Seneca Valley wrestler Jason Geyer applies pressure to Hempfield wrestler Jared Brean at Seneca Valley High School on January 31, 2018. Geyer won the match by pin.

Seneca Valley's wrestling team will be competing in the WPIAL semifinals after all.

Several Raiders were unable to hold back tears following their quarterfinal match with Hempfield at William Paul Gymnasium Wednesday night. The teams had tied each other on the scoreboard, 31-31, but the Spartans were awarded the victory due to a number of pins/forfeits tiebreaker.

Or so it appeared.

On Thursday, Hempfield notified the WPIAL that it had inadvertently used an ineligible wrestler. Since that wrestler won his bout, the result was changed to a forfeit in favor of Seneca Valley. The Raiders have been credited with a 37-25 team win and will face Canon-McMillan in the Class AAA semifinals at noon Saturday at Trinity High School.

The following message was posted on Twitter by Hempfield Thursday afternoon:

“A terrible situation for our boys. Our coaching staff was informed by the administration, a wrestler was eligible for competition and never informed the staff that they did not know the PIAA eligibility rule. Best of luck to everyone!”

“I totally commend anyone who admits to a mistake, even though it was an inadvertent one,” said Seneca Valley athletic director Heather Lewis. “It shows a lot of leadership.”

Raiders' coach Kevin Wildrick found out at 2 p.m. Thursday that his team was still alive for a district championship.

“I let the kids know immediately after I learned of it,” he said. “We weren't planning on practicing (Thursday), figured we had some downtime coming. We moved to Plan B. We held a practice and will do so again on Friday.”

Wildrick is confident his team can make the mental turnaround — from being out of the tournament to back in the running.

“I think our guys are pretty good at keeping things in perspective and getting mentally ready to compete,” he said. “Things were pretty emotional (Wednesday night), losing on a tiebreaker. We absolutely feel we deserve to still be wrestling and are excited about competing this weekend.”

Wildrick is now focused on preparing his team for a stout Canon-McMillan squad.

“They are very tough, top to bottom,” he said. “They don't have any weak spots in their lineup.”

The SV/Canon-McMillan winner will face the survivor of Waynesburg/Kiski Area for the WPIAL title at 2 p.m. Saturday at Trinity High School.