Sioux Valley and Clark-Willow Lake (which received votes in this week's poll).
- Milbank at Tri-Valley — The visiting Bulldogs and host Mustangs each went 6-4 a year ago and made the state Class 11A playoff. Tri-Valley posted a 34-0 win over Milbank early in the 2025 season.
- North Central at Warner — A move down to Class 9B didn't slow down No. 3 Warner in its opener and the Monarchs head home to take on Class 9A North Central, which fell to Gettysburg 22-20.
- Great Plains Lutheran at Webster Area — The Panthers enjoyed a big win over Redfield in the season opener and will look to continue the streak against Northeast Conference school in Webster Area, which is playing nine-man football for the first time this fall.
- Iroquois-Lake Preston at Wilmot — The Sharks dominanted Sunshine Bible in their opener and will gun for 2-0 when they visit the Wolves (0-1).
- Gettysburg at Wolsey-Wessington — The two Class 9B teams won tight battles last week. One of them will be 2-0 after this week.
Off this week
Four area teams, all 0-1, don't play this week. They include Class 9A Faulkton Area and Waverly-South Shore and Class 9B Deubrook Area and Leola-Frederick Area.
North Dakota
- LaMoure-Litchville/Marion at Tri-State — LLM won its opener 50-20 last week and heads to Fairmount, ND to play the Tigers (0-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28. Tri-State lost to Griggs-Midkota 48-20.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Class 11AA schools Watertown and Aberdeen Central set to open at home