PENN HILLS — Staying aggressive earned Louis Newell a 35-4 record entering Saturday’s 106-pound title bout at the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championships at Penn Hills High School.

It also played a key role in him winning Seneca Valley’s first district crown in 15 years.

The Raiders’ sophomore defeated top-seeded Job Chishko of Penn-Trafford, 6-4, to become the first SV wrestler to win a WPIAL title since Shawn Cully did it in 2001.

“He continued to climb this season and peaked at the right time,” said SV coach Kevin Wildrick of Newell.

Chishko gained the upper hand early with a takedown one minute and 21 seconds into the bout. But by the end of the first period, Newell had answered with an escape and a takedown of his own to take a 3-2 lead.

“Opening the match by getting taken down, I was impressed with Louis’ composure and his ability to stay the course,” said Wildrick. “We wanted him to get after it.”

“I had never wrestled him (Chishko) before, but my coaches and I talked before the match,” said Newell. “He has a longer reach than me and that was something I had to watch out for.”

A pair of Chishko escapes in the second period were sandwiched around another takedown for Newell, who entered the third period with a 5-4 lead.

Newell chose the bottom to start the final period and scored an escape with 1:51 left to push his lead to 6-4. It was his effort from that point on that had as much to do with Newell’s win as anything else as Chishko was unable to score again.

It was only the second loss of the season for Chishko in 32 bouts.

“Louis did a great job of maintaining his offense,” said Wildrick. “He didn’t go just on the defensive and keep his hands down. He was close to scoring another takedown (with a minute left).”

“I started wrestling when I was in the second grade,” said Newell. “Over the years, I became more aggressive and more confident. In that third period, I just stuck to the game plan.”

Newell’s offensive style also helped him in the semifinals, where he had a takedown of Belle Vernon’s Jacob Dunlop in the first period of a 6-2 victory.

Newell placed third at WPIALs last year as a freshman. But on Saturday, he stood atop the medal stand as a district champion.

“I was very happy and excited,” he said.

Newell will now turn his attention to the PIAA Championships, which begin Thursday in Hershey. He earned a medal by placing eighth there a year ago and believes that experience will help him this time.

“I’m definitely more confident going in this year. I know what to expect and won’t be as nervous,” he said. “I hope to finish in the top four.”

Note: In Class AAA, the top four WPIAL finishers in each weight class qualify for the state competition. Several Butler County wrestlers missed out by losing their second bout of the tournament prior to the consolation final. They included Butler’s Scott Dietrich, Caleb Baxter, Christian Sequete (injury forfeit) and Justin Johnson; Seneca Valley’s Ben Lynch, Alex Lynch and Ty Gross; Mars’ Alex Hornfeck and Noah Wright.