A perfect season with a purpose: Govs honor late teammate with special state title victory

VERMILLION — Motivation can come in many forms for a winning high school football team. History. A perfect record. Sending out the seniors with a championship. The Pierre Governors were playing for all those reasons on Friday night. But they were also playing for the initials on their uniform's nameplate. The motivation was on their sleeves — literally — clad in bright and flowery green. One of the goals for the Governors' season was to get to the DakotaDome and have the top seed. The way to assure that was to be 11-0 and undefeated. That would allow Pierre to pick its uniform and wear Pierre's specially made jerseys to honor their late teammate Aiden Van Balen. Van Balen died on June 4, 2025 in a car crash at age 16. Van Balen liked to wear board shorts, which frequently had flowery patterns. That idea inspired the uniforms, which are green and are accented with black flowers. The Governors charged late in the 2025 season and returned to the DakotaDome, taking on Yankton.

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