CENTREVILLE — Scottie Ford and Noah Iacona are missing out on baseball practice this week, for good reason.
They’re still wrestling.
The Kent County High School juniors have qualified for the Class 1A/2A state tournament, which gets underway tomorrow at The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro.
This is the third straight trip to states for Ford, while Iacona will be making his tournament debut.
They qualified with a top-four place-finish in their respective weight classes last weekend at the 1A/2A East Region tournament held at Queen Anne’s County High School.
Ford (27-2) was second at 150 pounds and Iacona (21-19) was fourth at 138.
Ford, who the week before repeated as a Bayside Conference champion, lost by major decision to North East senior Mason Boyd in the East Region title bout.
Boyd (39-3) is the all-time wins leader at North East; at the end of January he surpassed the previous mark of 132 established in 2001. He’s also a two-time region champ.
Kent County’s Ford was looking to add a second region title to his already impressive résumé.
After receiving a first-round bye, Ford advanced with a 20-4 technical fall over Harford Tech’s Christian Donlick in the quarterfinals and an 11-0 major decision against North Caroline’s Michael Dyke in the semifinals.
Ford’s loss to Boyd was only his second setback of the season; both losses have come in tournament finals, five weeks apart.
Iacona came up through the consolation bracket to earn his state tourney berth.
After an opening-round bye, he lost his first contested bout by pin to Stephen Decatur’s Aaron August (34-4), the eventual runner-up.
In the wrestlebacks, Iacona stuck Perryville’s Tamer El Fiki in 4:56 and decisioned St. Michaels’ Jacob Jenkins, 12-5, to reach the consolation final and be guaranteed a trip to states.
In the match for third and fourth, Rising Sun’s Sawyer Bell (32-11) pinned Iacona in the second period.
Kent County freshman JJ Hinefelt (13-15), competing as the first alternate at 113 pounds, was eliminated after a loss by pin in the first round of the consolation bracket.
In the girls tournament, freshman Sabrina Tee lost her quarterfinal match by pin and then medically forfeited in the first round of the wrestlebacks because of injury.
WHAT’S NEXT: There is only one round of wrestling in the coed state tournament on Thursday, March 6 — preliminaries from 3:45 to 7:30 p.m.
Noah Iacona will face South Carroll senior Evan Owen (30-2), the North Region champ. Owen, who has committed to Washington & Lee University, helped South Carroll win a fourth consecutive state Class 1A dual-meet championship last month. He is the top-ranked public school wrestler in his weight class, and second overall.
Scottie Ford will face Patuxent junior Nathan Sands (14-9), who placed third in the South Region.
Wrestling resumes Friday with quarterfinals at 11:30 a.m., followed by consolation preliminaries at 1:30 p.m.
The schedule for Saturday: consolation semifinals, 11:30 a.m.; consolation finals, fifth and sixth and third and fourth, 1 p.m.; and championship finals, 3:30 p.m.
