WEXFORD — An undefeated freshman, a four-time champion and a repeat winner.

All in all, Butler and Seneca Valley enjoyed a solid day on the mats during the WPIAL AAA Northern Sectional Saturday at North Allegheny High School.

The Golden Tornado moved eight wrestlers — all finishing among the top three in their respective weight classes — on to this weekend’s WPIAL Championships at Canon McMillan High School. Seneca Valley advanced seven wrestlers, including a pair of section champions.

Mars qualified one wrestler — senior Rocco Darocy — who placed sixth at 139 points with a 14-12 record. The top six in each weight class from the Northern Sectional advance to the WPIAL tourney.

“I’m greedy. I always hope to get all of my wrestlers through,” Butler coach Scott Stoner said. “We had one kid not make weight. That was disappointing, but overall, we had a pretty good day.”

Leading the way for the Golden Tornado was 107-pound freshman Santino Sloboda (34-0). He stayed unbeaten on the year by winning by technical fall in all three of his matches Saturday. He defeated North Allegheny’s Gus Stedeford, 17-1, with 16 seconds left in the second period.

“I don’t know if I expected to do that,” Sloboda said of winning each match by technical fall. “I’m happy with the way I wrestled. Just keep working hard and get ready for the next one.“

Sloboda was one of only two wrestlers in the Northern Sectional with a perfect record, Pine-Richland sophomore Vaughn Spencer (23-0) at 189 pounds being the other.

“There’s some pressure that comes with that, I guess,” Sloboda said. “Sometimes I wonder if I’d be more motivated had I dealt with a loss early in the season, but I don’t think it affects me. Going into WPIALs undefeated is pretty cool.”

“Santino’s first opponent was overmatched and that frustrated him a little bit,” Stoner said. “He dominated two quality opponents after that and that was impressive.”

Equally as impressive were Seneca Valley junior Connor Smith and senior Tyler Chappell. Smith (25-6) won the 114-pound section title — he was a section champ last year as well — by dominating his first two foes before edging Rylen Campbell of Plum, 3-0, in the finals.

Chappell (27-5), who has 125 wins in his career, won the 127-pound title by pinning his first two opponents and scoring a 12-1 decision over Pine-Richland’s Dominic Ferraro in the title match. Chappell is a four-time section champion.

“My brother only won three (section titles),” Chappell said, smiling, referring to current Bucknell University wrestler Dylan Chappell. “He holds the pin record at Seneca, Alejandro (Herrera-Rondon) has the win record, I had to get something.

“It feels good to beat my brother out in this category.”

“It is so hard to do that,” SV coach Kevin Wildrick said of winning four section championships. “Alejandro is the only other wrestler in the history of our program with that accomplishment.”

Smith said he benefits from facing Chappell in the practice room each day.

“He’s helped me so much. I couldn’t help but get better,” Smith said.

“They not only go at each other in there, they stop and talk about technique, share what moves they use ... They are great wrestling partners and teammates,” Wildrick said.

Smith was scoreless against Campbell until scoring an escape with 19 seconds left in the second period. He added two more points in the final period while starting on top.

“It felt good to go into that last period with a lead, but I was still confident,” Smith said. “I wrestle pretty well from on top. I figured I’d score at that point.”

Three Butler wrestlers were defeated in the section finals. Kase Chopp lost an overtime decision to North Allegheny’s Nathan Monteparte at 139, Levi Donnel dropped a 4-2 decision to NA’s Adam Rohan at 160 and Mickey Kreinbucher lost by technical fall to the unbeaten Spencer at 189.

Coming back to place third for Butler were Gavin Rush at 133, Matt Zinkhann at 172, Landon Christie at 215 and Ethan Babay at 285.

Chopp’s match went to the final 30-second overtime session, where he had to ride out Monteparte for that period to win the title. Monteparte was able to break free midway through that final frame.

“Tough loss for Kase ... You have to play the game there, force him out of bounds, take a stalling warning, whatever,” Stoner said. “He just couldn’t keep him secured.”

Donnel was taken down in the first period, scored a reversal in the second, then allowed an escape late in the third. He was penalized a point after desperately leaping on Rohan’s back in the closing seconds.

“Falling behind early made it harder for Levi, but that kid wrestled a good match against him,” Stoner said. “Mickey, Ethan, those guys are having great years. Ethan’s been a good story all season.”

In his first year as a starter, Babay has 31 wins so far on the campaign.

The Raiders’ Zach Hill lost in the finals at 133 pounds. Corey Wolfe, a freshman who entered the tourney at 10-14, placed third at 160. Jack Tofanelli was fourth at 121, Thomas Wuycheck fifth at 215 and Jacob Eubanks sixth at 152.

