This is a production of SDPB.

You.

Friday nights in the fall are reserved for football.

It's a sport that brings families, communities, and passion together.

Today we're going to visit five different communities throughout South Dakota to display some of the kids, coaches, and people who surround our football fields in our state.

I'm Nate Wek, and welcome to Crane Youngworth Field in Yankton.

This is tales from the gridiron of 2025.

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Crane.

Youngworth Field in Yankton is one of the most historic football fields in the state.

The field was built more than a century ago.

And while it might look different than it did in the early 1900s, the legacy lives on.

What was once home to Yankton College is now currently home to Mount Marty.

And of course, Yankton High School.

While some schools have a lengthy legacy, others who are much newer are working on building their own culture and traditions with athletics.

Lakota Tech High School, which is only about five years old.

Hired a new football coach and Eriq Swiftwater this fall.

And from the players to the administration, it's clear that Coach Swift Water is the right man for the job.

When it comes to the schools in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, most think of basketball.

But at Lakota Tech, a change happened to this year that is garnering excitement on the football field.

Enter Eriq Swiftwater as the new head coach.

Very excited.

It's been a long journey to get here, but, I knew from the start that home was where I wanted to be, and home is where I wanted to coach and everything, so it's just been a long journey to get here.

But I'm very grateful to be here.

Finding.

I grew up in Oglala, about 15 miles out, west there.

I went to high school and, from there we were able to cope with hot springs.

I graduated from Oelrichs and then was able to get an athletic scholarship to go play football at Black Hills State.

I graduated from there in 2019 with my bachelor's of science and, sociology and psychology.

After that, I was able to go play some professional arena football down in the Indoor Football League for the Duke City Gladiators.

Since the doc started, I've been excited about, you know, I, I known Eric since he's been young, growing up.

Being a kid from here, from the reservation is exciting to see somebody excelling at, you know, basketball or football especially.

You know, a lot of kids come out of here, play basketball, but there's not a whole lot of football players.

So seeing Eric and then, getting to know him as a coach and as an adult, it it's it's been it's been great.

You know, Indian country is small.

And so we talk South Dakota small.

I mean, as big as the state is it's really small town feel.

So you you start asking around about people.

And he just had, so many good things that were said about him.

Right.

12345.

Well, I. Said they're cool.

You guys are all aligned with me.

Well, here was a lot of the things that I was excited about bringing Eriq here, not just for his football knowledge, but what he has to give back to our students in the realm of life experiences.

If you work hard, you know, and and you you put the effort forward and you, you, you live in a good way, even if you're going to stumble once in a while and make mistakes, you can still get that to the road of what you're trying to accomplish.

I knew from when I was young that, I wanted to build the program and have, strong football culture, especially the back cover education.

I knew that it was something I wanted to call it a life goal.

And so it was just about the bricks laying in the right spot and things kind of coming together as especially being a family man.

Now, I got to make sure my family taking care of first and foremost.

So once we were able to get those things sorted out, it was kind of a no brainer.

That that, Eriq is also getting his legs under him in the classroom as an educator.

No, no, no.

Why is that not a smart.

It's not a new career path for me.

It's been a lot of adjusting on my end.

I knew that when I got my degree, I wanted to be involved in the school in some way, shape or form.

I was just open to the opportunity of figuring out which that was.

So just showing them that support and opening up new things for me.

I like I enjoy the challenge, I enjoy being challenged.

So it's enabled me to grow in other ways that I didn't know I was ready for yet.

But it's been a fun journey so far.

For me, he builds a lot of pride within us.

A community, a family almost.

We're always together, we're always working together, and we're always doing the most with the with what we're doing in practice.

Trying hard.

And he's pushing us to be our best preseason.

Like, right when you started coaching, I really like how you just, like, demanded everything.

Like how you wanted us to do it.

I really like you.

It's like Eric's bringing a lot more.

Like I say, a desire as, to us, like a lot more love for the sport.

It doesn't matter what the scoreboard says.

At Lakota Tech, changing the football culture is a process, one that Coach Swiftwater is ready for.

I embrace the opportunity.

I embrace the challenge.

It's less of trying to be something as much as it is just kind of being myself, going through trials and tribulations in my own life and what it took to get to this point.

I use those as my own pillars of what you know can be done and how to do things, and I just hope that I can shadow those as much as I portray them to the kids and I, I'm big on I'm not going to ask you to do something if I'm not the first one doing it.

