Simplified: After finishing eighth in the nine-team 11AAA division last year with just one win, Sioux Falls Roosevelt will be much improved with experience back on the 2026 roster. The Rough Riders will likely qualify for the playoffs this season, but again will be towards the bottom of the Metro.

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The South Dakota High School Activities Association formed its current playoff format in 1981. 

It wasn’t until 2006 when a Sioux Falls public school finally won a state title, and that school was Roosevelt. The Rough Riders went on to win it again in 2007, and one more time in 2011.

Since then, it’s been a tough road for Roosevelt. It's been 10 years since the Rough Riders reached the title game, and the Roosevelt program took a real hit when Jefferson High School was formed in 2021, fracturing the west side of Sioux Falls as enrollment numbers were diluted.