CANONSBURG — Cole Baxter was ready to wrestle, but his opponent wasn't.

Baxter never got a chance to take part in his WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal match against Belle Vernon's Adam Nickelson Friday as Baxter picked up the win by injury default in the 171-pound division.

Baxter was the lone Butler County wrestler to advance to Saturday's semifinals while six others will try to work their way back through the consolation rounds.

“I talked to (Belle Vernon coach Jack Jolley) earlier and he was going to save him for the consolation rounds,” said Butler coach Scott Stoner. “(Nickelson) had a bad shoulder and didn't want it to get worse going against Cole.”

The day off is nice, but Baxter (40-1) wouldn't have minded the work.

“I feel like I'm in top gear going in,” said Baxter, who is trying to capture his second WPIAL title in three years. “The extra time off won't affect me.

“But you never know what might happen out there. You could get beat or get hurt,” he added.

Speaking of injury, Butler's Mike Crawford, who has two bad shoulders, injured his knee in the 145-pound quarterfinal bout against Greensburg Salem's Zach Voytek.

Voytek scored a takedown with 1:27 left in the first period before an injury timeout. Crawford did return, but with 12 second left in the period he reinjured the knee and defaulted to Voytek.

It seems unlikely Crawford will return to the tournament.

“It's definitely an MCL sprain and possibly a torn meniscus,” Stoner said. “It's a shame. ... I don't think it's sunk in yet. That's one of the best kids we've ever had.”

The Tornado's Blake Caudill (112) and Dakoda Collins (135) also wrestled in the quarterfinals, but neither reached the semifinals.

Caudill lost by a 13-0 major decision to Franklin Regional's Tyler Smith while Collins fell in a 3-2 decision to Aaron McKinney of West Allegheny.

“Blake got beat up” said Stoner. He didn't wrestle well and (Smith) had dropped down from 119. Smith did what I'd like to see our kids do: come out hard.

“Blake's a good wrestler and I don't doubt he won't come back and battle.”

As for Collins (31-9), the junior allowed an escape and takedown in the second period to fall behind 3-0 before earning a pair of third-period escapes, the latter with 10 seconds left.

Now, Caudill and Collins must win four bouts to capture the third and final PIAA berth.

Three other Butler County wrestlers kept their hopes alive by winning their first-round consolation matches, which allowed them to advance Saturday's final day.

Seneca Valley's Aaron Schettler (125) earned a 2-0 decision over Albert Gallatin's Schuyler Moncheck while Butler's Jesse Spohn (130) registered a 12-0 major decision against Elizabeth Forward's John Lukart and the Tornado's Zach Collins (135) decisioned Mount Lebanon's Adam Kemerer, 3-2.

Butler's Cody Houston (103), Nick Sutton (119), Zach Reges (125) and Matt Pribis (160), Seneca Valley's Nick Zoria (103) and Mars' Ronnie Dakan (171) each lost their first-round consolations and were eliminated.

In the Planets' first appearance at the Class AAA meet, only Dakan was able to wrestle Friday and lost to Moon's Ben Barcaskey 3-2 after Barcaskey recorded a takedown in the final seconds of overtime.

“I'm disappointed and hurting for him.” said Mars coach Don Cooley. “For our program, we had good team leaders. Our first year and we had six qualifiers. For some it's not a lot, but you have to crawl before you can walk.”

<b>Quarterfinals</b>112: Tyler Smith (Franklin Regional) major dec. over Blake Caudill (Butler), 13-0145: Zach Voytek (Greensburg Salem) injury default over Mike Crawford (Butler), 1:48152: Aaron McKinney (West Allegheny) dec. Dakoda Collins (Butler), 3-2171: Cole Baxter (Butler) injury default over Adam Nickelson (Belle Vernon)<b>First-Round Consolations</b>103: Anton Martinez (North Hills) major dec. over Nick Zoria (Seneca Valley), 11-2; Jared Rice (Fox Chapel) dec. Cody Houston (Butler), 4-2119: Tyler Walker (North Hills) major dec. over Nick Sutton (Butler), 9-1125: Aaron Schettler (Seneca Valley) dec. Schuyler Moncheck (Alber Gallatin), 2-0125: Tyler Heydorn (Latrobe) dec. Zach Reges (Butler), 3-2130: Jesse Spohn (Butler) major dec. over John Lukart (Elizabeth-Forward), 12-0135: Zach Collins (Butler) dec. Adam Kemerer (Mount Lebanon), 3-2160: Mitch Posel (West Allegheny) dec. Matt Pribis (Butler), 4-2 (OT)171: Ben Barcaskey (Moon) dec. Ronnie Dakan (Mars), 6-4 (OT)