HAMPTON TWP — Kevin Wildrick looked at North Allegheny, his alma mater, as the example when he started building the Seneca Valley wrestling program.

Long-reigning bullies of the WPIAL's Section 3, the Tigers had collected 15 titles — including 13 outright — in the past 17 seasons.

When faced with an opportunity to take down the defending champion Tigers, the Raiders showed how far they've come in the seven years since Wildrick has taken over. Seneca Valley won its first section title since 2001 by first pasting North Allegheny 52-15 in the semifinals before turning in an equally dominant 50-12 victory over Hampton in the finals Wednesday night at Hampton High School.

“The growth of the program was really nice,” said Wildrick, who also coached at North Allegheny as an assistant for several years. “It's a slight difference from the first time we wrestled them my first year at Seneca, where maybe we won one match.

“The hard work they put in, when the kids starting wrestling together, to the hard work we put in now. It's starting to pay off.”

Mars, which also competed in the section tourney, hopes to eventually follow the same track as Seneca Valley.

The Planets advanced to the section playoffs for the first time in school history, but dropped both matches against Hampton (34-31) and North Allegheny (43-21).

“I do see us working in the right direction,” Planets coach Jason Wilk said. “We have a lot of people from youth up working. It's paying dividends. It takes time. It doesn't happen overnight.”

Dividends for Seneca Valley came in the form of dominant victories. Three matches in to their dual with North Allegheny, the Raiders had a 14-0 lead.

Hampton was ahead 9-3 three bouts after Dawson Dietz collected a pin in 50 seconds. Kevin Meeder put Seneca Valley back even at heavyweight, pinning Tommy Rengers in 2:35. That kicked off a stretch of eight straight wins for the Raiders, who would lead 41-9 when the dust cleared.

Keeping the pressure on its opponents was important to Seneca Valley, especially for the members of the team who were a part of a 39-33 loss to Shaler in the section finals two years ago.

Alejandro Herrera's 56-second pin in the 106-pound bout put the Raiders ahead for good.

“It feels great to see how far we've developed to a team that barely lost in the section championship to a team that dominated the way through the team sections,” said Seneca Valley junior 126-pounder Jason Geyer, who picked up two wins.

Seneca Valley freshman Antonio Amelio was one of several Raiders to win two matches, including a pin in 3:58 against Hampton's Gage Galuska.

“It's amazing to be on a team with such great leaders,” Amelio said. “Everybody's together. It's nice to see everyone is with each other.”

That's what Wildrick wanted to witness.

The team that could barely win a single match against North Allegheny six years ago ended a 16-year drought by only allowing the Tigers to win three matches.

“I knew it would take time,” Wildrick said. “I knew it wasn't going to happen overnight. There was a coach there for 30-some years, then there were four or five coaches in the next 10 years.

“That kind of instability, you can't have that going on when you are trying to build a program.”

WPIAL Section 3-AAA Championships

Finals Seneca Valley 50, Hampton 12

(Match started at 182 pounds)

106-Alejendro Herrera (SV) pinned Cameron Rakar :54; 113-Dylan Chappell (SV) dec. Josh Campbell 6-0; 120-Louis Newll (SV) dec. Tyler Kocak 14-3; 126-Jason Geyer (SV) dec. Zach Wright 8-2; 132-Antonio Amelio (SV) pinned Gage Galuska 3:58; 138-Drew Vlasnik (SV) dec. Liam Helon 9-1; 145-Nick Montalbano (SV) by forfeit; 152-Vincent Schmitt (H) dec. Michasel Adamson 11-5; 160-Conor Hayes (SV) dec. Corey Scherer 7-2; 170-Ty Gross (SV) piuinned Styepghen Tabon :44; 182-Patrick Johnson (S) dec. Zach Boggs 3-0; 195-Justin Hart (H) dec. John Siwiak 3-1; 220-Dawson Dietz (H) pinned Nick Funovits :50; Hwt.-Kevin Meeder (SV) pinned Tommy Rengers 2:35

Semifinals Seneca Valley 52, North Allegheny 15

(Match started at 170 pounds)

106-Alejandro Herrera (SV) dec. Max Stedeford 4-0; 113-Dyklan Chappell (SV) by forfeit; 120-Louis Newkll (SV) rtech. fakll over Freddy Junko 17-2; 126-Jason Geryer (SV) dec. Jacob Downing 5-1; 132-Antonio Amelio (SV) dec. Gabe Fallo 4-2; 138-Drtew Vlasnik (SV) pinned Ian Bransetter 1:07; 145-Nick Montalbano (SV) pinned Nick Marcenelle 1:07; 152-Michael Adamson (SV) pinned Manuel Bautista 1:09; 160-Jon Hoover (NA) pinned Conor Hayes :58; 170-Ty Gross (SV) tech. fall over Jascob Smalley 16-0; 182-Patrick Johnson (SV) dec. Jimmy Turici 2-1; 195-John Siwiak (SV) by forfeit; 220-Ben Grafton (NA) dec. Nick Funovits 5-3; Hwt.-Derek Devine (NA) pinned Kevin Meeder 2:41

Hampton 34, Mars 31

(Match started at 170 pounds)

106-Cameron Rakar (H) pinned Noah Hunkele 3:16; 113-Josh Campbell (H) pinned Anthony Maiure 3:54; 120-Tyler Kocak (H) dec. Davis Luedtke 15-3; 126-No match; 132-Zach Wright (H) dec. Aidan Leshinsky 9-4; 138-Liam Helon (H) dec. Max Lamm 6-5; 145-Alex Hornfeck (M) by forfeit; 152-Mitchell McMarlin (M) dec. Vincent Schmitt 7-3; 160-Jake Richardson (M) dec. Corey Sharer 12-0; 170-Sean McElhinney (M) pinned Zach Boggs 5:12; 182-Justin Hart (H) pinned Kevin Soergel 2:30; 195-Anthony Greico (M) pinned Chad Scherer 3:38; 220-Justin Hart (H) by forfeit; Hwt.-Dawson Dietz (H) pinned Jeffrey DeSantes 5:02