Grind for glory.

That's the task facing 14 Butler County competitors at the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Tournament, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Canon-McMillan High School.

The top three placers in each weight class advance to the PIAA tournament in Hershey next week.

"It blows my mind how tough this tournament is," Seneca Valley coach Tom Tomeo said. "There's a lot of disappointment at the WPIAL tournament."

Of the 28 Class AAA state finalists last year, 14 came from the WPIAL. Half of last year's PIAA champions were WPIAL wrestlers.

"The fourth-place kids from our tournament who are forced to stay home could easily place at the state tournament," Butler coach Scott Stoner said. "It's a shame, but that's the hand we're dealt.

"This is the best regional tournament in the state. It's one of the best in the nation."

Knoch coach Mark McLaughlin described the tournament as "Western Pennsylvania at its finest. You better be ready, because whether it's a pigtail or semifinal, you're in for a tough match."

The Golden Tornado have a defending WPIAL champion in undefeated and top-seeded Cole Baxter (33-0) at 171 pounds. Mike Crawford at 140 and Eric Tuck at 135 are in the tournament as section champions.

"There is more pressure on me this year, going in (to WPIALs) as a two-time section champion, undefeated, defending WPIAL champion — but I love it. I thrive on that pressure," Baxter said.

"Cole embraces the challenges of higher-level competition," Stoner said. "It's hard to find that mentality in kids today."

Crawford is seeded second in his weight class. Chris White at 215 pounds and Blake Caudill at 103 have first-round matches.

Nick Sutton at 112, Zach Reges at 119 and Matt Pribis at 160 all have pigtail matches they must win to stay in the tournament. The same can be said for Dillon Weston at 145.

Weston was eliminated by Harrison Maxwell of Pine-Richland in the section tourney, but he was invited to participate in the WPIAL meet after an injury ended Maxwell's season.

"Dillon came to practice and banged up his knee pretty bad," Stoner said. "I'm going to call him later to see if he can go, but it's not looking good. He may have to pull out after all."

Seneca Valley's WPIAL participants include Nate Cully at 145 pounds and three wrestlers in pigtail matches: Jake Perri at 103, Jason Hildum at 130 and Nick Phillips at 135.

"I'm very comfortable with the draw Nate got and our goal with him is to have him win the tournament," Tomeo said. "The other guys, we want to get some wins for.

"The reality is they've already exceeded expectations for this year. Now it's all about gaining some experience at this juncture."

Knoch's Grayson Hixon is in the WPIAL event for the fourth time and is making his final shot at reaching the PIAA meet.

"He's wrestling a boy from Canon-Mac, but I think he's prepared for him," McLaughlin said. "If Grayson goes in there and wrestles like he's capable of doing, he has a good chance to move out."

North Allegheny's Nick Rodgers, who defeated Hixon 8-6 in the section semifinals before suffering a concussion in the finals, was scratched from the WPIAL field.

"Nick is headed to Lock Haven (University) to wrestle next year and Grayson has similar Division I ability," McLaughlin said. "It'll be interesting to see what happens this weekend."

The WPIAL tournament continues at 6 p.m. Friday and 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The finals are Saturday night.