PENN HILLS — Christian Sequette used his time away from the wrestling mat wisely.

He studied. He asked questions. He analyzed what he was doing wrong and what he could do to make it right.

When the Butler freshman finally made it back to the mat after a month layoff, he fought his way to the WPIAL Class AAA wrestling championships and faced a tough road.

The 170-pounder is still fighting, beating Jeremy Huwe of Bethel Park by a 9-1 decision at Penn Hills High School Friday night.

Sequette had lost to Huwe twice this season, the last time by a fall.

“My first two matches with that guy, I lost to him,” Sequette said. “I didn't want to lose to him a third time. I just made stupid mistakes the first two times. I learned from that.”

Sequette was one of the bright spots on a dark day for Butler County wrestlers.

All six area wrestlers who were in the quarterfinal round lost. Only three of the 11 in the consolation round survived.

Sequette had a tougher road than most to stay alive. He wrestled his way out of the pigtail round Thursday and then had to face his nemesis in Huwe.

Now, he's one of the few to come out of the pigtail round to advance to the final day of the tournament, which begins Saturday at 10 a.m.

“My mentality was I just had to be aggressive and smart,” Sequette said. “I couldn't make stupid mistakes. My mentality now is I have nothing to lose.”

Sequette lost a month of his season because of a knee injury.

Butler coach Scott Stoner said the injury set back Sequette's development.

But the coach said he was definitely a bright spot in what was otherwise a grim Friday.

“Here's the thing about Christian — he's had some junior high success and he's had a lot of hardship in his life that he's had to deal with,” Stoner said. “He came in in the beginning of the year and you could see he was very much a greenhorn. Then he dinged his knee and, when that happens, you break up any kind of progression. Just recently, he's started to pick it up.”

Sequette will face Hampton senior Brandon Olszewski Saturday morning.

For the six wrestlers in the quarterfinals, it was very much a black Friday, especially for a trio from Seneca Valley.

Louis Newell (106) lost by a pin, Alex Lynch (113) lost a tough 4-2 decision and Austin Leon (170) was bested 9-2.

The Leon loss stung particularly hard for Seneca Valley wrestling coach Kevin Wildrick.

“He got beat on some scramble situations,” Wildwick said of Leon. “We were doing some good things, but he got beat on some scrambles in funky situations.”

The other area wrestlers who lost in the quarterfinals were Noah Wright (152) of Mars, who was beaten by technical fall, Jeremiah Bortmas (160) of Butler, who suffered a 9-4 loss, and Cranberry Township native Tony Palumbo (160) of Central Catholic, who fell 3-2 in ultimate tiebreak to Nate Hall of West Allegheny.

Those six quarterfinal losers join Sequette, Alex Hornfeck (106) of Mars and Ben Lynch (120) of Seneca Valley in the consolation bracket.

All nine will still have a chance to a advance to the state tournament.

The top four advance.

To get there, they will have to win three matches Saturday.

“It's a long road,” Wildrick said. “But it's not an impossible road.”

Quarterfinals106-Caleb Morris (Waynesburg) pinned Louis Newell (Seneca Valley), 1:44113-Mike Kalosky (Trinity) dec. Alex Lynch (Seneca Valley), 4-2152-Vincenzo Joseph (Central Catholic) tech. fall, 19-3160-Paul Dunn (Bethel Park) dec. Jeremiah Bortmas (Butler), 9-4; Nate Hall (West Allegheny) dec. Tony Palumbo, 3-2 (OT)170-Brooks Wilding (Upper St. Clair) dec. Austin Leon (Seneca Valley), 9-2First-round consolation106-Alex Hornfeck (Mars) dec. Anthony Rosati (Hopewell), 4-0120-Ben Lynch (Seneca Valley) dec. Korey Patterson (Bethel Park), 4-2 (OT)126-Darius Corbin (North Hills) dec. Scott Dietrich (B), 4-2 (OT)132-Braden Flinn (Thomas Jefferson) dec. Alex Fischer (Seneca Valley), 5-3138-Keagan Lawson (North Hills) maj. dec. Silas Bender (Mars), 15-5145-Sean Kalmeyer (North Allegheny) dec. Donovan Malovich (Butler), 6-2160-Marco Marinelli (Thomas Jefferson) pinned Matt Steinmiller (Knoch), 4:07170-Christian Sequette (Butler) dec. Jeremy Huwe (Bethel Park), 9-1195-Josh Aippersbach (Hampton) dec. Justin Johnson (Butler), 5-2220-Stephon Peake (Hopewell) pinned Bailey Savage (Knoch), 3:24