I'm not going to tell you things that I haven't done personally, and I don't like speaking on things that I'm unfamiliar with.

So I'm a big walk it as I talk it kind of guy.

And I think the kids are picking up on that as well, too.

I believe that especially the high school kids, man, they see honesty more than they see words, you know what I mean?

And that aura, that, energy that you bring, that's what they read first.

So I've always been up front and firm with them on that side of things.

You know, I told them right away, this is my first head coaching job as well too.

So we're both learning in this mix.

But it's not about the it's not about the failures.

It's it's about the willingness to keep fighting and keep moving forward.

And I think I carry that attitude as much as I want them to carry it too.

So.

High school football can carry so much variety.

Well, some offenses can score in bunches through the air.

Others prefer the ground and pound style.

For Mobridge Pollock.

They have a running back who loves to get the ball in his hands.

Let's take a trip to north central South Dakota to meet Mack Saxon.

In Mobridge, South Dakota.

You don't stumble into recognition, you earn it.

So no one really knows us.

And you know, it's.

That's part of why, too.

I want our kids to have that chip on our shoulder.

Because we're not over by Sioux Falls.

We don't really play a lot by Sioux Falls.

So it's not like we're going to get all this exposure and stuff.

And so we got to.

We got to play with that toughness and that physicality, because we got to have people start to talk about us and have a reason to come watch us.

One reason people are starting to find them is number four, Max Saxon, the Mack truck of South Dakota high school football.

Our.

He is not one to slow down for any like he wants to run through contact.

You can flip on a lot of film.

And there's there's guys bouncing off of him as he as he's running.

And I firmly believe that maybe, you know, a couple guys around the state, but it's probably you to count them on one hand up and taken down, you know, one on one situation especially.

He's got a head of steam to him.

The junior running back couldn't wait for the start of the season, but the schedule makers had other plans, giving Mobridge a bye in week one.

Torture for a guy who loves football as much as Mack It's a struggle.

Struggle and I. Why?

We just made me so mad.

You know, I just took it out on.

Coach Flaherty remembers the moment he realized Mack was different.

When he started playing as a freshman.

And I remember there was a play.

We threw a little swing pass out to him, and one of our.

And this was while he was still with the second team that freshman year.

And I remember he ran out wide, caught the screen, got the swing pass and our starting linebacker ran out to to tackle.

And and he literally just ran through him where the kid just bounced off.

We were coming and I just, I choked him and it was awesome.

Guys, he doesn't just hit you, he ends you.

When Mack sees the defender in his headlights, it's lights out like some some people have me on, like snap.

And after the game, they'll tell me, like, if I chuckle and they'll be like, it kind of hurt stuff.

So when I check in on the whole, like, whole stadium gets crazy.

So I really like that once I get energy going, I, I can't be stopped so bad news for the rest of the state.

The Mack truck is added another gear.

So last year he was he had that really thickened out and it was really strong.

This year he's actually trimmed up.

Look at me.

Looks faster.

And now that he's done that I think he's extremely dangerous.

Last year I was like 230 and this year I lost some weight, got faster, and I worked on my vision a lot over the summer.

You know, we want him to be physical and to to run, you know, run through contact and stuff like that if it's there.

But he also is smart enough for himself to be able to dupe guys and understand when you know they're leaning in, there's maybe a little too much leveraging can cut back and avoid, you know, quote unquote, unnecessary hits sacks and became the first 1000 yard rusher at Mobridge Pollock since the late 80s.

And he did it as a sophomore.

He's not chasing numbers though.

He's chasing dreams.

My goal is to play college.

And if I if I'm good enough, go to the league, you know?

Yeah, you're really good.

But we want to see how good you can be.

Especially we want to try to maximize as much as we can in high school.

You know, while he's here.

And so, you know, I have a really good relationship with him.

I coaching really hard.

I expect, you know, I expect him to in practice.

Practice as if he is one of the best players in the state because we feel he is.

Mack isn't just physically tough.

He's wired differently because he loves the game.

He loves the game.

He loves he loves being around.

You know, he he'll come.

He'll come hang out with my family.

You know, he loves being around my family, loves you and just loves life and football in general.

I think just that that 100% strategy, and I think when he's talking about strong is my it mentally.

Because when I'm not, I just don't give up.

Buckle up.

Because in a part of the state fighting for notoriety, Max Jackson isn't just putting Mobridge Pollock on the map, it's forcing the state to circulate in bold.