“We got seven kids through and three of them placed higher than their seeds,” Wildrick said. “Zach was pinned by a tough kid (Pine-Richland’s Anthony Ferraro) in the finals and Corey had a solid run for a freshman at 160. I’m excited for him.”

Wolfe trailed Shaler’s Michael Ulery 4-0 early in the second period before catching him and pinning him with 36 seconds left in the second frame.

The WPIAL tourney takes place Friday and Saturday this week.

WPIAL AAA Northern Sectional

at North Allegheny

(all wrestlers qualify for WPIAL tourney)

Finals

107 pounds-Santino Sloboda (Butler) tech. fall over Gus Stedeford (North Allegheny), 3:44 (17-1); 114-Connor Smith (SV) dec. Rylen Campbell (Plum), 3-0; 121-Ryan Klingensmith (Kiski Area) dec. Sam Snyder (Plum), 9-0; 127-Tyler Chappell (Seneca Valley) dec. Dominic Ferraro (Pine-Richland), 12-1; 133-Anthony Ferraro (Pine-Richland) pinned Zach Hill (Seneca Valley), 3:35; 139-Nathan Monteparte (North Allegheny) dec. Kase Chopp (Butler), 3-2 in OT; 145-Jayson Flener (North Allegheny) dec. Charlie Campbell (Plum), 7-1; 152-Mac Miller (Pine-Richland) dec. Alexander Kaufmann (Fox Chapel), 10-1; 160-Adam Rohan (North Allegheny) dec. Levi Donnel (Butler), 4-2; 172-Antonino Walker (Plum) dec. Mark Gray (Kiski Area), 2-1; 189-Vaughn Spencer (Pine-Richland) tech. fall over Mickey Kreinbucher (Butler), 2:19 (15-0); 215-Connor Jacobs (Armstrong) dec. Aiden Buggey (North Allegheny), 3-1; 285-Joey Schneck (Pine-Richland) pinned Jack Crider (Kiski Area), 4:30

Consolation Finals

107-Owen Campbell (Plum) pinned Landon Funk (Fox Chapel), :52; 114-Casey Walker (North Allegheny) dec. Charlie Colantonio (Central Catholic), 5-2; 121-Griffen Reid (North Allegheny) dec. Jack Tofanelli (Seneca Valley), 4-0; 127-Carson Yocca (Plum) pinned Will Bentrim (North Allegheny), 3:26; 133-Gavin Rush (Butler) dec. Max Formaini (Armstrong), 3-1; 139-Carter Morvay (North Hills) dec. Peter Leventis (Central Catholic), 2-1; 145-Milo Chiu (Fox Chapel) pinned Derrick Falk (North Hills), 4:59; 152-Logan Bechtold (Kiski Area) dec. Dakoda Pisano (Plum), 12-1; 160-Corey Wolfe (Seneca Valley) pinned Michael Ulery (Shaler), 2:24; 172-Matt Zinkhann (Butler) dec. Nezumiiro Green (Central Catholic), 3-1; 189-Cooper Roscosky (Kiski Area) dec. Evan Letky (North Hills), 1-0; 215-Landon Christie (Butler) dec. Vito Barravecchio (Shaler), 8-0; 285-Ethan Babay (Butler) pinned D’Angelo Hamilton, 4:16.

Fifth-Sixth Place

107-Logan Milligan (North Hills) dec. Clayton Cramer (Kiski Area), 6-1; 114-Michael Worsen (Fox Chapel) by forfeit over Giavonie Schipani (North Hills); 121-Gavin Lugaila (Central Catholic) by forfeit over Adam Haines (Fox Chapel); 127-Carter Tunstall (Shaler) by forfeit over Aric Learn (Armstrong); 133-Trent Reese (Plum) dec. Andrew Price (Central Catholic), 8-3; 139-Jacob Cable (Shaler) dec. Rocco Darocy (Mars), 5-4; 145-Sam Jacobs (Armstrong) by forfeit over Maxwell Kimbrough (Central Catholic); 152-Kellen Buggey (North Allegheny) dec. Jacob Eubanks (Seneca Valley), 6-1; 160-Julien Sepelyak (Plum) by forfeit over Jake Lukez (Pine-Richand); 172-Joseph Geller (Fox Chapel) pinned Sebastian Lopez (North Hills), 4:44; 189-Jack Tongel (Plum) dec. Trevor Katz (Fox Chapel), 5-3; 215-Thomas Wuycheck (Seneca Valley) dec. Dante Cruz (Pine-Richland), 10-9; 285-Philip Rearick (Armstrong) dec. Lucas Palermo (North Hills), 3-2