Every point matters.

No matter if it’s under the spotlight on Saturday night, or in the opening round today in the annual Tri-State Invitational at North Idaho College.

To bring home a team title, everything counts.

In last year’s tournament, Havre (Mont.) edged Post Falls by 1.5 points for the team title, stopping the Trojans’ attempt at a three-peat.

“This tournament is going to be hard for anybody,” Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. “Our kids need to compete to their potential. No matter what, things need to roll your way a little bit. There’s a lot of things that need to come into place. It’s not as simple as having to wrestle well, you need to wrestle well at 10 different weight classes. There’s more variables with a team sport and individuals. It’s just so complex with all the different weights and seeds. Rather than get caught up in opponents and what seed we get, we just try to simplfy it to taking care of our job and handle what’s in your control.”

Lakeland finished fourth, just three points behind Mead of Spokane in 2016.

“I can see a couple of our guys popping into the finals,” Lakeland coach Rob Edelblute said. “Alex (Edelblute), William (Edelblute), Sam (Edelblute), Larry (Johnson) and Tavis (Woempner), all of them have a chance to win. It will be a fun weekend and good to see where we’re at after that.”

Mead, Post Falls, Lakeland, Lake Stevens (Wash.), Havre, Flathead of Kalispell and White River of Buckley, Wash., are among those tournament organizer and NIC wrestling coach Pat Whitcomb expects to challenge for the team title.

“It’s going to be a war of attrition,” Whitcomb said. “Those teams that are in the race to win it, they’re not going to have six champions. It’s going to come down to some of those kids in the consolation scoring points. It’s really two separate tournaments.”

For today’s opening day, six mats will be at Christianson Gymnasium, and two mats will set up at the school’s new recreational center on campus. On Saturday, consolation matches for those wrestlers that go 0-2 will be held at the rec center, with all consolation and championship matches at the main gym.

“We’re excited for the kids coming here,” Whitcomb said. “They’re going to get at least two matches on both days. Once we get to the semifinals, it’s going to be a dandy by then.”

Tournament passes are $20 for adults and $15 for senior citizens and students.

The tournament begins today at 10 a.m., and resumes at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Wrestlers from 61 schools are entered. Not all schools are bringing full teams.

“It’s going to be a madhouse,” Whitcomb said. “By Saturday, the bleachers are all pulled out and each match is important. If you were to move this tournament to a fieldhouse and throw down over 20 mats, it doesn’t have the same feel. Teams love coming here and love being in this community.”

TRI-STATE INVITATIONAL SEEDING

98 — 1, Braxton Mason, Post Falls. 2, Brayden Herbert, Timberlake. 3, Brayden Barnes, Flathead.

106 — 1, Alex Edelblute, Lakeland. 2, Walker Dyer, Frenchtown. 3, Jacob Bennett, Lake Stevens. 4, Buddy Doolan, Libby.

113 — 1, Chase Randall, Mead. 2, Sam Edelblute, Lakeland. 3, Jake Bibler, Frenchtown. 4, Chris Mellow, Othello. 5, Cameron Pleninger, Havre. 6, Jarett Sharp, Mt. Spokane.

120 — 1, Chase Tebbits, Mead. 2, Ryan Stewart, Havre. 3, William Edelblute, Lakeland. 4, Bryce Miller, Kelso. 5, Hunter Nees, Freeman. 6, Jordan Grimm, Post Falls. 7, Quin Reno, Havre. 8, Dawson Bretz, Tonasket.

126 — 1, Ridge Lovett, Post Falls. 2, Gabe Hawthorne, White River. 3, Blake Haney, Mt. Spokane. 4, Terrell Sanders, University. 5, Trent Baun, Colville. 6, Clayton Gilliam, North Central. 7, Chris Rivera, Tonasket. 8, Austin Michalski, Tahoma.

132 — 1, Riley Gurr, Frenchtown. 2, Bridger Wenzel, Polson. 3, A.J. De La Rosa, Post Falls. 4, Lane Paulson, Havre. 5, Logan Holt, Freeman. 6, Lane Holland, Graham-Kapowsin. 7, Hunter Behanke, Orting. 8, Luke Larson, Vashon Island.

138 — 1, Alexander Cruz, Orting. 2, Cade Krishnek, Capital. 3, Martin Wilkie, Havre. 4, Jake Howerton, Mt. Spokane. 5, Matt McLeod, Post Falls. 6, Christian Fruend, Kelso. 7, Caleb Cole, Reardan. 8, Gavin Gies, North Central.

145 — 1, Larry Johnson, Lakeland. 2, Jason Burchell, Post Falls. 3, Garrett Wilson, Tonasket. 4, Bradley Wiggs, Central Valley. 5, Mathias De La Rosa, Post Falls. 6, Cameron Brown, Polson. 7, Connor Harris, Havre. 8, Ethan Newman, Deer Park.

152 — 1, Nate Moore, White River. 2, Braydon Huber, Post Falls. 3, Parker Alder, Polson. 4, Brett Hodgson, Deer Park. 5, Chad Simonson, Graham-Kapowsin. 6, Parker Robinson, La Grande. 7, Thomas Perriman, Reardan. 8, Kenyon Larson, Flathead?

160 — 1, Hunter Cruz, Moses Lake. 2, Angelo Lorea, Lake Stevens. 3, Max Wheeler, White River. 4, Wyatt Shelly, Post Falls. 5, Max Hill, Lewiston. 6, Jared Lenz, Riverside. 7, Cameron Crawford, Mead. 8, Sione Halo, Kamiakin.

170 — 1, James Rodgers, Battle Ground. 2, Payton Hume, Flathead. 3, Colby Martin, Flathead. 4, Mason Sabin, White River. 5, Jack Ervin, White River. 6, Kalren Sirkan, Pullman. 7, Sammy Desroches, Riverside. 8, Gage Burtenshaw, Darrington.

182 — 1, Winston Scott, East Valley. 2, Ethan Landt, Reardan. 3, Isaac Gomez, Tonasket. 4, Ryan Redford, White River. 5, Beau Mauseth, Moses Lake. 6, Finlay Holston, Liberty Bell. 7, Tucker Nadeau, Flathead. 8, John Knight, Colville.

195 — 1, Tyler Schwab, Havre. 2, Joey Gutierrez, Hermiston. 3, Layton Paul, Potlatch. 4, Samuel Malycheski, Camas. 5, Mason Miethe, Mt. Spokane. 6, Nathan Holliday, Castle Rock. 7, Akio Yamada, Lakeside. 8, Hunter Flellcom, Flathead.

220 — 1, Kione Gill, Tahoma. 2, John Keiser, Central Valley. 3, Payton Castro, Moses Lake. 4, Adam Wallace, Moscow. 5, Ethan Calapp, Bethel. 6, Aaron Reyes, Priest River. 7, Luke Eskelsen, Kamiakin. 8, Mark Thomas, University.

285 — 1, Wyatt Wickham, Central Valley. 2, John Nascimento, Juanita. 3, Gabe Sanchez, Deer Park. 4, Neftali Lopez, University. 5, Michael Lee, Flathead. 6, Lane Marshall, Oregon City. 7, Beau Blake, Hermiston. 8, Hunter Dawley, Reardan.