Quaker Valley sees pair of wrestlers hit 100-win milestone

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, March 19, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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It doesn’t often happen that a high school wrestling team has two 100-win grapplers in one season.

Quaker Valley is not your average wrestling program.

Two QV grapplers racked up their 100th career wins this season, giving the Quakers six wrestlers to reach the century mark in the seven seasons the program has existed.

Logan Richey, a 145-pound senior, reached 100 career wins Feb. 1 at the WPIAL Class 2A team tournament by pinning Jefferson-Morgan’s Grant Hathaway at the 3:35 mark.

“Logan achieving 100 wins is just a result of his work ethic and drive starting back when he was a freshman,” QV coach Austin Heinl said. “The Richey family has been a solid rock for the Quaker Valley program. We have been able to lean on their support and also on the talent of Justin, Logan and Marcus.”

Richey posted records of 21-11 at 106 as a freshman, 19-10 at 113 as a sophomore, 38-14 at 120 as a junior and 34-15 in 2022-23 — following his second appearance in the PIAA Class 2A tournament — to give him a 112-50 career mark.

Almost half (53) of Richey’s victories were falls (45) or technical falls (8). He placed second at 145 at this year’s Allegheny County tournament and saw time this season ranked first in his weight division in the Trib HSSN WPIAL individual wrestling rankings.

“Logan achieving 100 wins is just a result of his work ethic and drive starting back when he was a freshman,” QV coach Austin Heinl said. “The Richey family has been a solid rock for the Quaker Valley program. We are able to lean on their support and also on the talent of Justin, Logan and Marcus.”

Richey posted individual records of 21-11 at 106 as a freshman, 19-10 at 113 as a sophomore, 38-14 at 120 as a junior and 34-15 in 2022-23 — following his second appearance in the PIAA Class 2A tournament — to give him a 112-50 career mark.

Almost half (53) of Richey’s victories were falls (45) or technical falls (8). He placed second at 145 at this year’s Allegheny County tournament and saw time this season ranked first in 2A in his weight division in the Trib HSSN/WPIAL individual wrestling rankings.

Richey won two section titles in his career, finished fourth in the district twice and placed fifth and fourth in the region the past two seasons when he won 72 total matches.

On his first day of competition at this year’s PIAA 2A finals, Richey captured a 4-3 decision against Catasauqua senior Gavin Fehr and lost by a 17-3 score to Grove City sophomore Cody Hamilton.

“After coming into the season fresh off surgery and moving up five weight class, Logan performed very well this season,” Heinl said. “Not many kids have the same amount of success going through those hurdles.”

Jack Kazalas, a 121-pound junior at QV, was 28-8 and 40-8 (20 pins) at 106 and 113 in his first two years with the Quakers. He wrapped up 2022-23 with a 37-4 record (.90%) and is 105-20 in just three seasons.

Kazalas landed his 100th career victory Feb. 25 by defeating McGuffey freshman Lucas Barr, 8-6, in the WPIAL 2A championship match.

“It feels pretty surreal to hit 100 as a junior, but that’s not the main goal for the season,” Kazalas said. “My main goal (was) to be a state champion.”

Kazalas, who was ranked No. 1 in his weight class this year, has qualified for the PIAA tournament three times, won two section championships, placed first, second and fourth in the district and placed third in the region three times.

He has attained 44 falls and 7 technical falls.

Both Kazalas and Richey were PIAA medalists last season with eighth-place finishes in Hershey.

Kazalas was pinned on the first day of this year’s state finals by Montoursville senior and Penn State recruit Brandon Wentzel in 5:48 then defeated Notre Dame-Green Pond sophomore Cooper Feltman, 6-0.

Kazalas also went 1-1 on Day 2.

“I know Jack isn’t happy with how his season ended,” Heinl said, “but I am still proud of the things he accomplished. Jack and Logan add on to the wrestling tradition that they helped to start back when it began.”

Two other Quaker Valley grapplers, then-seniors Patrick Cutchember and Justin Richey, attained their 100th career wins last season, giving the team four in two years to reach the coveted milestone.

Cutchember is the Quakers’ all-time leader in wins on the mats with a 141-31 record.

He took first in the district and region last season, racking up a 44-6 record, and owns the team record for career pins (87) and pins in a season (26). He won two section and two district titles, finished as a district runner-up twice, and was a section runner-up once.

Cutchember was a four-year letterman in wrestling, football and lacrosse and currently is a freshman wrestler at Clarion.

“Patrick has to be proud of his career,” Heinl said. “He set a lot of records in our brief (team) history.”

Justin Richey, Logan’s brother, was 107-41 with 55 falls in four years. The Gettysburg recruit earned one district title, two section crowns and had one runner-up finish in the section and at districts.

Second place in career wins belongs to John Rocco Kazalas (2019) at 134-33. Connor Redinger (2021) at 112-20 and Logan Richey are tied for the third spot.

John Rocco Kazalas, Jack’s brother, competed at Moon as a freshman but still hit the century mark at Quaker Valley by going 105-20 in three years. Redinger also won 107 times in his first three seasons with the Quakers.

The older Kazalas competed at QV from 2016-19 and, as a senior, won the first WPIAL individual title in program history. For his career, he reeled in two section titles, placed third regionally three times and twice was a PIAA medalist.

Quaker Valley was last year’s WPIAL Class 2A team champion and has won five consecutive section crowns.

“Winning section titles is now the standard for our program,” Heinl said. “It’s a streak that kids coming up the ranks look to continue. It’s looked at as the first step to achieving another WPIAL championship.

“And even though we fell short of some of our goals this season, there are still a lot of positive things to be proud and happy about, like taking individuals to Hershey, being state qualifiers as a team and having county championship success.

“Our goals are still the same: County championships, WPIAL team champions, WPIAL individual champions, state qualifiers, state medalists and the program’s first state champion.

Tags: Quaker Valley