Built 'Ford' Tough: Kordell Ford places 4th in state
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
COLUMBUS — Hillsboro sophomore Kordell Ford placed fourth in the 75th annual Division II OHSAA State Wrestling Championships Saturday, wrestling six times in three days at the Jerome Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University.
Ford wrestled twice on Saturday, winning by a 6-2 score over Millersburg West Holmes senior Marshall Overholt in the consolation semifinal bracket, followed by a 3-2 loss in the third-place match.
"Any time you have a kid place fourth in the state tournament, that's a great year," Hillsboro head wrestling coach Nathan Horne said. "Kordell had an awesome tournament, and the kid he lost to at the end was ranked second."
This season, Ford finished with an overall record of 44-5 and a mark of 3-2 in the state wrestling championships, becoming the 12th wrestler in Hillsboro High School history to place in the state tournament, the first wrestler since '08 (Oney Snyder).
In the third-place match, Ford and senior Scott Boyce of Minerva wrestled to a 0-0 tie after the first period.
[[In-content Ad]]The match got a bit more interesting in the second period, as Ford took a 2-0 lead with a takedown only to have the match tied by Boyce with 10 seconds left in the second on a reversal.
"The reversal in the second was the difference in the match. We let him up in the third period because it is hard to turn kids in the state tournament, and if you hold him down, you aren't scoring any points," Horne said.
At the start of the third, the score was 3-2 in favor of Boyce, as Hillsboro chose to stand him up. As the wrestlers grappled, Ford came very close to regaining the point, as his coaches yelled "keep going" and "gotta pressure," but Ford never could gain the point to tie the score.
"It was 2-2, so our choices were do we try to hold him down, or do we go into overtime where the kid did reverse us in the second period," Horne said. "So we let him up because it was eventually going to come down to a takedown in the third or overtime. So we let him up, and the kid did what he needed to do … he stalled out the third period, wrestled smart and won the match."
Overall, Ford was pleased with his performance at state.
"My first match …. the way it ended, it was tough, let me tell you," Ford said. "I had to wrestle all the way back to the third and fourth, but I did it, man.
"I worked really hard. The first match I lost was an upset, but I wrestled back, put a lot of hard work into it, did my best, beat good kids and I wrestled my best."
Ford also spoke about the entire experience of wrestling at the state championships.
"It was exactly what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be tough, a lot of one-point matches, and the match to place was a one-point match," Ford said. "The kids were tough … I was the smallest 160-pound kid out there, but I knew that was going to be the case.
"I overcame being the smallest 160-pounder and got fourth."
In his first match on Saturday afternoon, Ford defeated Millersburg West Holmes senior Marshall Overholt, 6-2.
Ford led 2-0 after the first period with a takedown with 30 seconds left in the period.
Overholt made it a 2-1 score with 1:35 left in the second period, but following a technical foul, Ford led 3-1 with 48 seconds left.
In the third period, Ford made it 4-1 with a takedown and 6-1 with a two-point move with 1:15 left in match.
Overholt made the score 6-2 with 22 seconds remaining.
"Kordell wrestled great," Horne said. "He was upset in the first match, he battles back, wrestles six matches … it's been a long week for him," Horne said. "Most kids would have laid down after losing the first match like he did, but he showed a lot of heart and battled his way back to a fourth-place finish.
"I can't ask any more from a kid."
On the first two days of the state tournament, Ford lost to Chagrin Falls senior Ricky Kochert by pin fall; defeated junior Jared Chambers of Oak Harbor; defeated Dominic Scarberry, 2-1 in the second consolation bracket match; and defeated senior Jake Lagace of Newark Licking Valley, 6-3 on the consolation quarterfinals.
After looking back at what he accomplished, Ford spoke about wrestling in front of a big crowd and what it meant to him.
"Goodness … the first day, that was the hardest thing. I've never been in an arena and wrestled in front of this many people," Ford said after taking a deep breath. "I had the butterflies after the first match, but after that, it wasn't that bad. I got used to it … I adapted.
"It was a different experience, but I liked it. I'm ready to come back next year. It was a good season, the best wrestling season I had in my career, and I've wrestled for seven years. I came in this tournament with 40 wins … it's really, really hard to make it here and place. I'm proud, my parents are proud, the fans are proud and that's all that matters."
