Aberdeen Central boys’ wrestling is looking to make its mark this weekend.

On Saturday, the Golden Eagles will enter the Class A State Dual Wrestling Tournament at Dacotah Bank Center in Brookings with high expectations. Central coach Donnie Bowden says his team is prepared to face whatever challenges lie ahead on Saturday.

“We’re just going to go down there and compete as hard as we can and let the chips fall where they may,” Bowden said. “We’ve actually competed against everyone in the tournament, besides West Central, so we kind of have an understanding of where we are against them and what we can do, so we’re just there to compete hard and see what happens.”

The Golden Eagles have been preparing to compete in the tournament, working on improving each week throughout the season.

“We’ve just been improving from week to week,” Bowden said. “We take what we did the week prior and then we just find a way to improve upon that. We’ve been doing that as a group and doing it individually, and that’s just kind of the recipe that we’ve been using, and it’s been working.”

Bowden is also thankful for an extended amount of preparation this week, which he says is much different compared to the rest of the season.

“The nice thing is we get five days to prepare, which is odd during a wrestling season. Usually they’re short weeks,” Bowden said.

Central enters the tournament with a 16-2 record as the number four seed and will compete against fifth-seeded Brandon Valley at 11 a.m. The Golden Eagles and Lynx have squared off once this season, with Central winning a 40-25 decision on Jan. 23 at the Yankton Triangular.

In defeating the Lynx, Bowden said the Golden Eagles were able to win close matches and he hopes the experience taken from that dual will pay benefits this weekend.

“We’re just hoping that we can improve upon that this time and widen that gap a little bit where we won some of those swing matches and make sure that we close that gap where they got the better of us,” Bowden said.

Despite beating the Lynx during the season, Bowden expects a competitive opening round dual against Brandon Valley this time around as well.

“They’re a tough team; they’re a very accomplished team. They have some kids that will go very deep in the individual tournament,” Bowden said. “They’ve been here before. They’ve been in this situation where they’ve placed very high in the state dual team, so this isn’t anything new to them, and they’re very competitive. They got kids that can go out there and score lots of bonus points, so we’re just going to have to come ready like we were last time and prevent them from getting bonus points and go out and find our own.”

Should Central get past Brandon Valley, it would find itself against another familiar foe in either top-seeded Sturgis or eighth-seeded Tea Area. The Golden Eagles faced both squads this season, defeating the Titans 45-33 in the opening dual of the season at Watertown on Dec. 2, while handing the Scoopers their only dual loss of the season in a close 29-27 win at the East-West Duals in Pierre on Jan. 20. Bowden said it will take a full team effort to come away with the championship on Saturday.

“We’ve got our older guys that we look to; some of them are more accomplished guys like Rayden Zens, Mason Schrempp, Tate Huff,” Bowden said. “Some of them are state place-winners from previous years, so we kind of look to those guys for a little bit of leadership, but it’s going to take everyone. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re an alternate or if you’re the guy in the varsity lineup, it’s going to take everyone to get it done.”

Overall, Bowden is excited for his team’s chance to be in the dual tourney and see what the Golden Eagles can accomplish.

“Just really excited for this opportunity to compete in the state duals,” Bowden said. “It’s great to be seeded in the top four and hopefully we can improve upon that and finish better than what our seed is. Just go out here and find a way to string a couple together like we have all year long.”

Miller-Highmore-Harrold and Clark-Willow Lake will both be competing in the Class B State Dual Tournament in Watertown on Saturday. Seventh-seeded Miller-Highmore-Harrold faces second-seeded Canton in the opening round, while sixth-seeded Clark-Willow Lake takes on third-rated Bon Homme-Avon.