Quaker Valley wrestling finishes third in WPIAL Class 2A team championships
PETERS TWP. – The disappointing news Saturday for the Quaker Valley High School wrestling team was that its hopes of winning a WPIAL title were snuffed out.
In the semifinals of the Class 2A team championships, the No. 3 seeded Quakers were eliminated, 44-17, by No. 2 seed Burrell, arguably the greatest 2A program in WPIAL history.
But that disappointment didn’t last long.
In the consolation round, QV rebounded nicely by beating No. 5 seed Mount Pleasant, 42-28.
“First match, pretty disappointing,” said Jack Kazalas, Quaker Valley’s standout 133-pounder. “We got blown out. We wrestled pretty flat.
“But we bounced back and wrestled better (against Mount Pleasant). We weren't scared and came out there and wrestled well.”
Saturday’s results at Peters Township’s AHN Arena means that Quaker Valley, which didn’t field a varsity team until 2016, remains one of the WPIAL’s best 2A wrestling programs in recent years.
After winning their sixth straight section title, they finished third among the WPIAL’s 43 Class 2A programs.
And for the fourth time in the last five years, they've qualified for the PIAA Team Championships. They wrestle Monday in a preliminary round match against the District 6 runner-up.
“It’s been a pretty good season so far,” Kazalas said of QV’s body of work as a team. “It’s kind of disappointing to lose in the semis. Our goal was to be in the finals again. But now it's time to focus on Monday. I believe we will be focused. We want to go to Hershey.”
Winners of Monday’s four preliminary-round matches throughout the state advance to the PIAA finals which will be held on Thursday, Friday and next Saturday at the Giant Center.
“I’m just extremely thankful and blessed that our team was able to compete and put ourselves in an opportunity to be here today,” QV coach Austin Heinl said moments after the win over Mount Pleasant. “To be in the top four (in Class 2A) in one of the best wrestling areas in the country is pretty good.”
In its semifinal match, QV faced a familiar foe. The Quakers and Bucs have met in each of the past six seasons in the WPIAL team tournament.
When the Quakers won their first and only WPIAL title in 2022, they upset Burrell and ended the Bucs’ streak of 15 straight WPIAL titles.
Last year in the semifinals, Burrell beat QV.
The Quakers are now 1-5 vs. Burrell in the WPIAL team tourney.
Saturday, QV won six of the 13 matches against Burrell. But most of QV’s wins were by decision. Meanwhile, the Bucs were able to win by 27 points because it racked up four wins via pin and one my default. That’s 30 points of their 44-point total.
After beating Quaker Valley, Burrell then defeated top-seeded Burgettstown, 41-20, in the final. The Bucs have now won 19 WPIAL titles. Only Canon-McMillan (22) and Waynesburg Central (21) have won more.
“They’re a very tough team,” Heinl said of Burrell. “They have a lot of wrestling history. We're still trying to develop our own history.”
In QV’s win over Mount Pleasant, nearly half of the matches weren’t even wrestled. There were six forfeits. In the seven matches that were wrestled, the Vikings won four of them. But the Quakers got 24 points on four MP forfeits and 12 more points on pins by Kazalas and 215-pounder Aris Haniotes.
“I don’t know why (Mount Pleasant) had all those forfeits, but I feel we would have won those (matches) anyway,” Kazalas said.
Kazalas, last year’s WPIAL 2-A champ at 121 pounds, is now 33-2 on the season. He won twice on Saturday, first by major decision against Burrell and then by pinning his Mount Pleasant opponent.
Other QV wrestlers who won both of their matches Saturday were Bruce Anderchak (114), Matthew Danna (145, 139) and Marcus Richey (160, 172).
Kazalas will try to win another gold medal at the WPIAL Individual Championships Feb. 23-24 at Chartiers Valley High School.
But first, Kazalas and his QV teammates hope to finish strong in the PIAA team tournament.
“Our goal now is to get to Hershey,” Heinl said.
SEMIFINALS vs. BURRELL
Burrell 44, Quaker Valley 17107: Cameron Baker (QV) won by forfeit114: Bruce Anderchak (QV) decisioned Carter Thomas (B), 4-1121: Luca Rosa (B) technical fall over Isaac Maccaglia (QV), 17-2127: Julian Bertucci (B) pinned Eoin Parnell (QV), 0:26133: Jack Kazalas (QV) major decision over Jacob Stewart (B), 13-4139: Cooper Hornack (B) pinned Wyatt Hamm (QV), 0:34 145: Matthew Danna (QV) decisioned Eoin Parnell (QV), 0:25152: Jack Diemert (QV) decisioned Ben Catullo (B), 4-2160: Marcus Richey (QV) major decision over (B), 13-2 172: Nico Zanella (B) default over Trey Dunlap (QV), 6-0 at 0:54189: Isaac Lacinski (B) pinned Kris Brown (QV), 1:14215: Luke Boylan (B) pinned Aris Haniotes (QV), 4:43285: Ayden Kun (B) decisioned Chase Kretzler (QV), 4-2.
CONSOLATIONS vs. MOUNT PLEASANT
Quaker Valley 42, Mount Pleasant 28107: Bruce Anderchak (QV) won by forfeit.114: Isaac Maccaglia (QV) won by forfeit.121: Grant Castaldo (QV) won by forfeit.127: Tristan Wtorkiewicz (MP) major decision over Eoin Parnell (QV), 15-6133: Jack Kazalas (QV) pinned Duncan Blose (MP), 2:49139: Matthew Danna (QV) decisioned Joseph Longhi (MP), 8-6145: Jamison Poklembo (MP) won by forfeit.152: Greg Shaulis (MP) pinned Jack Diemert (QV), 1:44160: Stephen Predjana (MP) won by forfeit.172: Marcus Richey (QV) decisioned Ty Hornick (MP), 8-2189: Kris Brown (QV) won by forfeit.215: Aris Haniotes (QV) pinned Matthew Mazowiecki (MP), 0:42285: Dylan Pitzer (MP) pinned Chase Kretzler (QV), 0:59
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Quaker Valley wrestling finishes third in WPIAL Class 2A team championships