When you think of football coaches, you think of tough, competitive individuals patrolling the sideline with a headset on Friday nights.

Brandon Valley's Matt Christianson is no exception, but he has a passion for a different kind of football that young people also connect well with.

Matt Christiansen, or as the students and athletes know, as MC knows, football.

I was, 4 or 5 years old.

My dad got me Yankton back, red stuff to wear, and took me to some games and showed me the bears games on TV too.

Seven when they were really good.

And, Super Bowl, obviously, was an impactful moment, for everybody.

And it was just cool to see them on, on TV and doing well.

And, yeah, I think that I, I happened to be, kind of built for it.

So that helped to, had, tall mom and big dad.

So that helped me, start loving it because I could play it.

AMC knows video games.

8586 Nintendo eight bit.

Showed up in a red sack on Christmas and, the door propped open.

A bunch of snow was coming in.

My mom was stunned about, you know, telling us to go open that bag and shut the door and get the snow out of here, because Santa must've dropped something.

And he started playing Mario Brothers.

While Mario and Luigi may have provided the first spark of video games to a game called Tecmo Bowl that combined both mix passions into one.

I just kind of started being obsessed with it.

I just loved it and could see the plays and how they mattered, and how you could strategize a little bit and kept stats.

That was really cool and I could just kind of get into it.

And on cold winter nights, play like a whole bunch of the games.

And my brother was good too, and I had a bunch of friends that got into it.

So we'd play whole seasons.

Yeah, we just kind of competed.

And, we were really competitive kids and always wanted to challenge each other.

And then be the best at something.

And, yeah, it was was fun to play against my brother because he was always really good at every game, too.

In fact, M.C.

was so good at technobabble.

It's not a way to compete in it, I think because my brother who showed me, hey, you understand there's a technical tournament down here in Omaha, and I've never played in that one.

I feel confident I can hang with a lot of the guys.

I've only played in this one three years.

Yeah.

I think it's been going on for round ten, and, it's, downtown Sioux Falls is a great cause.

We raised money for the family visitation center done by Richter.

Does an awesome job with his wife.

There's all these jerseys and cards and, and just a good time with, you know, adult friendship, which is sometimes hard to come by when everybody gets so very busy.

Not only has MC won titles and TecmoBowl you might see a player two on Friday nights for the links on the eight bit screen, but I think we definitely have I know I have it in, in certain, blitzers that are very difficult to block certain alignments or certain plays you can look out for.

There's some carry over for sure.

You've got to remember they're, they're players with, with real hearts and real, real brains and, and when, when you put yourself in their shoes and remind yourself how difficult it is to, make plays against such awesome opponents that we have doesn't always, match up and, it's more like, just remembering what humans can do.

But Jackson's, I think really good in this game, too.

Video games are really, critical to me.

They bring me together with, friends and family.

I, I think they're they're productive for your brain.

I really think they're they're a good challenge, a good outlet, good alternative to a lot of bad decisions that kids can make.

The newest one, the eight bit Mascots at the character two, our athletic teams in South Dakota.

It.

Avon.

However, they've taken it up another notch.

The Pirates have a literal ship that we just had to check out for ourselves.

It's something that captain Jack Sparrow would be proud of.

Go hire us.

Welcome to Avon, home of the pirates.

Just like the pirates you see on the screens, these pirates raise the flag.

They even have uniforms.

You step into the school, and you know everybody here wears red and gold.

You know, they're a pirate, and you feel like you belong.

Both these pirates battle for gold.

The Avon pirates, they are the nine beat champions.

Well, there is a couple differences in these pirates.

The ones from Avon battle on the gridiron.

And for a long time, they're also missing a ship.

Enter Dwight Brandt.

Well, it all started, the prison down here.

A friend of mine.

They built it for, some parades.

They were hiring basically employees for the prison.

So they ran it in a few parades, having 2 or 3 parades and end of the year came, and, we needed a float for our parade of lights.

So he contacted me, basically asked if I was interested in it.

And I'm like, sure.

So that's kind of how we ended up with it.

While the ship made many stops around the eastern side of the state and parades in a town full of pirates, they just needed a ship.

We actually approached them.

You know, Dwight's daughter used it in, homecoming parade.

And so we had it all painted up and I'm not sure who came up with the idea, but we just thought it would be a good fit.

We're like, let's go park it at the football field for the game that night, homecoming night.

