BUTLER TWP — Butler and Seneca Valley will be well represented at the PJW Junior High Wrestling State Championships this weekend.

Four Golden Tornado wrestlers — Christian Sequete at 138 pounds, Donovan Malovich at 122, Riley Burdine at 210 and Saavon Mosby at 250 — placed first or second at the Area 7 qualifier to earn state tourney berths.

The state tourney takes place Saturday and Sunday at Hempfield High School in Greensburg.

“We sent four guys to states maybe eight years ago,” Butler Junior High coach Don Geibel said. “I don't know if we've ever sent more than that.”

Butler High School coach Scott Stoner said this is the first time the state has sanctioned the junior high championships.

“It gives our junior high level wrestlers a postseason, matches against better competition which is something we can build on,” Stoner said. “Some of these kids will be wrestling varsity next year.”

Sequete (26-5, 15 pins), an eighth-grader, won his weight class at the Area 7 qualifier with an 11-8 decision in the finals.

“Christian has won a number of matches like that,” Geibel said. “Technically, he's the best wrestler on the team and he knows how to pull out wins late in matches.”

Malovich (26-7, 16 pins), Burdine (20-3, six pins) and Mosby (22-6, eight pins) all placed second in their respective weight divisions.

Malovich is a freshman who only had one year of wrestling before joining the junior high squad.

“He's good enough to be wrestling varsity, but he lost in a wrestle-off to Scotty Dietrich,” Geibel said. “Donovan is a hard-working, tough-nosed kid.”

Burdine, an eighth-grader, was originally a heavyweight but lost out to Moseby in wrestle-offs and decided to drop weight to compete at 210 pounds.

“Riley missed our first three competitions because he was still dropping weight,” Geibel said. “He's very athletic. Early in the year, he was too aggressive at times, taking too many shots.

“He was a .500 wrestler last year and has really refined his skills.”

Mosby is the lone seventh-grader to reach the state tourney. He also qualified last year as a sixth-grader.

“He's an exceptional athlete for a guy his size,” Geibel said. “Saavon has incredible quickness.”

Seneca Valley has qualified four wrestlers — eighth-graders Louis Newell at 92 pounds and Ty Gross at 112, seventh-graders Brennan Hayes at 107 pounds and Nick Montalbano at 117.

Newell won his weight division at the area qualifiers. The other three placed second.

“We've never sent this many kids before,” former SV varsity wrestling coach Joe Montalbano said. “It was always one kid here, one kid there, sometimes nobody.”

Montalbano is now running a wrestling club in the Cranberry area.

“Youth wrestling down here is picking up again,” he said.

Butler likely would have qualified a fifth wrestler, but Zack Dovenspike (17-1, 14 pins) missed the latter part of the season with a concussion.

Other Tornado junior high wrestlers with 20-win seasons this year include Sam Dietrich (20-9), Cole Friedt (22-9) and Dane Friedt (23-9). The team had 28 wrestlers and was 14-3 in dual meets this season.