BUTLER TWP — When Scott Stoner says he has one of the most balanced lineups he’s ever had, everyone’s ears should perk up.

After all, Stoner is entering his 30th season at the helm of the Butler wrestling program and sports a 412-185 career record in dual matches, including 19-4 last year.

“We should be a pretty good dual match team this year, too,” Stoner said. “We bring back a lot of guys and there’s versatility in our lineup. We can move people around.”

The Golden Tornado began the season on a positive note, repeating as overall champion at the 34-team Chartiers Houston tournament. Santino Sloboda, a freshman at 107 pounds, won all five of his matches at that event as Butler’s lone individual champion.

Sloboda joins a veteran lineup that features eight returning 20-plus win wrestlers, including a pair who won more than 30 matches a year ago.

“Santino has an uncanny knack at figuring out his opponent and winning matches,” Stoner said. “Sometimes it looks like he’s going against the book, how I want our kids to wrestle, but it works out for him.

“He’s one of those kids who thinks on his feet during a match. I have to let him do his own thing in that regard.”

Other top returners for Butler are seniors Landon Christie (22-11) at 215 pounds, Levi Donnel (33-5) at 160, Mickey Kreinbucher (32-11) at 189 and Matthew Zinkhann (27-14) at 172, juniors Ana Malovich (23-12) at 114 and Kelley Schaukowitsch (22-14) at 127, and sophomore Kase Chopp (24-13) at 139.

“Ethan Babay is off to a 7-2 start at heavyweight for us and could have a big year,” Stoner said. “We’re in some tougher tournaments this year. Our kids will be challenged by the competition and we’re excited about this season.”

Seneca Valley

The Raiders graduated a number of top-tier wrestlers over the past two years, but return a pair of stalwarts in senior Tyler Chappell and junior Connor Smith.

Seneca Valley opened the season at the Hampton Dawg Duals, where Chappell won all five of his matches, including his 100th career victory. He has 104 win now. Smith finished 4-1 at the Hampton event.

“Those two guys are our leaders in the room,” SV coach Kevin Wildrick said. “But we have other guys who have benefited from going up against state-caliber wrestlers in practice every day over the past couple of years.”

Zach Hill, a freshman, is off to a 5-0 start at 133 pounds. Two other freshmen, Corey Wolfe at 160 and Thomas Wuycheck at 215, are off to 4-1 and 3-2 starts, respectively.

“We’ve got some inexperienced guys in the lineup, but there is talent there, for sure,” Wildrick said.

Knoch

JB Orris takes over at Knoch after serving as an assistant coach at Highlands. He replaces Bob Waldron as head coach.

“My family moved into the Knoch school district, saw the job was open, and here I am,” Orris said.

The Knights have one senior, Matt Frank at 121 pounds, who Orris described as “an excellent leader.” Frank is 2-2 in the early going.

Knoch wrestlers with three wins on the young season are sophomore Wyatt Foster at 215 pounds, freshman Owen Layhew at 160 and freshman Brayden McGowan at 127. There are four girls in the lineup, including freshnman Braylee Ireland (2-2) at 114.

“We have a number of young, first-year wrestlers and there are growing pains with that,” Orris said. “But these kids are eager to learn. Owen will be wrestling some experienced guys at 160 and that will be a challenge for him.

“The goal is always to push kids through to the WPIAL Tournament. I think we can qualify for the playoffs in our section, too. We’ll definitely get better as we go.”

Mars

Ben Rings is in his first year as head coach of the Planets, replacing Bob Jox.

Rocco Darocy is the lone senior in Mars’ lineup and is off to a 2-2 start at 139/145 pounds. Sophomore Liam Heim is 4-2 at 145/152, junior Cooper Courson 4-3 at 172, freshman Joe Zottola 3-3 at 152/160.

Adam Budzilek, a freshman heavyweight, is 3-2 on the young season.

Rings could not be reached for comment.

North Catholic

Darin Lyles returns for his fourth year coaching the Trojans. The squad has three seniors — Matthew Denniger at 127 pounds, David Schleppy at 133/139 and Rigel Weakland at 145/152 — with Denninger being the only fourth-year wrestler in the program. He was 7-11 last season.

“Wrestling is a little different here because we have no feeder system to draw kids from,” Lyles said. “Our kids learn as they go.”

The Trojans are dealing with a number of injuries in the early season. Sophomore 133-pounder Scott Huffmyer and junior Gabe Paredes reached the second day of WPIALs last year and Lyles is hopeful they can improve from there.

“We’ve got more kids involved in club wrestling now,” the coach said. “The dedication and passion are showing. We’ve got some younger kids we can build with now. We just want the program to continue to grow.”

Slippery Rock

The Rockets have a number of standouts on the mat, including senior Lexi Doerflinger at 107/114, freshman Zac Tuberville at 139/145 and senior Braiden Reich at 215/285, each getting off to 6-0 starts.

“I like to focus on the individual side of the sport,” coach Denton Zeronas said. “We want to get as many kids through districts and into regionals as we can. There are plenty on this roster capable of doing that.”

Zane McClelland, a junior at 138/145, is one of those. He’s off to a 3-0 start this season. Sophomore Klint Shamblin is 4-2 at 172. Freshman Hunter Doerflinger is 3-3 at 121/127 while senior Robert Foster is 3-3 at 160. Austin McFarland, a junior, is 2-0 at 215.

“Zane is strong enough that he can start at three weight classes,” Zeronas said. “That helps get more quality kids in the lineup. This could be a strong postseason for us. That’s what we’re gearing for.”