'Tis the season to fight for your season.

WPIAL Class 3A wrestlers will spend this Saturday trying to advance to next weekend's WPIAL Championships. The top five placers in each weight class at the Section 3AAA tournament at Fox Chapel will move on.

Butler, Knoch, Mars and Seneca Valley will be competing there Saturday at Fox Chapel. First-round matches begin at 9:30 a.m. with the consolation and championship finals slated for approximately 4 p.m.

Seneca Valley has seven wrestlers seeded among the top two in their respective weight classes. Top seeds are Alejando Herrera-Rondon at 106 pounds, Dylan Chappell at 113 and Antonio Amelio at 145.

Herrera and Drew Vlasnik (No. 2 seed at 138) won section titles for the Raiders a year ago. Amelio, Nick Montalbano (seeded second at 152) and Jason Geyer (second at 132) placed second at the section meet a year ago.

Also seeded second for SV in this year's tourney is Patrick Johnson at 182.

“Our goal is to get 10-plus through to the WPIAL,” SV coach Kevin Wildrick said. “I feel like that's realistic for us.

“Liam (Volk-Klos) is a gritty freshman at 160 and Conor Hayes can get through at 170. We have a lot of guys who can step up and get it done.”

Herrera-Rondon is 84-9 in his career and is only a sophomore.

Butler's highest seed is Jack Codispot, No. 2 at 160 pounds. Luke Hartung is No. 3 at 195.

“This is where we're at,” Butler coach Scott Stoner said. “Seeding is based on how you do in section. Jack is our best shot at winning (a section title), but we want to get as many kids through as possible.

“Dom Vivirito is fourth-seed at 126 and I like the way he's wrestling right now. Steven Green had a bad (section) tournament last year and didn't get through. We need him to make it this year.”

The Golden Tornado have a number of wrestlers seeded fourth or fifth, the “bubble” seeds in this tournament.

“We have some deep weight classes in this section and some of our kids are going to have to fight their way through,” Stoner said. “I'm really pulling for Nate Cornibe, our heavyweight. It's his first year in wrestling. He decided to try it and he's really enjoying it. I'd love to see him get down there (to WPIALs).”

Mars has 10 wrestlers in the tourney, including No. 1 seed Jake Richardson at 160. Noah Hunkele is seeded second at 113.

“Jake's season has been awesome,” Mars coach Bob Jox said. “But he won a close match with Codispot in our dual and he may have to get past him again.”

Codispot handed third-seeded Dylan McAnulty of Indiana his lone loss this season.

“Five of our 10 kids are seeded among the top five in their weights,” Jox said. “Our goal is to push six through to WPIALs. Our goal from the start of this season has been to exceed expectations.”

Eli Wright (5-6) is seeded near the bottom at 126 pounds, but Jox considers him a sleeper.

“Eli missed a month and a half due to injury. He's seeded low because he hasn't wrestled much,” the Mars coach said. “But he's healthy now and he could go on a run. He has a lot of ability.”

Knoch also has 10 wrestlers in the tournament. Guy Deleonardis at 152 and Eli Reese at heavyweight — both seeded third — are the only two seeded among the top five in their weight classes.

“We have a young team,” Knoch coach Grayson Hixon said. “It all comes down to how well our guys wrestle that day.

“Guy will likely go to WPIALs and I like Eli's chances. Brendan Hinchberger (seeded seventh) at 160 can surprise some people. He's capable of getting there.”

WPIAL Section 3AAA

(top 5 seeds)

106 pounds: Dylan Chappell (Seneca Valley) 32-4, Dylan Coy (North Allegheny) 30-3, Matt Sewatka (North Hills) 16-3, Michael Kinzey (Armstrong) 11-9, Nick Schaukowitsch (Butler) 26-6

113: Alejandro Herrera-Rondon (Seneca Valley) 38-1, Noah Hunkele (Mars) 22-5, Bradley Stipetich (North Allegheny) 27-12, Dustin Lenker (Shaler) 9-5, Ray Worsen (Fox Chapel) 11-10

120: Ryan Sullivan (Shaler) 25-1, Kelin Laffey (Pine-Ricghland) 24-6, Josh Campbell (Hampton) 12-6, Anthony Maiure (Mars) 17-11, Clayton Dressler (Butler) 22-12

126: Zach Wright (Hampton) 26-8, Freddy Junko (North Allegheny) 29-8, Jeremy MacPherson (North Hills) 21-9, Dom Vivirito (Butler) 18-8, Robert Palmieri (Pine-Richland) 16-11

132: Sam Hillegas (North Hills) 31-0, Jason Geyer (Seneca Valley) 30-8, Max Stedeford (North Allegheny) 17-8, Nate McMaster (Butler) 24-10, Christian Scheller (Mars) 22-9

138: Nathan Lukez (Pine-Richland) 29-4, Drew Vlasnik (Seneca Valley) 27-8, Ian Scarberry (Shaler) 25-6, Ian Branstetter (North Allegheny) 28-14), Noah Cooper (Armstrong) 12-9

145: Antonio Amelio (Seneca Valley) 23-13, Tyler Kocak (Hampton) 27-9, Avery Bursick (Fox Chapel) 27-8, Steven Green (Butler) 25-7, Derek Grafton (Armstrong) 11-8

152: Cole Spencer (Pine-Richland) 26-5, Nick Montalbano (Seneca Valley) 23-9, Guy Deleonardis (Knoch) 21-5, Liam Helon (Hampton) 16-14, Brody Kunselman (Indiana) 11-10

160: Jake Richardson (Mars) 21-2, Jack Codispot (Butler) 27-5, Dylan McAnulty (Indiana) 18-1, Alex Wecht (Fox Chapel) 17-11, Bobby Snyder (North Allegheny) 16-6

170: Jon Hoover (North Allegheny) 33-1, AJ Ryan (Indiana) 29-2, Sean McElhinny (Mars) 22-9, Cooper Baxter (Butler) 25-7, Joshua Shaner (Armstrong) 15-8

182: David McElravy (Indiana) 26-3, Patrick Johnson (Seneca Valley) 18-9, Corey Scherer (Hampton) 16-14, Sean Mahon (Fox Chapel) 20-15, Jake Pomykata (Butler) 13-8

195: Justin Hart (Hampton) 23-3, Logan Harmon (Armstrong) 18-3, Caleb Hartung (Butler) 20-11, Zach Shaver (Pine-Richland) 14-8, James Patterson (Fox Chapel) 13-12

220: Ogden Atwood (Armstrong) 20-0, Ben Grafton (North Allegheny) 23-8, Ed Farrell (Fox Chapel) 26-7, Shawndell Zapata (Butler) 15-7, Damon Thompson (North Hills) 20-6

285: Joshua Strobel (Armstrong) 16-5, Michael Jackson (Pine-Richland) 18-7, Eli Reese (Knoch) 15-9, Tanner Smith (Indiana) 13-15), Nate Cornibe (Butler) 7-10