Ford wrestled twice on Saturday, winning by a 6-2 score over Millersburg West Holmes senior Marshall Overholt in the consolation semifinal bracket, followed by a 3-2 loss in the third-place match.
"Any time you have a kid place fourth in the state tournament, that's a great year," Hillsboro head wrestling coach Nathan Horne said. "Kordell had an awesome tournament, and the kid he lost to at the end was ranked second."
This season, Ford finished with an overall record of 44-5 and a mark of 3-2 in the state wrestling championships, becoming the 12th wrestler in Hillsboro High School history to place in the state tournament, the first wrestler since '08 (Oney Snyder).
In the third-place match, Ford and senior Scott Boyce of Minerva wrestled to a 0-0 tie after the first period.
[[In-content Ad]]The match got a bit more interesting in the second period, as Ford took a 2-0 lead with a takedown only to have the match tied by Boyce with 10 seconds left in the second on a reversal.
"The reversal in the second was the difference in the match. We let him up in the third period because it is hard to turn kids in the state tournament, and if you hold him down, you aren't scoring any points," Horne said.
At the start of the third, the score was 3-2 in favor of Boyce, as Hillsboro chose to stand him up. As the wrestlers grappled, Ford came very close to regaining the point, as his coaches yelled "keep going" and "gotta pressure," but Ford never could gain the point to tie the score.
"It was 2-2, so our choices were do we try to hold him down, or do we go into overtime where the kid did reverse us in the second period," Horne said. "So we let him up because it was eventually going to come down to a takedown in the third or overtime. So we let him up, and the kid did what he needed to do … he stalled out the third period, wrestled smart and won the match."
Overall, Ford was pleased with his performance at state.
"My first match …. the way it ended, it was tough, let me tell you," Ford said. "I had to wrestle all the way back to the third and fourth, but I did it, man.
"I worked really hard. The first match I lost was an upset, but I wrestled back, put a lot of hard work into it, did my best, beat good kids and I wrestled my best."
Ford also spoke about the entire experience of wrestling at the state championships.
"It was exactly what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be tough, a lot of one-point matches, and the match to place was a one-point match," Ford said. "The kids were tough … I was the smallest 160-pound kid out there, but I knew that was going to be the case.
"I overcame being the smallest 160-pounder and got fourth."
In his first match on Saturday afternoon, Ford defeated Millersburg West Holmes senior Marshall Overholt, 6-2.
Ford led 2-0 after the first period with a takedown with 30 seconds left in the period.
Overholt made it a 2-1 score with 1:35 left in the second period, but following a technical foul, Ford led 3-1 with 48 seconds left.
In the third period, Ford made it 4-1 with a takedown and 6-1 with a two-point move with 1:15 left in match.
Overholt made the score 6-2 with 22 seconds remaining.
"Kordell wrestled great," Horne said. "He was upset in the first match, he battles back, wrestles six matches … it's been a long week for him," Horne said. "Most kids would have laid down after losing the first match like he did, but he showed a lot of heart and battled his way back to a fourth-place finish.
"I can't ask any more from a kid."
On the first two days of the state tournament, Ford lost to Chagrin Falls senior Ricky Kochert by pin fall; defeated junior Jared Chambers of Oak Harbor; defeated Dominic Scarberry, 2-1 in the second consolation bracket match; and defeated senior Jake Lagace of Newark Licking Valley, 6-3 on the consolation quarterfinals.
After looking back at what he accomplished, Ford spoke about wrestling in front of a big crowd and what it meant to him.
"Goodness … the first day, that was the hardest thing. I've never been in an arena and wrestled in front of this many people," Ford said after taking a deep breath. "I had the butterflies after the first match, but after that, it wasn't that bad. I got used to it … I adapted.
"It was a different experience, but I liked it. I'm ready to come back next year. It was a good season, the best wrestling season I had in my career, and I've wrestled for seven years. I came in this tournament with 40 wins … it's really, really hard to make it here and place. I'm proud, my parents are proud, the fans are proud and that's all that matters."