FOXCHAPEL — The stars were aligned for Zack Eckstrom during the WPIALSection 3-AAA Wrestling Championships.

The Seneca Valley heavyweight entered the tournament with a 6-8 record and emerged as Butler County's lone section champion Saturday night at Fox Chapel High School.

Eckstrom began the competition by scoring a 4-2 decision over Butler's Mark Moses, then edged top-seeded Kevin Gray of Shaler, 5-4, in the semifinals.

He then pinned third-seeded Adam Harvey of Avonworth in 2:50 to win the section title.

"Everything just worked out for him,"Seneca Valley coach Lee Mullett said of Eckstrom. "He won our wrestle-off to get here, then guys got pulled out of the heavyweight division because of injury, other guys got moved around.

"Zack wound up getting a fourth-seed and took out the top-seeded kid to clear his own path."

Eckstrom divided varsity time this season with heavyweight teammate Ian Whittaker before defeating him in wrestle-offs. The Raider junior was 7-3 as a junior varsity wrestler last year, behind then-senior Phil Mignanelli.

Eckstrom trailed the title match 2-1 at the time of his pin.

"I just did a barrel roll and got on top of him,"Eckstrom said of the pin. "I felt like I could do well here. I'm excited about the WPIALmeet because I feel like I'm putting things together now."

Five other area wrestlers — four from Seneca Valley — reached the section finals, only to suffer defeat against stellar competition.

The Raiders' Grant Evans was pinned by North Allegheny's Steve Sabreen at 112 pounds, Nate Cully dropped a 13-1 decision to NA's Andy Candiello at 125, Pat Coyne lost a 13-4 decision to Shaler's Nick Nelson at 145 and Ryan Scheller was pinned by Shaler's Eric Fulmer at 189.

Sabreen became a three-time section champion, Candiello was a Junior Olympic state runner-up last summer, Nelson is a four-time section champion with a 158-14 career record and Fulmer won his 100th career match Saturday afternoon.

"Our kids were pretty much overmatched there, but they did what they had to do to move on,"Mullett said.

Butler's Josh Pascazi reached the section finals at 152 pounds, but was pinned by Fox Chapel's Brian Letters in 1:04 of the championship msatch.

Pascazi is 28-5 on the season. Letters is 145-15 in his career and became a four-time section champion.

"Josh reached the section finals last year and the kid who beat him (Adam Harold of North Hills) bumped up in weight,"Butler coach Scott Stoner said. "Fox Chapel moves into our section and he has to face Letters.

"He (Letters) has a dinged-up knee and we thought we may be able to take advantage of that, but wrestlers of that caliber finish moves and that's what he did."

The Golden Tornado qualified two other wrestlers for this weekend's WPIALmeet as Alex Evanoff placed fourth at 145 pounds and Marino Quercio placed third at 215.

Quercio (19-11) pinned Jordan Popinski of Shaler in the third perioid of their xonsolation finals match while trailing 7-2 at the time.

"Marino does risky things out there and sometimes looks like he's pulling his opponent on top of him when it doesn't work,"Stoner said. "This one he was able to somersault through and used his strength to get the pin."

Seneca Valley's Dave Kovach (21-9) placed third at 160 pounds, pinning Nick Letters of Fox Chapel in the consolation finals.

Knoch's first-year program got two kids through to WPIALs. Dylan Leslie (11-7) pinned Cameron Weber of North Hills in the 103-pound consolation finals. Weber had pinned Leslie in the first round of the meet.

Grayson Hixon, a 103-pounder all year, bumped up to 112 when teammate Rob Kisiel could not wrestle because of illness. Hixon finished third in the weight class.

"I can't say enough about those two kids,"Knoch coach Mark McLaughlin said. "For Dylan to come back and pin a kid who pinned him shows his mental toughness. And Grayson proved how badly he wanted this.

"I hope the other kids in our program take a good look at these two. They're showing where hard work can get you."

Notes: The WPIALmeet runs Thursday through Saturday at Norwin High School. ... North Allegheny's Jamie Kyriazis was named Section 3 Coach of the Year. Seven Tigers won section titles — including four-time champion Rob Waltko at 171 pounds — and 10 qualified for the WPIALmeet. ... Butler's Don Geibel was named the section's Junior High Coach of the Year.

WPIALSection 3-AAA Wrestling ChampionshipsFinals; Consolation Finals(all advance to WPIALmeet)103 pounds:Nick Rodgers (North Allegheny) dec. Carson Brooks (Fox Chapel) 14-0; Dylan Leslie (Knoch) pinned Cameron Weber (North Hills) in 3:52

112:Steve Sabreen (North Allegheny) pinned Grant Evans (Seneca Valley) in 5:26; Grayson Hixon (Knoch) dec. Jon Harrington (Hampton) 8-2

119:Joe Waltko (North Allegheny)by tech. fall over Conrad Branchen (Avonworth) 15-0; Joe Johnson (Fox Chapel)dec. John Sieber (Shaler) 5-0

125: Andy Candiello (North Allegheny) dec. Nate Cully (Seneca Valley) 13-1; Sam Brehm (Pine-Richland) pinned Ben Borza (North Hills) in 4:17

130: Kevin Kyes (North Hills) dec. Dustin Fosnight (Pine-Richand)7-4; Rich Tomer (Shaler) dec. Jack Hodil (Hampton)1-0

135:Dave Cawley (North Allegheny) tech. fall over Matt Beddingfield (Pine-Richland) 15-0; Tom Caldwell (Fox Chapel) dec. Damon Clark (Hampton) 3-2

140:Alexander Martinerz (North Hills) dec. Andy Sibenac (Shaler) 4-3; Brett Landefeld (North Allegheny) dec. Justin Mahon (Fox Chapel) 8-6

145: Nick Nelson (Shaler) dec. Pat Coyne (Seneca Valley) 13-4; Bill Landefeld (North Allegheny) dec. Alex Evanoff (Butler) 8-1

152:Brian Letters (Fox Chapel) pinned Josh Pascazi (Butler) in 1:04; Bobby Charland (Pine-Richland)dec. Steve Van Atta (Hampton) 5-2

160:Karl DeCiantis (North Allegheny) dec. Adam Harold (North Hills)10-5; Dave Kovach (Seneca Valley) pinned Nick Letters (Fox Chapel) in 2:25

171:Rob Waltko (North Allegheny) pinned Aaron Barker (Fox Chapel) in 2:00; Adam Muehlbauer (North Hills) dec. Ryan Bateman (Pine-Richland) 17-8

189:Eric Fulmer (Shaler) pinned Ryan Scheller (Seneca Valley) in 1:41; Kameron Palagi (North Allegheny) dec. Thomas McElwaine (North Hills) 3-1

215: Matt Munchok (Pine-Richland) pinned Dean Smith (Fox Chapel) in 2:44; Marino Quercio (Butler) pinned Jordan Popinski (Shaler) in 4:38

HWT:Zack Eckstrom (Seneca Valley) pinned Adam Harvey (Avonworth) in 2:50; Kevin Gray (Shaler) pinned Joseph Merlino (North Hills) in 1:49