PENN HILLS — Seneca Valley's Louis Newell entered the WPIAL Southwestern AAA Regional riding on a season-long momentum.

That momentum continued as Newell, who is now 34-4 on the season, advanced to the semifinals with two pins Friday at Penn Hills High School.

Newell said he hadn't anticipated pinning his opponents in the earlier rounds, but he was confident heading into the tournament.

“I knew I could make it to the semis,” he said. “I think I could definitely place top four.”

Newell said he was more hesitant about his quarterfinal match, but felt better after opportunistic scoring gave him the lead. Once on top, an arm bar sealed his place in the semifinal.

“I kept cool and kept doing what I had to do to win,” Newell said. “As soon as I had him on his back, I knew it was a tight (arm) bar, and it was gonna be the end of the match.”

Newell is the only Butler County wrestler to advance to the semifinals for a chance at a WPIAL title.

Four Seneca Valley wrestlers have dropped into the consolation bracket to fight for a third- or fourth-place finish, which would qualify them for the PIAA tournament.

Butler had a rough night.

All of Golden Tornado contending wrestlers will begin Saturday in the consolation bracket.

“There's not much to write about,” said Butler coach Scott Stoner. “You can't survive at this point without aggression and confidence.”

Stoner said he saw a lack of intensity in almost every match in the later round in which Butler's Scott Dietrich (24-9) at 139 pounds, Caleb Baxter (29-7) at 152, Christian Sequete at 170 (34-6) and Justin Johnson (27-9) at 182, lost their quarterfinal bouts.

Both Dietrich and Baxter ended their quarterfinal matches without scoring any points.

Stoner said Baxter performed at a high level during his first match, which he won by fall in 49 seconds. Stoner said Baxter's aggression disappeared in the second match, and he failed to take advantage of opportunities to quicken the match's pace.

Sequete also struggled after a quick takedown by his opponent, Matt McGillick of Penn Trafford High School. McGillick controlled the match and was winning 11-3 before Sequete was unable to continue because of a knee injury.

Stoner said a trainer checked Sequete's knee and said it may be a torn meniscus, but nothing is certain. He said he will have to see how Sequete is feeling in the morning before allowing him to wrestle, but Sequete's return to the tournament seems unlikely.

“I'd be surprised if we wrestled him tomorrow,” Stoner said.

Including Sequete, Butler has five wrestlers competing in the consolation rounds Saturday.

Knoch's only wrestler at the tournament, Brandon Yobst at 152 pounds, advanced through the preliminary round with a fall over Danny Clements of West Allegheny High School but was eliminated after losing two straight matches.

Mars will continue Saturday with two wrestlers. Alex Hornfeck (29-4) at 113 pounds, who lost his quarter final bout, and Noah Wright (29-6) at 160 will begin tomorrow in the second consolation round.

Wrestling was schedule to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday with the second consolation round.