WORTON — Take down. Release. Take down. Release. And so on and so on.
That was the play-by-play for the championship match of the 165-pound bracket of the Kent Holiday Tournament between KCHS senior Scottie Ford and John Carroll’s Michael Stefanoni. That is until Ford had built a 19-3 lead with only 1 minute, 50 seconds gone to win by technical fall.
He scored his first takedown with only 12 seconds elapsed.
Ford went 5-0 in the two-day tournament, winning all five bouts by technical fall, and is now 12-0 on the season.
This year’s edition of the annual Kent County High School wrestling tournament was the 52nd, and boasted an eclectic field of 15 schools from the Eastern Shore, Carroll, Cecil, Harford and Howard counties, Baltimore City and Delaware.
While only filling seven of the 14 weight classes, KCHS totaled 247 points and placed a respectable eighth.
Smyrna (Delaware) was head and shoulders above everyone else, amassing 559 points with 10 finalists and six champions.
Havre de Grace was a distant runner-up with 468 points, followed by Francis Scott Key (349.5), Forest Park (335) and Queen Anne’s (283.5) to round out the top five.
Then came Cambridge-South Dorchester (263) in sixth, Howard (260), Kent, North Dorchester (183) and Appoquinimink, Delaware (169).
“I think we had a good showing,” Kent County coach Chris Yiannakis told The Evening Enterprise in an email. “We had 5 top 4 placers out of 7 in our Varsity lineup. The other 2 took 7th with Barrett [Gruszynski] going 4-4. In JV there were 4 top 2 winners out of 7 combined co-ed and girls. And of course, Our Girls Varsity Champion Karoly.”
Scottie Ford three-peated as a Holiday champion.
When coach Yiannakis says that Ford’s first match against Forest Park’s Tyon Shuler, a 17-0 tech fall in 4 minutes, 5 seconds, was “probably his hardest, but it was never in jeopardy,” that gives you an idea of how dominant Ford was.
Kent County also had a finalist in senior Noah Iacona, who was pinned by Havre de Grace’s Vincent Kirby late in the second period of the 144-pound title bout.
Iacona went 5-1, with two wins by decision, a 17-1 technical fall, and two wins by pin.
Sophomore JJ Hinefelt (3-2) was third at 120 pounds, sticking Forest Park’s Malcom Jackson just 51 seconds into their consolation final.
Also for KCHS, Landon Merritt (4-2, injury default) and Jake Stumpf (2-4) placed fourth at 126 and 138, respectively, and Gruszynski and Nate Daley (2-4) placed seventh at 150 and 132, respectively.
In the junior varsity tournament, Kent County had runners-up in Exodus Blake (1-1 at 120), Taylor Franklin (2-2 at 125), Damian Sanchez-Whitely (3-1 at 137) and Danny Harris (3-1 at 185).
Noel Farinacci (2-2) placed third at 145.
In the girls tournament, freshman Karoly Quevedo won the 100-pound bracket with pins in 1:15 and 2:18.
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KCHS (2-1) resumes its dual-meet schedule Wednesday, Jan. 7 at home with a double-dual against St. Michaels and James M. Bennett.
