Harding County Making Another Long Road Trip for Title Game

For any person who says South Dakota is just a "small state," I'm pretty sure Harding County would beg to differ.

Being a team located in the upper northwest part of South Dakota, Harding County is no strangers to having to travel. Countless hours of bus travel takes place every year. Now with a championship appearance in Vermillion, the miles have doubled.

This season, the Ranchers had four away games. The closest game to Buffalo was 64 miles away in Newell. The other three trips clocked in at over 100 miles one way.

August 28 - @ Faith. 109 miles one way. 218 miles round trip.
September 11 - @ New Underwood. 138 miles one way. 276 miles round trip.
October 9 - @ Newell. 64 miles one way. 128 round trip
October 16 - @ Herreid(/Selby Area) 210 miles one way. 420 round trip.

In just the regular season, the Ranchers traveled 1,042 miles on four trips. Luckily, Harding County hosted all three rounds of the 9B playoffs. Now the team will make a trip to Vermillion, which is another 512 miles one way.

The Ranchers will return to Buffalo from Vermillion with a total of 2,066 miles traveled. Harding County could have traveled roundtrip to Detroit, or taken a one-way driving trip to Orlando in the same mileage.

Harding County will play Langford Area for the Class 9B Championship on Friday morning at 10:30.