RAPID CITY - The St. Thomas More football team begins the 2008 season ranked No. 2 in the preseason high school football poll by the South Dakota Sportswriters Association, which was released Wednesday.

The Cavaliers did not receive any first-place votes and finished ahead of Harrisburg in the 11A poll. West Central topped the preseason poll with seven-first place votes. Dell Rapids and Winner begin tied for fourth place. Sisseton, Milbank, Vermillion and Hot Springs also received votes.

St. Thomas More begins the season Friday against Hot Springs. The game, which was originally scheduled to be played at Dutton Field, will be played at Douglas High School.

The class 11AA preseason poll has a definite East River feel. All five teams are from the east side of the state. Sioux Falls Roosevelt, the defending state champion, tops the list and received six first-place votes. Sioux Falls O'Gorman is ranked No. 2, followed by Sioux Falls Washington, Sioux Falls Lincoln and Watertown at No. 5.

Yankton, Pierre, Brookings and Brandon Valley also received votes.

Tri-Valley leads the class 11B list, followed by Groton, Platte-Geddes-Dakota Christian, Garretson and Aberdeen Roncalli.

In class 9AA, Gregory is the top-ranked team, followed by Emery-Ethan, De Smet-Iroquois and Marion-Hurley. Ipswich and Langford-Roslyn tied for fifth place.

Avon begins the season ranked No. 1 in class 9A, ahead of defending state champion Scotland. Sully Buttes is No. 3, followed by Northwestern and Gettysburg, Estelline and Arlington, which all tied for No. 5.

Dell Rapids St. Mary is the preseason favorite in class 9B, followed by Hanson, Colome, Harding County and Grant-Deuel and Hitchcock-Tulare, which tied for No. 5.