UPPER MARLBORO — There are no cakewalks once you get to the state tournament.
That being said, we’d still be hard-pressed to find any wrestler who had a tougher draw in the opening rounds of last week’s Class 1A/2A championships than Kent County High School juniors Noah Iacona and Scottie Ford.
Iacona (22-21) was paired with Washington & Lee University commit Evan Owen of South Carroll in the first round of the 138-pound bracket, while Ford (31-4) met up with three-time defending state champion Calvin Kraisser of Centennial in the second round of the 150-pound weight class.
Both brackets were “loaded with phenomenal” wrestlers, according to KCHS head coach Chris Yiannakis.
Yiannakis said he was proud of Kent County’s two state qualifiers, and commended them for “setting and raising the bar.”
The state tournaments for girls and coed divisions in Class 1A/2A and Class 3A/4A were held at The Show Place Arena on March 6-8.
Ford, who was looking to become the first Trojan to podium since state runner-up Justin Peacock at 170 pounds in 2014, ultimately finished fourth, losing to Northern Garrett sophomore Lucas Wolf in overtime in their consolation final, 3-0.
“They were pushing the pace and got into a scramble,” Yiannakis recounted of the extra period. “From our point of view there was no control for Wolf as he went behind Scottie who was on Wolf’s leg switching, but with both officials on the backside of the play they called it a takedown and that ended it.”
The sudden victory followed a scoreless three periods.
Ford and Wolf (39-6) were both cautious in the short one-minute first period. Ford rode Wolf hard in the second period and had a few chances to turn Wolf but couldn’t keep the cradle locked up. And in the third period, Ford came close to an escape, but couldn’t quite slip his opponent.
This was the third straight state tournament appearance for Ford, who qualified this year as the runner-up to North East senior Mason Boyd (42-4) in the 1A/2A East Region.
Ford’s title aspirations began Thursday, March 6 with a 19-4 technical fall of Patuxent’s Nathan Sands.
The KCHS junior had the unfortunate draw of Centennial superstar Calvin Kraisser (39-1) in the March 7 quarterfinals.
Kraisser decked Ford in less than two minutes en route to an historic fourth state title.
In the wrestlebacks, Ford advanced with a 13-5 major decision of New Town senior Oluwajuwon Omotoso (35-8), an 8-6 decision of Huntingtown freshman Ezekias Perez (22-12) and a 13-4 major decision of Lackey junior William Chism (40-11), the South Region champ, to reach the consolation final.
Meantime, Calvin Kraisser stuck Boyd with 2 minutes, 46 seconds elapsed in the championship bout on March 8 to join the elite group of four-time state champions that include his older brothers Jason and Nathan.
Before Centennial was reclassified as a Class 2A school last year, Kraisser won the 132-pound 3A/4A state title as a freshman and the 138-pound 3A/4A state title as a sophomore. Last year, he won the 144-pound 1A/2A title.
He is just the ninth Maryland public school wrestler to win four state titles.
In the 138-pound bracket, North Region champ Evan Owen (34-2) lived up to his billing as the top-ranked public school wrestler in his weight class — after placing fourth at 106 pounds as a freshman and second at 113 and 120, respectively, each of the past two seasons.
Owen’s 2025 title bid began with a second-period pin of Kent County’s Iacona, who was making his state tournament debut.
Iacona fended off elimination by decking Carver A&T senior Paolo Cardarella (24-15) with 1:48 elapsed in the first round of the consolations, but exited in the next round after being pinned by Francis Scott Key senior Nate Taylor (37-6), who would go on to finish third.
