ABERDEEN - The Rapid City Stevens Raiders finally have the chance to live up to the No. 1 ranking they've had on paper for most of the high school wrestling season.

The Raiders will vie for their seventh state wrestling title and first since 2001 when the State Class A wrestling tournament starts today in Aberdeen.

First round matches start at 9 a.m., MST today at the Barnett Center on the Northern State University campus.

Raider coach Brian Moser knows that season ratings are nice, but the only ranking that really counts is one at the end of a tough two-day state meet run.

"That's the sad thing. I wish we could just pick up the trophy now," Moser said with a laugh.

There are others who think that could just as well be the case.

"They can slip at a couple of weights and it wouldn't matter. They should just hand Stevens the trophy and watch what happens for second place between Canton and Sturgis," Huron coach Dan McCarty said.

Stevens qualified 11 wrestlers for state, edging three-time and defending Class A state champion Sturgis at last weekend's Region 4A tournament.

The Scoopers, always formidable come state tournament time, qualified 13 wrestlers. Region third-place Rapid City Central will send eight.

Stevens will pin its title hopes on Jarrick Jensen (103 pounds), Morgan Russell (112), Brian Gilbert (119), Taylor Rave (130), Kris Klapprodt (135), Kramer Johnson (140), Jarrett Jensen (145), Matt Bury (152), Justin Zaiser (171), Nick Jensen (189) and Anthony Graziano (285).

The Raider squad includes seven region champions. Klapprodt is last year's state champion at 119 pounds.

Stevens was the early pick to unseat Sturgis after returning most of its runner-up team from 2007. Moser said his team has remained focused on the state tournament in spite of the season-long limelight.

"You can't prevent the kids from looking at the rankings and comparing themselves to the other kids," he said. "For the most part, our kids have done an excellent job of taking care of business, week in and week out, wrestling hard and practicing.

"This is the goal we have set for ourselves. The kids have been working hard for this all year," said Moser.

"From where they're sitting, they've got a great opportunity to not only win a team title but maybe set a new record for points scored," said Central coach Lance Pearson.

The third-ranked Scoopers, winners of four of the last six Class A titles, have plenty of horses in the field, but coach Steve Keszler doesn't think anyone can keep stride with the Raiders.

"Stevens is head-and-shoulders above everybody. There's a few other teams like Canton, Mitchell, Vermillion, Watertown and Winner that can score some points, but I don't think anyone can match what they (Raiders) can put up," said Keszler. "I think the race will be for second place on down."

Leading Sturgis will be Tanner Bothwell (103), JT Paris (112), Seth Lange (119), Josh Keszler (125), Nate Wilson (130), Rex Lyon (135), Sheldon Larsen (140), Kyle Kopplin (145), Drew Hunt (152), Clint Wilson (160), Justin Symonds (189), Jake Stygles (215) and Matt Wardell (285).

Lange and Keszler are returning state champions for the Scoopers.

Canton coach Jeremy Ask said the second-ranked C-Hawks would need a superlative effort to stay with Stevens.

"The rankings show us to be behind by 28 points, which is a lot at a state tournament," Ask said. "In order to close that gap, we are going to need to wrestle to our highest potential and we are going to need some Stevens kids to wrestle below their potential."

Leading Canton's assault on the top of the podium will be Parker Swanson (119), Jeremiah Peterson (125), Dillon Swanson (152), Tom Davies (160), Tigh Faehnrich (189), and Tabor Martin (285).

Pearson said his Cobblers probably won't challenge for the team title, but are bent on showing the strength of Region 4A teams by matching or exceeding their seventh-place finish a year ago, and with high finishes in the individual weights.

Central will bring 103-pounder Aero Amo, Tanner Spilde (112), Tyler Harter (125), Taylor Jackson (140), Tyler Jones (171), Chad Gibson (189), Chapman Ham (215) and Casey Chilstrom (285).

"I'm a little biased, but I think ours is the toughest region in the state. Just because you come out of the region third or fourth doesn't mean you can't win a couple matches and get yourself into the semifinals of the state meet," Pearson said.

"We're looking to show the rest of the state just how tough our region is, and see how many we can get into the placings," Pearson said.

Moser, Keszler and Pearson all said that illness could indeed play a factor in the outcome. Both Moser and Pearson were down with the bug earlier in the week and Keszler said there have been empty seats aplenty in his classrooms at Sturgis.

"That's just something we deal with every year," Moser said. "There's not a lot anyone can do about it."

"If we can stay healthy and keep going, I think we can accomplish the goal of the state championship," Moser said.