JACKSON TWP — Pin or be pinned.

That was the theme of Seneca Valley’s 53-27 dual match wrestling victory over Knoch Monday night in the Raiders’ gym.

Seven of the nine contested matches ended in pin-fall, many of them early. One of the other two matches was SV’s Austin Leon’s 18-3 technical fall victory over Charlie Cook.

“I’ve always had an aggressive style,” Leon, a senior with 87 career wins, said. “I think most of our team wrestles that way.”

The most competitive match of the night was at 145 pounds, where Knoch freshman Eric Green nipped Gavin Funovits, 1-0. Green was awarded a stalling point with 1:05 left in the third period.

“We were missing three starters tonight, so our attitude entering this match was to just go for it,” Knoch coach Steve Carney said. “When you do that, sometimes you get caught.

“Our guys are wrestling hard. Even in Charlie’s match ... He was almost pinned a couple of times by a tough opponent, yet he got off his back twice. Nobody’s quitting on a match.”

Knoch forfeited four matches. The Knights’ 120, 126 and 170-pound wrestlers were absent as the team is fighting the flu bug.

Scoring pins for the Raiders (5-3) were Alex Lynch at 113 pounds, Alex Fischer at 132, Brad Hensler at 195 and Dante Santelli at 285. Lynch improved to 13-0 on the year.

Lynch and Fischer secured their pins in the first period.

“We’ve got a couple of guys out with the flu ourselves,” SV coach Kevin Wildrick said. “It must be a Butler County thing.

“You never go into any match expecting your guy to get pinned. Even when you’re over-matched, you don’t want to give up bonus points. That can be the difference between winning or losing a dual.”

Knoch (4-3) received pins from Max Freyermuth at 138 pounds, Matt Steinmiller at 160 and Bailey Savage at 220. Savage had the night’s quickest pin, in 37 seconds.

“Bailey and Brandon Yobst are strong kids who have been getting a lot of quick pins like that,” Carney said. “We’ve got some good anchors on this team.”

Savage is 9-2 on the year. Yobst — who won by forfeit — and Freyermuth are 10-3 while Steinmiller is 8-2.

For SV, Ben Lynch, like twin brother Alex, is 13-0 on the season. Louis Newell is 12-1 at 106, Ty Gross 10-3 at 126. Leon is 11-2 on the year.

“My goal is to get over 100 wins and finish among the top eight at states,” Leon said. He won two WPIAL Tournament matches last year.

“Austin is good on his feet and takes control of his matches,” Wildrick said. “We’ve got some good kids. The potential is there, but we have work to do.”

Seneca Valley 53, Knoch 27

(Match started at 120 pounds)

106-Louis Newell (SV) by forfeit; 113-Alex Lynch (SV) pinned William Hockenberry, 1:16; 120-Ben Lynch (SV) by forfeit; 126-Ty Gross (SV) by forfeit; 132-Alex Fischer (SV) pinned Noah Kison, 1:02; 138-Max Freyermuth (K) pinned Tyler Smith, 3:23; 145-Eric Green (K) dec. Gavin Funovits, 1-0; 152-Brandon Yobst (K) by forfeit; 160-Matt Steinmiller (K) pinned Zac Cowell, 1:20; 170-Dustin Moniot (SV) by forfeit; 182-Austin Leon (SV) tech fall (18-3) over Charlie Cook, 4:46; 195-Brad Hensler (SV) pinned Dalton Ashton, 4:31; 220-Bailey Savage (K) pinned Lucas Chieppor, :37; Hwt.-Dante Santelli (SV) pinned Jacob Becker, 2:21