Wrestlers live for challenges.

Ultimate challenges await a pair of second-seeded wrestlers — Seneca Valley 113-pounder Louis Newell and Mars 126-pounder Alex Hornfeck — if they can reach the finals of their respective weight classes this weekend in the WPIAL Tournament at Canon-McMillan High School.

Newell (35-3), a junior, is on the opposite side of the bracket from top-seed Shawn Hillegas (35-0), a freshman from North Hills who pinned him in the section finals. Two of Newell’s three losses this year are to Hillegas.

“That (Hillegas) kid is very good and Louis just got caught,” SV coach Kevin Wildrick said of the section finals. “We would love another shot at him.

“But down there, you go one match at a time. You can’t overlook anybody. There are plenty of good wrestlers in every division.”

Hornfeck (29-1), a junior, is a section champion and is seeded behind unbeaten Franklin Regional senior Spencer Lee (28-0), who has never lost a high school match.

“Lee is considered the best high school wrestler in the country,” Mars coach Jason Wilk said. “It’d be great if Alex went up against him because that would mean he made the finals.

“No one in the gym would expect Alex to win, but just stepping on the mat with arguably the greatest Pennsylvania wrestler ever would be unbelievable. You take your shot and see what happens.”

Lee is committed to the University of Iowa, one of the premier collegiate wrestling programs in the country.

Five other Butler County wrestlers are seeded among the top eight in their respective weight classes. Butler’s Caleb Baxter (26-3) is seeded third at 160 pounds, behind North Allegheny unbeaten Eric Hong (25-0) and Belle Vernon’s Zachary Hartman (33-5).

“I’m glad Caleb got seeded third and is on the opposite side of Hong,” Butler coach Scott Stoner said. “That kid is a national prep school champion and you don’t want to see him until the finals.”

Seneca Valley 106-pounder Jason Geyer (24-10) and Butler 182-pounder Christian Sequete (15-3) are seeded fifth. The Raiders’ Alex Fischer (27-10) at 145 and the Golden Tornado’s Saavon Mosby (25-10) at 220 are seeded eighth.

Sequete, a junior, is seeded behind four seniors — Bethel Park’s Nick Bonaccorsi (32-0), Penn-Trafford’s Matt McGillick (23-8), Fox Chapel’s Mike Mahon (30-2) and Greensburg Salem’s Teegan Hahn (28-4).

“Christian could possibly get up there (into the top four) but there are a lot of talented kids,” Stoner said.

Whiler Mosby is seeded eighth, Stoner believes he could be a wild-card, based on his unpredictable performances on the mat.

“Though he’s only a sophomore, Saavon has great ability and athleticism,” he said. “He doesn’t choose to use it all of the time. That gets frustrating because he is an outstanding wrestler when he wants to be.”

In Wildrick’s view, the seeding isn’t all that important.

“The seeding doesn’t really matter,” SV’s coach said. “If it did, the other kids wouldn’t show up and the seeds would just wrestle for the (PIAA) spots.

“We want to go in with the attitude we can beat anybody lining up on the other side of the mat. You have to take that approach.”

Wilk said Mars’ 170-pounder Jason Petrilena and 182-pound Nick Schriver could pull off surprises.

“Unseeded wrestlers have gotten hot, had big days and snuck through before,” he said. “You have to have the confidence you can do it.”

The WPIAL tourney gets under way with pig-tail and preliminary round matches at 11 a.m. Friday. The quarterfinals and first-round consolations begin at 6 p.m.

Second-round consolations begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday with the semifinals set for noon. The consolation finals are at 5:30 p.m., the championship finals at 7 p.m.

BUTLER COUNTY WPIAL QUALIFIERS

106 pounds-Jason Geyer (Seneca Valley) 24-10

113-Louis Newell (Seneca Valley) 35-3

120-Kameron Grassi (Knoch) 12-11, Nolan Wicker (Mars) 10-9

126-Alex Hornfeck (Mars) 29-1, Jack Codispot (Butler) 29-10, Nick Montalbano (Seneca Valley) 21-11

138-Scotty Dietrich (Butler) 31-7, Max Lamm (Mars) 7-10

145-Alex Fischer (Seneca Valley) 27-10

160-Caleb Baxter (Butler) 26-3, Ty Gross (Seneca Valley) 28-12)

170-Eric Green (Knoch) 189-7, Justin Petrilena (Mars) 20-8

182-Christian Sequete (Butler) 15-3, Nick Schriver (Mars) 20-11

195-Tom Greaves (Butler) 29-8, Drake Church (Seneca Valley) 19-16

220-Saavon Mosby (Butler) 25-10, Max Aubrecht (Mars) 15-17

285-Seth McCrea (Butler) 24-10