So that's kind of when they started bringing it out here.

Since the ship has found its home in the south end zone.

It has continued to evolve.

It's a group of buddies that we get together after work and do a lot of socializing and some work, so it's just a good time.

Fortunate to have all these guys in school and they always had a lot of creativity, so I'm glad they put it to good use.

As I got older and I'm really proud of the way that these, alumni have supported the school with their time and their efforts, because it takes a lot of time to maintain the ship.

It's just a little two boards fixed here.

The floor starts for, you know, that kind of thing.

Originally, it wasn't built for eight years of outside.

You know, it was kind of just a parade float, but it works.

And in a small town, even the small symbol can bring everyone together.

For, like, pride.

Like, it just shows a lot of pride in the community that we have.

I mean, you got to have a lot of pride to be willing to build a pirate ship and to keep it up for so many years.

I think just a lot of pride and joy and memories are the big thing.

You know, a lot of kids look at it and say, hey, I remember winning this or doing that and, you know, taking pictures on it and riding it and all that fun stuff.

Ship means to me, like a tradition, kind of.

We have a strong tradition of just our pirate mascot.

It means everything.

It means a lot.

I would have it on our shirt.

You want.

You're a pirate.

You're always a pirate.

So we have a town of 600 people.

And a lot of people that graduated from here are back in the area.

Their kids are coming back and playing sports.

So it's just cool to be able to bring people together.

The kids think it's awesome.

For fans and spectators, nothing beats that game day experience.

And while it's no secret where the Eagles play as their stadium is viewable right off of I-90 about 50 miles east of Rapid City this fall, steep visited wall to experience a game day there for ourselves.

Here's our front four lines.

Hey, lead us out.

Let's go.

All right.

Our town's definitely known for our football.

Yeah, football is just everything.

A long.

Since I'm a senior now, there's a lot more hype around it all.

For me, it's.

Just having the community here is pretty special to.

So it's pretty sweet to just know that our town rallies behind us and that they're always cheering for us.

Hey, lock it in.

Lock it in.

Buffaloes are in our world now.

Let's go to work.

Everybody ready?

Let's get it.

Game day in wall is always special.

But tonight it's a little extra.

It's homecoming again.

Approach every game like it's a playoff game.

Yes.

It's homecoming.

I get it, but you got to get after it.

Preparation for this event depends on who you ask.

For the fans, it's a parade that starts the day, followed by a lively pep rally at the school.

And then a scrumptious tailgate supper before the lights come on.

For the players, it's a full day of routine and rhythm.

Usually we go to wall drag and eat breakfast, and then usually we go to Dawson's house Something, and I just get ready for the game.

And then by the time it's 4:00, we head to the field and get on the island.

Show up with your cap on and your, jersey.

We come out about two hours before, the game starts.

Kick off.

And then from there, we go to the school and kind of get ready.

Kind of just lock in for the day.

For the night.

For head coach Lex Heathershaw.

Now in his ninth season at wall.

Preparation means planning details.

And just the right dose of motivation.

First, it's over to the white board for some X's and O's, which it might end up being weird.

And this is why I wanted to draw this up, because on this motion, after the strategy is laid out, it's about heart.

I've talked to you about this before, but no fear, right?

So you play tonight with no fear.

No matter what happens in the game, you battle for your brother and you battle for your parents.

You battle for your community.

Get the heck after it.

Tonight.

There's not many opportunities in life that happened one time right?

One time opportunities.

Seniors.

It's your last one.

Last one.

And no, let's go get it.

No.

You're there.

It was.

What do they call it?

In a short walk from the locker room to the field and everything comes together.

The fans, the players, the coaches, all the preparation, all the pride.

It's about to pay off.

All.

That is right to him.

Perfect.

Do this.

It's.

Just about turf.

Told him I'm not going to make no almost no good.

Return.

My touchdown.

I'm over in.

Walt, this isn't just a football game.

It's a Friday night tradition fueled by pride, community, and the love of the game.

Yes!

Awesome first round win here.

It's a touchdown, Eagle!

It's pretty clear that what truly makes high school football great in South Dakota is the variety and passion that you'll find everywhere.

Whether you're looking to the North, south, east, or west, you're guaranteed to find people who love the sport and communities that support their kids in doing it.

We'd like to thank everyone for tuning in for another year of tales from the gridiron here at SDPB.

I'm Nate Wek saying so long from Yankton.