WHITE RIVER — White River is joining the All-Nations Football Conference.

The White River School District recently held a meeting to discuss the future of its football program, and superintendent Louie Krogman said it included input from coaches, parents and administrators. 

The school district determined it would opt for the All-Nations Football Conference, a 16-team league consisting of Native American schools across the state. 

“If we were going to try to grow the program and put our kids in the best opportunity to try to be successful, that the All-Nations really gave us that opportunity, and we are excited about the change,” Krogman said. 

Krogman said low participation numbers factored into the move. The exact roster size won’t be determined until practice starts on Aug. 12, but Krogman is hopeful the move will bolster the numbers. 

“We just thought we needed to make a change to maybe encourage that percentage rate to go up a little bit,” Krogman said. “Hopefully it will with this transition to All-Nations and playing in a different conference and getting our kids a season.”

White River will be in the All-Nations Class 9B, joining Crazy Horse, Crow Creek, Flandreau Indian, Lower Brule, Marty, Omaha Nation (Nebraska) and Tiospa Zina. 

The All-Nations Class 9A consists of Cheyenne-Eagle Butte, Little Wound, Mahpiya Luta, McLaughlin, Pine Ridge, St. Francis, Todd County and Winnebago (Nebraska). 

This season, White River will open with three straight away games at Marty (Aug. 29), Tiospa Zina (Sept. 5) and Lower Brule (Sept. 12). White River’s home opener is Sept. 19 vs. Flandreau Indian. 

After an away game at Crow Creek on Sept. 26, the Tigers will close with three straight home games against Crazy Horse (Oct. 3), Omaha Nation (Oct. 10) and Mahpiya Luta (Oct. 17). 

Despite the late addition, White River was able to fit into the schedule this season. 

“They had a schedule full of byes,” Krogman said. “We just were able to fit right into that and thankfully we got the blessing from their board of directors, and the director Lance Witte and he was really great to work with. It was just kind of a natural thing for our students to be a part of.”

Krogman said the Tigers will be members of the All-Nations Football Conference for the next two seasons and ideally into the future. 

“Hopefully we can get a program kind of developed and started,” Krogman said. “I look forward to competing in the All-Nations for as long as possible, and if something changes down the road we will have to make that call. But for right now we are definitely committed to the All-Nations.”