Not long ago, Wiggins was dominant in high school wrestling.

The Tigers won the Class 2A state titles in 1994, 1996 and 1999 through 2002.

Wiggins is trying to return to those glory days.

The Tigers, thanks to pushing Buddy Watson (125 pounds), Kohl Knutson (171), Tyler Davis (189) and heavyweight Kyle Pollock into the finals, are leading the team race 107-1061/2 against Paonia after the completion of matches Friday night at the Pepsi Center.

Rocky Ford (88) and Hayden (83) are third and fourth, respectively.

And the Tigers still have two other wrestlers competing in the consolation bracket.

The championship matches are scheduled for 6:30 tonight.

"I'm very happy with the way the guys wrestled," fourth-year Wiggins coach Dave Croissant said. "We just need to keep taking care of our own business, and if we do that, we will be all right."

Paonia, which was leading after the first round Thursday, countered by advancing Justin Iacovetto (119), Justin Smith (145) and Lukas Wiggins into the finals. The Eagles have six other competitors in the consolation brackets.

"We got some guys into the finals, but so did some other teams," Paonia coach Andy Pipher said. "This is going to be a dogfight (today), and the key for us is that we have to win matches in the back door (consolation bracket). We need those points through the back door."

Pipher, who has been coaching at Paonia for 11 years, guided the Eagles to their only state wrestling title in 2006.

"I was glad I was able to win my tough match," said Paonia's Smith, who muscled past Rangely's Ryan Cramer 5-2.

"Most important is the fact that we have so many guys still in the tournament. It would be huge if we could win the team title."

Smith won state at 145 pounds last year, and his brother, Shane, was a 140- pounder on Paonia's state championship team.

Individually, Norwood's Hugh Hardman (140) and Stryker Lane (215) are going for their third state titles in a row.

Lane extended his winning streak to 92 matches. Lane, a senior who is headed to Cornell next fall to wrestle, hasn't been scored on this season.

"I don't feel any pressure or worry about whether a guy is going to score on me or not," the 6-foot-3 Lane said. "I just go out there and wrestle people."

Three other returning state champions - Nucla's Ty Sickels (135), Dove Creek's Colten Huskey (145) and Burlington's Michael Satterly (189) - also are in the finals.