BUTLER TWP — Nobody saw this coming.

Graduating 23 seniors from last year, the Butler High School rifle team took plenty of inexperienced shooters into this season.

“This figured to be a rebuilding year,” assistant coach Matt Hutchinson admitted. “Those 23 seniors were half of our team. We went from having 46 shooters to about 34.”

But their performance this season has been good enough.

The Golden Tornado wound up 6-2 in their section, good enough for second place behind Hempfield. That qualified the team for the WPIAL Tournament.

“We were not expecting this,” 14th-year head coach Eric Beveridge said. “This was a surprise ... a very pleasant surprise.”

Butler has not won the WPIAL rifle championship since 1990 and finished fifth last year. It came within a whisker of ending that drought in stunning fashion this year.

“The other teams couldn’t believe how well we were shooting,” Hutchinson said of the WPIAL tourney. “That was the best we’ve shot all year.”

Seven Butler shooters — freshman Cameron Tack, junior Brendan LeFevre, sophomore Tiffany Carlson, junior Matthew Corlew, freshman Luke McEachin, junior Luke Montag and sophomore Chase Runyan — shot over 100 as the Tornado finished third overall.

That third-place finish landed Butler in the state competition today at the Frazier-Simplex Rifle Club in Washington, Pa. — and it could have been better.

Woodland Hills won the WPIAL title with an 800-59x. Hempfield was second with an 800-57x. Both teams were unbeaten in section competition this year.

Butler was third with a 799-65x.

“We had more x’s than the other two. One more point would have won it for us,” Hutchinson said.

“It’s been a tricky year with such a young team. You have to create a lineup and go with it. It’s hard naming a top 10.”

Rounding out the Tornado’s top 10 at the WPIAL meet were Jason Hansotte, Hailie McCandless and Jacob Huffman.

LeFevre finished second in WPIAL individual competition — trailing only Trinity’s Jessica Baker — among 81 shooters. The top 15 advance to the individual state tournament.

The state tourney features 45 individual shooters — 15 each from the West, Central and East portions of Pennsylvania — and 12 teams, four each from those three zones.

Butler finished third in the state in 2008. The Tornado have had individuals place among the top five statewide.

“Brendan will do well,” Beveridge said of the individual competition. “It gets a little more stressful now because the circumstances are different.

“We won’t know the final results for about a week, when everything is tabulated.”

The complete state rifle event is not held at the same venue. Eastern teams compete at an eastern site, Central teams travel to the east or west, and scores get mailed in.

“The way our kids peaked this year was perfect timing,” Beveridge said. “We’re excited already about next year. We’re ready to go.”