SALISBURY — Senior Scottie Ford and some of his Kent County High School teammates traveled today to Parkside High School in Salisbury for the Bayside Conference wrestling tournament.
Ford, who was the 138-pound champ at Baysides in 2024 and 2025, is 26-0 at 165 this year. He was unbeaten in the dual-match season while also winning the Andy Perez Memorial, Kent Holiday and Battle of the Bridge tournaments.
Joining Ford at today’s tournament for all public high schools of all classifications on the Eastern Shore are Tye Bellarin (2-1, 132 pounds), Jake Stumpf (15-9, 138 pounds), senior co-captain Noah Iacona (22-6, 144 pounds) and Noel Farinacci (6-9, 150 pounds) in the boys tournament and Karoly Quevedo (15-6, 100 pounds), Autumn Smolens (4-6, 115 pounds) and Taylor Franklin (5-8, 130 pounds) in the girls tournament.
The emphasis is mostly on individual success because Kent County does not have enough wrestlers to make a significant dent in team scoring.
“We are ramping up the conditioning and drilling in preparations for this postseason,” coach Chris Yiannakis told The Evening Enterprise.
****
ST. MICHAELS — In its final dual match of the season, No. 7 seed Kent County was eliminated by No. 2 seed and host St. Michaels, 48-28, in the opening round of the Class 1A East Region duals Feb. 10.
The Trojans finish 5-9, an improvement over last year’s 3-11 campaign.
KCHS won six of the eight contested bouts — “We beat them on the mat,” coach Chris Yiannakis said — but gave away 36 points by way of six forfeits.
Freshman Karoly Quevedo, who gives up about 10 pounds, won by pin at 106, before KCHS forfeited at 113, 120 and 126 to fall behind for good.
Senior Tye Bellarin won by tech fall at 132, freshman Jake Stumpf won by pin at 144 and Noah Iacona won by decision at 150.
Scottie Ford won by tech fall and senior Danny Harris, bumping up a weight class to 215, won by pin.
St. Michaels defeated Snow Hill in the region semis, 52-24, but lost to top seed Rising Sun in the 1A East Region championship match, 71-9.
Rising Sun then defeated Patuxent in the state semifinals, 44-33, before falling to No. 1 and unbeaten South Carroll, 49-30, in the championship match Feb. 14.
South Carroll won its fifth straight state title.
