CANONSBURG - Losing a first-round match at the WPIAL Southwest Regional Wrestling Championships can make qualifying for the state tournament a bit difficult.

But it's not out of the question.

Butler's Ian McLaughlin (119 pounds) and Seneca Valley's Mike Bianco (215) each won his first-round match at Canon-McMillan High School Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals today.

Six other wrestlers - Butler's Rob Runyan (103), Josh Coburn (152) and Ryan Eck (189) and Seneca Valley's Pat Coyne (125), Lee Layton (135) and Mike Rossetti (189) - each dropped a first-round match and will compete in today's consolation bouts.

Runyan and Eck each won a pigtail bout to advance to the first round.

The path of the six wrestlers is a little tougher because they'll need four victories to reach the consolation finals and to compete for a PIAA berth.

McLaughlin, a freshman, and Bianco, a senior, entered their matches Thursday as favorites after were crowned Section 3 champions last weekend.

McLaughlin dispatched Kiski Area's Tony Clark 7-4, building a 2-0 lead after one period and 5-2 through two periods.

For his efforts, though, McLaughlin (32-5) will face Waynesburg's Nick Garber (31-6) in the quarterfinal round today.

Despite the first-round victory, Butler coach Scott Stoner said the freshman still has some work to do.

"Ian was a little lazy on top," Stoner said. "You can't put yourself in dangerous situations, especially when you're a higher seed."

Bianco made quick work of Waynesburg's Zach Patton, earning a 15-0 technical fall in four minutes.

Even though first-year Raiders coach Lee Mullett was an expert in Bianco's ability, the coach said he didn't know what to expect.

"I was his elementary coach when he was in elementary school and I was his junior high coach when he was in junior high," said Mullett. "I knew Mike had the talent and the experience, but I didn't know where he'd be and what to expect.

"He gives his all in every meet, whether he wins or loses," Mullett added.

Bianco (25-2), who missed all of last year recovering from an auto accident, will face Ambridge's Rick Dlubak (28-6) in the quarterfinal round. Bianco has beaten Dlubak three times this season (5-2, 3-2 and 4-3).

Runyan (23-11) pinned Ringgold's Nathaniel Blackman in 3:52, but lost a 15-6 major decision to McGuffey's Matt Scherich to drop into the first-round consolation bracket.

"His thing is it's a freshman thing," said Stoner. "He's not confident enough. He's got this ability and he's got the skill. It's the refinement he needs."

Eck (21-13) opened the meet by pinning Thomas Jefferson's John Kampert in 3:41, but then was pinned by top-seeded Joe West of Trinity (32-2) in 1:25.

Coburn (24-11) was able to stay close to Fox Chapel's Scott Black, but dropped a 6-4 decision.

"Josh had a pretty good match," said Stoner. "Black is a senior and he's definitely an upper-level kid."

For the Raiders, Coyne, Layton and Rossetti all came up a little short in their first-round matchups.

Coyne lost to Gateway's Brian Petrakis 3-0, Layton fell to Canon-McMillan's Mike Eberly 3-0 and Rossetti fell to Albert Gallatin's Rob Blosser 3-2.

Coyne (23-11) allowed Petrakis to earn an escape with 1:25 left in the second period for a 1-0 lead. Petrakis picked up a pair of back points with six seconds left in the third period to account for the final score.

Layton (25-7) surrendered a takedown in the first period and an escape with 1:32 left in the second, but that closed out the scoring.

Rossetti (26-5) trailed 3-1 through two periods and pulled to within one with an escape with 1:34 remaining, but Blosser held off Rossetti to eke out the win.

"We expected those to be close matches," said Mullett. "Lee and Pat, they were the same as they were last week. They were not as aggressive."

With a lot of wrestling still to be done, Stoner knows if you're wrestling the next day, you're still wrestling.

"The bottom line is you need the mentality that you're going to wrestle hard the whole time," said Stoner. "You can't slouch. There are some good wrestlers that are going to lose.

"Hopefully, you try to pull it out, but we missed by one or two points," said Mullett. "Here, you have to wrestle one match at a time. You can't look at the match ahead. You just have to go out and have fun."

Notes:

Butler's Decker Hubbs was scheduled to wrestle in the 112 bracket, but an illness forced him to scratch. He didn't accompany the team to Canonsburg. … There are 252 wrestlers from 49 teams taking part in the championship. There were 140 scheduled matches Thursday, 112 are slated for today, 140 for the early session Saturday and 28 Saturday evening.