South Dakota’s 6th Grade Football University National Team advances to ‘Sweet 16’ in Dallas, TX

Local youth selected to represent South Dakota participated in the Football University (FBU) National Championship in Minneapolis, MN at the University of Minnesota this past weekend, December 4-5. Sixty-four teams throughout the United States competed in the FBU National Championship over the two days and Team South Dakota 6th grade is one of the ‘Sweet 16’ moving on to play in Dallas this weekend.

“This is comparable to the playoffs to get to the National Championship/Super Bowl of youth football and we are so proud of the fine representation of the sixth grade team, united from the area communities of Tea, Brandon, Hartford, Lennox, Harrisburg, and Sioux Falls,” said sixth grade Head Coach Bob Lundin.

Tryouts were held earlier in the season with the best of the best getting invited to be a part of Team South Dakota. Those selected from Tea included: Cael Lundin, Tanner Meyers, Hayden Hindberg, Gabe Grant and Jaxon Weber.

This marks the first year South Dakota has participated in this event.

Teams were also formed for seventh and eighth grade to represent South Dakota in the National Tournament. Those from Tea on the seventh grade team included Conner Mulder, Kaden Johnson, and Ian Bennett. The eighth grade team also had representatives from Tea Area with BJ Parmelee and Brayden Thompson members of the team. Neither the seventh nor the eighth grade team from South Dakota advanced out of the opening rounds.

However, the South Dakota sixth grade team played outstanding in Minneapolis this past weekend Getting through a tough Kansas City Missouri team Saturday morning. South Dakota found themselves down, 12-0 at the half but battled back to take the 20-12 victory. This moved them to the next round played Sunday, Dec. 6 where they faced Team Minnesota. Again, the South Dakota team found themselves on the winning side, taking the 19-8 victory, advancing them to the Sweet 16. Team South Dakota will take on North Texas this Saturday, Dec. 12 in Dallas, TX. Coach Lundin said the Texas team is considered the top seed in the Tournament but he has told his team they may be bigger, faster, and stronger, but just play their game. He views the match up similar to the one in the Hoosiers movie where the tiny Hickory team faced long odds in defeating the much larger South Bend team but walked away with the Championship. If the South Dakota team defeats North Texas the team would move on to the National Championship held in Naples, FL Dec. 19-21.