UPPER MARLBORO — Kent County High School seniors Tye Bellarin and Scottie Ford have advanced to the semifinal round of the Class 1A/2A state wrestling tournament, with champions to be crowned Saturday at The Show Place Arena.
Bellarin is the No. 4 seed in the 132-pound bracket, while Ford is the No. 2 seed in the 165-pound bracket.
Neither has been tested so far.
Bellarin (9-2) advanced with a pair of technical falls, i.e., essentially a mercy rule-abbreviated match when a wrestler gains a 15-point [or more] advantage over his opponent. Bellarin mastered Poolesville junior Ethan Dimmerling, 18-3, with 3 minutes, 6 seconds elapsed in the prelims Thursday and Owings Mills senior Jeffery Baltazar, 15-0, just ahead of the horn to end the first period of their quarterfinal match Friday.
Meantime, Ford improved to 34-0 after sticking Harford Tech sophomore Nicholas Gibson in 22 seconds in the preliminary round and then on Friday scoring a 3-2 decision over Northern Garrett junior Lukas Wolf to avenge last year’s loss in the consolation finals.
This is Tye Bellarin’s first year wrestling for KCHS.
He won a Delaware state championship at 113 pounds in 2024 as a sophomore for Red Lion Christian Academy.
His older brother Alex wrestled for the Trojans and was a state qualifier as a freshman at 106 pounds in 2020.
Ford is a four-year letter winner for KCHS and a four-time state qualifier. He placed fourth in the state last year at 150 pounds, dropping a 3-0 decision to Northern Garrett’s Wolf in the consolation final.
Bellarin and Ford punched their tickets to states as winners in the Class 1A/2A East Region tournament Saturday, Feb. 28, where they were challenged in their respective championship bouts.
Bellarin pinned Queen Anne’s Landon Shanks in 3:21. They wrestled through a scoreless first period as Bellarin successfully defended Shanks’ sweep singles. On what turned out to be the last one, at the edge of the mat in front of the scorer’s table midway into the second period, Bellarin was able to reach deep enough to secure Shanks’ far leg while also trapping the near leg with his own to pin him in a spladle.
The No. 1 seed, Bellarin had advanced with a 21-4 tech fall and an 8-3 decision.
Ford’s first two matches also were one-sided as he moved on with a 16-1 tech fall and a 41-second pin.
But in the title bout against North Caroline’s Michael Dyke, whom Ford already had beaten three times this season, including by a first-period pin the week before to three-peat as a Bayside Conference champion, the Kent County senior had to work overtime.
Ford rallied in the third period with an escape — after Dyke chose top to start — and then a three-point takedown with 9 seconds remaining to deadlock at 6-6. He went on to win in a second 30-second ride-out period after scoring an escape.
After a scoreless first period, Ford, working from the bottom, scored a reversal for a 2-0 lead but then got caught out of position on his bar tilt. Dyke was able to reverse Ford for two points and then scored a very fast four count of near-fall points to pull ahead, 6-2.
Kent County had three other regional qualifiers: freshman Jake Stumpf (138 pounds) and senior Noah Iacona (144 pounds) in the coed tournament and freshman Karoly Quevedo (100 pounds) in the girls tournament.
Stumpf, the No. 9 seed, was pinned in his pigtail match.
No. 3 seeds Iacona placed fifth and Quevedo placed fourth. Both were alternates for the state tournament.
