Quaker Valley wrestling program continues meteoric rise
By:
Saturday, February 23, 2019 | 9:38 AM
Quaker Valley’s Geoff Magin takes on opponent John Vargo of Bentworth in the 195-pound final on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019 in WPIAL class AA individual wrestling championships.
Quaker Valley’s Patrick Cutchember is held underneath Frazier’s Thayne Lawrence in the 160-pound final Feb. 16 in the WPIAL class AA individual championships.
Quaker Valley’s John Rocco Kazalas (background) grapples his opponent Shane Kemper of Burgettstown in the 145-pound final on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019 in WPIAL class AA individual wrestling championships.
Quaker Valley’s wrestling program has made its mark three years into its existence.
The Quakers will send a school-record six wrestlers, two of whom are Class AA WPIAL champions, to the WPIAL Southwest Regionals.
Quaker Valley was the only team with at least four wrestlers in the WPIAL Class AA championship round. Burrell, Derry and McGuffey had three in the finals. The upstart program hoped for this kind of success when it was launched in late 2016.
“All credit goes to the people who envisioned wrestling at Quaker Valley,” Quaker Valley coach Mike Heinl said. “The boosters laid the foundation, and now the kids are reaping the rewards of their hard work.”
The future of the program could be brighter, according to sophomore and two-time WPIAL champion Conner Redinger.
He won the title at 106 as a freshman and 132 this season.
“It feels great taking six wrestlers to regionals,” Redinger said. “This is really good for our team. We want to make this a wrestling school. We want to build a dynasty at this school, so this feels good.”
Senior JohnRocco Kazalas, a Binghamton commit and three-year captain, knew the team could have a breakout year. He won the WPIAL title at 145.
“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I did see us improving a lot from last year,” Kazalas said. “I knew some of our new guys, especially some of our freshmen, could make it this far and even further. This isn’t a surprise to me, but it still feels really good.”
The championship pair of Kazalas and Redinger aren’t the only Quaker Valley wrestlers with their sights set on regionals and states.
Senior Geoff Magin at 195 and freshman Patrick Cutchember at 160 finished in second place at WPIALs. Freshman Justin Richey at 113 and senior Bradley Fadeley at 285 were fourth and sixth, respectively, in the tournament.
“Each one has had to overcome an obstacle from injuries to illnesses to changes in weight class, and they’ve all responded favorably to everything thrown at them,” Heinl said. “Several of them could have called it a season after the team tournament, but they wanted to keep wrestling. I’m proud of them.”
Fadeley was medically cleared to compete less than 24 hours before the tournament began. He wrestled after two weeks of being held out of team activities.
“I didn’t know what kind of wrestler we’d see in him after no practice and no conditioning,” Heinl said. “Then he goes out and does incredible. You could see how happy and relieved he was that he made it to regionals. You can’t count Bradley out.”
Each wrestler has an opportunity to qualify for the PIAA tournament. The program has had three wrestlers compete in states: Kazalas, Magin and Redinger.
“I think it’s great for our program to have so many guys with a chance to move on,” Kazalas said. “We’re taking more guys to regionals than a lot of schools except for some powerhouses. As a third-year program, this is probably unheard of, but we’ve got a great group of guys who always work hard to get better.”
Tags: Quaker Valley
More High School Wrestling
• Mt. Pleasant wrestlers score decisive win over short-handed Frazier• High school roundup for Jan. 3, 2024: Shaler stays undefeated with win in section opener
• Burrell wrestlers overcome early upset, defeat Derry
• WPIAL wrestling notebook: Dual meet season heating up
• WPIAL wrestling rankings: Week of Jan. 1, 2024
