ADAMS TWP — There was no feeling out his opponent for Keith Brubach.

Mars' freshman wrestler entered his 113-pound bout, the final matchup in Wednesday's Section 3 meeting with Butler, with his team trailing the Golden Tornado, 31-30.

“I knew I had to win,” said Brubach. “I just wanted to go out there and get it over with.”

Brubach's actions proved it as he scored a takedown of Butler freshman Clayton Dressler three seconds into the bout. He added three near-fall points before pinning Dressler with seven seconds left in the first period.

“I told him (Brubach) right before his match that it wasn't all riding on him,” said Mars coach Jason Wilk. “There's a lot of other matches that go into it. I just said to go out, wrestle as hard as he can and have fun. He was really aggressive.”

The win clinched a 36-31 team victory for the host Planets, their first-ever win over the Golden Tornado.

“This win means a lot,” added Wilk. “I've always had a lot of respect for Butler's program and the way it is run. We lost to them by one point last year.”

Dressler was originally set to wrestle at 106 pounds against Mars' Noah Hunkele, but Butler coach Scott Stoner forfeited that bout and put Dressler in at 113.

“Hunkele has a lot of experience and I felt Clayton had a better opportunity at 113,” said Stoner. “Hats off to Clayton for hanging in there as long as he did. You never know what can happen in a match.

“I came up with a lineup tonight that I thought gave us a good chance of winning at certain weights,” Stoner added. “I figured if everything went our way and we got some bonus points, we'd have a shot at the team win.

“To have it come down to the last match, I think we did well overall.”

Butler extended its lead to 31-24 when heavyweight Ian Thompson earned his first varsity win, a 6-5 decision over Mars' Jeff DeSantes. But the forfeit awarded to Hunkele and Brubach's pin sealed the deal for the Planets, who founded themselves in a hole early on.

The match started at 120 pounds and Butler jumped out to a 12-0 lead after three bouts — decisions from Colton Spohn and Steven Green and a pin from Nathan McMaster.

It wasn't until 138 pounds that the Planets tasted victory with Max Lamm's 5-4 decision over Nate McDonald. Lamm held the 5-4 edge entering the third period and withstood a furious escape attempt from McDonald as time wound down.

“That was a very tight match,” said Wilk. “For Max to hang in there, it shows what he is made of.”

Mars then picked up a victory via pin from Alex Hornfeck at 145 pounds, a win that made him the program's all-time wins leader with 97.

The Planets (2-0) took their initial lead with Sean McElhinney's 9-5 decision over Rob Hays, making the score 18-16 in favor of Mars.

But Butler answered with a pin from Justin Stewart at 182 and Christian Sequete won by forfeit for a 28-18 Tornado lead.

Jake Richardson and Anthony Grieco earned pins for Mars at 160 and 220 pounds, respectively.

“It's amazing in these types of matches, every single point counts,” said Wilk. “It took a total team effort on our part to get it done.”

“Mars wrestled well,” said Stoner. “Give credit to their wrestlers and coaches.”

Butler (1-1) will travel to Freedom Thursday for a makeup of a match originally scheduled last week.

Mars will compete at the West Mifflin Tournament next Wednesday and Thursday.

Mars 36, Butler 31

(Match started at 120 pounds)

106-Noah Hunkele (M) won by forfeit; 113-Keith Brubach (M) pinned Clayton Dressler, 1:53; 120-Colton Spohn (B) dec. Davis Luedtke, 2-0; 126-Nathan McMaster (B) pinned Nolan Wicker, 5:05; 132-Steven Green (B) dec. Aidan Leshinsky, 10-4; 138-Max Lamm (M) dec. Nate McDonald, 5-4; 145-Alex Hornfeck (M) pinned Pavlog Pawluk, :33; 152-Jack Codispot (B) major dec. Mitchell McMarlin, 12-3; 160-Jake Richardson (M) pinned Hunter Neff, 1:03; 170-Sean McElhinney (M) dec. Rob Hays, 9-5; 182-Justin Stewart (B) pinned Kevin Soergel, 3:55; 195-Christian Sequete (B) won by forfeit; 220-Anthony Grieco (M) pinned Pacey Rakoci, 5:02; Hwt.-Ian Thompson (B) dec. Jeff DeSantes, 6-5.