Brandon Valley, Harrisburg, West Central wrestling eye state duals title

The Class A South Dakota high school wrestling state duals tournament takes place Friday at Pierre T.F. Riggs High School, and Brandon Valley, Harrisburg and West Central are all vying for a state crown.

The first round will start at 11 a.m., but all three local schools will have their first-round matches around 12:30 p.m. The semifinals will start around 2 p.m. and the placement matches will start around 3:30 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students, and are sold at the door and on Bound Ticketing. There may be additional fees for purchasing a ticket online.

There will be a live stream for each mat on the South Dakota Public Broadcasting YouTube channel, and a special broadcast for the state championship dual.

Here’s how the three local teams, all on the same half of the bracket, stack up.

No. 3 Brandon Valley (15-2)

The fourth-place finisher from a year ago, Brandon Valley has a similar bracket in this year’s state tournament. The Lynx will face No. 6 Harrisburg to open the competition, then face either No. 2 Aberdeen Central or No. 7 West Central.

Brandon Valley beat Watertown last year before losing to Aberdeen in the semifinals. The Lynx then lost the third-place dual to Rapid City Stevens.

Brandon Valley beat Harrisburg 41-25 at home on Feb. 3. Its two losses were to Aberdeen (39-25 on Jan. 15) and unbeaten Sturgis Brown (40-28 on Jan. 24).

The Lynx have won seven consecutive duals since the last loss to Sturgis Brown.

No. 6 Harrisburg (18-7)

Harrisburg placed sixth in the state tournament last year, going 1-2. The Tigers lost to Aberdeen, beat Watertown and lost to West Central.

The Tigers will face No. 3 Brandon Valley in the opening round, the wrestle either No. 2 Aberdeen or No. 7 West Central.

Harrisburg has lost to the top five seeds in the Class A bracket — Sturgis Brown, Aberdeen, Brandon Valley, Watertown and Pierre — and two teams from Minnesota. The Tigers cleaned up the rest of their competition, but will have to exercise some demons against Brandon Valley to open the tournament.

Harrisburg has won three duals in a row heading into the postseason after losing four of five.

No. 7 West Central (12-3)

West Central placed fifth last season at the state tournament, losing to Rapid City Stevens before beating Madison and Harrisburg.

The No. 7 Trojans are taking on No. 2 Aberdeen in the first round, then will wrestle either No. 3 Brandon Valley or No. 6 Harrisburg.

West Central has lost to Aberdeen, Sturgis Brown and Harrisburg this season, and will have at least one chance to avenge a loss.

The Trojans have won four duals in a row to end the season after losing back-to-back to Harrisburg and Aberdeen.