BUTLER TWP — It’s a long way to feel at home, but Seth Horwat couldn’t see himself anyplace else.

Horwat, a senior at Butler High School, made a commitment to play lacrosse at the University of Detroit Mercy during the early-signing period last month.

Horwat, a 6-foot-5, 180-pound defender, had interest from several southern schools, including Mercer University in Georgia, Furman University in South Carolina and Mars Hill College and Queens University, both in North Carolina.

In the end, Detroit felt right.

“They have a really good engineering program,” said Horwat. “I just felt it was a good fit with the program and with the players.”

“Seth brings great size and fantastic athleticism to our program,” said Titans coach Matt Holtz in a press release.

Horwat has helped continue the success of the Golden Tornado’s program. He was a freshman when the team won the WPIAL Division 2 championship against Hampton in 2010 and last year’s team reached the state semifinals.

Horwat began playing lacrosse as a seventh grader, but never anticipated he would compete on the collegiate level.

“I thought I would be playing basketball until I realized I wanted to pursue lacrosse,” said Horwat, who is a member of the Tornado varsity basketball squad, but is out indefinitely with a thumb injury.

“My high school coach (Brandon Hoskinson) told me that I could play at Division I,” he added.

Holtz, the only coach the Titans have had in their four years of existence, have gone from 0-11 in their inaugural year to falling one game short of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season championship as well as the conference’s postseason final last season.

Horwat knows making the transition won’t be easy, but one he’s looking forward to making.

“They’re a lot of bigger and faster and older,” Horwat acknowledged. “Their stick skills are better, too.”

Horwat may be able to return to help the Tornado basketball team, but will most definitely be ready for the spring season.

The Tornado are making the jump to Division I with some of the bigger and more established programs.

“Our goal is to compete for a WPIAL championship,” Horwat said. “A lot of us have been playing since we were sophomores on varsity and we’re looking forward to this year.

“A lot of us are going off to college to play next season and we want to have a great year.”