BUTLER TWP — Three consecutive pins provided late fireworks for Butler.

The three consecutive close decisions preceding them spoiled the party.

Franklin Regional (25-6), which was fourth in the WPIAL wrestling team tournament, survived match-closing pins by Golden Tornado wrestlers Dakoda Collins, Matt Pribis and Cole Baxter Wednesday night.

The Panthers escaped with a dual-match win by criterion after a 31-31 deadlock with Butler. Franklin Regional got the nod by winning eight individual matches to Butler's six.

“It's disappointing. It's frustrating,” Butler coach Scott Stoner said. “I really wanted to see us beat a top-level team. We just didn't do what we needed to do.”

Franklin Regional has nine wrestlers with more than 20 wins, including two-time state champion Nico Megaludis (39-0) at 125 pounds.

The match result swung in the 140-, 145- and 152-pound weight classes.

“Coming in here, I knew we had to hold our own there to win tonight,” Franklin Regional coach Eric Mausser said.

The Panthers won all three of those bouts:

• Butler's Dillon Weston (15-10) had a 4-0 lead in the third period at 140, but surrendered a reversal and three back points in the final minute of an 8-5 loss to the Panthers' Chris Little (33-6).

• The Tornado's Eric Tuck (17-10) had a 5-3 lead at 145 before being taken down by Kevin Wilhelm (28-10) with eight seconds left. Wilhelm scored another takedown in overtime for the win.

• Butler's Mike Crawford (23-4) scored an escape against Ben Johnson (29-4, ranked No. 2 in WPIAL) with 47 seconds left to pull within 3-2, but allowed a takedown with one second left in a 5-2 loss.

“Mike's got a bad shoulder and was up against a premier kid,” Stoner said. “Dillon got too aggressive going for a pin and got caught instead of settling for the decision.

“Eric left himself open at the end. The other kid went after it and got it.”

The two teams combined to put 17 20-win wrestlers on the mat. Jesse Spohn got his 20th win of the year at 130 pounds for Butler. The junior was 1-3 last year.

“It's just experience,” Spohn said. “I'm thinking about moves a lot less this year because everything's become more natural.”

Butler (24-5) has eight 20-win wrestlers this season, and Pribis (18) and Tuck (17) are knocking on the door.

“It's helpful having such a deep lineup because we all have good workout partners in the room,” Spohn said. “You look at guys with good records on our team. The guys in the weight classes surrounding them have good records, too.”

Cody Houston at 103 pounds joined Collins, Pribis and Baxter in getting pins for the Tornado Wednesday.

Collins is 26-7 and pinned his foe in just 46 seconds at 160 pounds.

“Kudos to Dakoda because he turned momentum there,” Stoner said. “Everyone was down, shoulders were slumping on our bench and he went out there and lit it up.

“I see him being a real leader next year.”

Butler honored its 10 seniors: Lee DiMichele, Weston, Cody Hartman, Tuck, Crawford, Pribis, Rob Punchur, Baxter, Blaise Wheeler and Adam Steiner before the match.

Baxter is 148-14 while Crawford is 114-29 in their respective careers. Tuck is 97-48.

<B>Franklin Regional 31, Butler 31(match started at 215 pounds)103</B> <B>pounds:</B> Cody Houston (B) pinned Adam Shorthouse, 2:48; <B>112: </B>Blake Caudill (B) dec. Connor Medlang, 8-0; <B>119: </B>Tyler Smith (FR) dec. Nick Sutton, 11-2; <B>125: </B>Nico Megaludis (FR) tech. fall (23-8) over Zach Reges, 5:49; <B>130: </B>Jesse Spohn (B) dec. Evan Thompson, 7-0; <B>135: </B>Trevor Medlang (FR) dec. Zach Collins, 13-4; <B>140: </B>Chris Little (FR) dec. Dillon Weston, 8-5; <B>145: </B>Kevin Wilhelm (FR) dec. Eric Tuck, 7-5 in OT; <B>152: </B>Ben Johnson (FR) dec. Mike Crawford, 5-2; <B>160: </B>Dakoda Collins (B) pinned Anthony Petrarca, :46; <B>171: </B>Matt Pribis (B) pinned Jon Farbarik, 1:46; <B>189: </B>Cole Baxter (B) pinned Adam Lis, 1:12; <B>215: </B>Josh Hull (FR) pinned Blaise Wheeler, 2:55; <B>285: </B>Luke Fleck (FR) dec. Tim Fulks, 4-0.<B></B>