Wednesday Wrestling

My oh my, it was an intense night of wrestling!

This past Wednesday night I was assigned the Varsity wrestling match Beavercreek at Fairfield.

I arrived at the school about 6:00 p.m. and watched some of the Freshman and Reserve matches. A friend of mine from high school is a rookie official and he was officiating for the first time on the Freshman match. After he finished we hit the locker room and I gave him some feedback on how he did.

Pre-meet

Once the other official was finished officiating the Reserve match, he joined me as I went and spoke to the Varsity for a pre-meet conversation. I usually speak to the teams about how to line-up and some of the rule changes. Some other points of emphasis:

• Explain to them that they need to try and focus when they line-up in the referee's position and do the proper sequence.
• Mention that if they bring a wreslter up off of the mat, it is their responsibility to bring him back to the mat in control. Safety first!
• Show an example of what I expect when running arm-bars and to keep them legal.
• Talk about stalling and to wrestle aggressively and work the center of the mat.
• Remind the wrestlers to keep their hands out of their opponent's face.
• Talk about overtime.
• Take any questions they may have.
  

Now it's time for me to stretch. I sure don't want to get hurt and want to be at my best. It's Star Bangled Banner time. Introductions. Captains to the center of the mat to decide who gets choice on odd and even matches.


Match Time!

The officials from the earlier matches had already drawn the weight class we were going to start at. Jerry (official assisting me) and I are ready to rock so 152 lbs let's go!

Now in all honesty I'm so focused on officiating to the best of my ability and I don't really try to remember everything. There are some moments that standout of course.

A few matches in and we're at the 189 weight class. It's 1-1 in the third period and the Beavercreek kid gives me no choice and I hit him with a stalling call and now it's 2-1 with 20 seconds left. He tries a last second takedown but ends up giving it up instead and loses 4-1.

A couple matches later it's the Heavyweights and they're both good wrestlers. I found out later that the Beavercreek kid is nationally ranked and he looked it too. He performed a textbook double leg high lifting takedown in the first period and ended up pinning his opponent. Very impressive.

Now we're at 125 lbs. and the Fairfield kid jumps out on top and seems to be on cruise control, but the next thing you know the Beavercreek storms back. These guys are making me work my tail off. The Beavercreek kid gives a valiant effort but comes up short and goes down 13-11.

Ok, I just mentioned how hard the 125s made me work. That was nothing compared to 135. This was one of the hardest matches I've ever officiated in all my years. For me this match basically featured Hercules vs Plastic Man. One kid seemed super strong and the other able to twist any and every way possible. Back and forth this match went. Unbelievable. There was about 20 seconds to go and the Fairfield kid is ahead 9-8. Just like that, the Beavercreek kid hits his second Peterson from the neutral position and hits it for a five point move to his back and time runs out. 13-9 Hercules. Fun and very difficult match to officiate.

Now where down to the last match and of the evening at 145 lbs and Beavercreek is winning on the team points 29-27. Whoa Nellie! The winner of this last match will win the dual for their team. If my memory serves me correct the Beavercreek kid gets a takedown and goes up 2-0. Then there is a reversal and Beavercreek runs out of bounds. So we got two for the reversal and one for technical violation so it's 3-2 Fairfield. Now on to the second period. Beavercreek gets called for locking hands and now it's 4-2. On the restart Beavercreek does an optional start. But instead of letting him go, he locks up a near cradle, cranks him to his back and that's all she wrote. I have a pin and the match is over. Beavercreek wins 35-27.

It was a very intense match and fun to be a part of. We hit the locker room and one of my peers came down and spoke to us. He gave us some good feedback and thought I was on point all night with my calls. That's always great when you can get constructive feedback from someone that is unbias and knows what it's like to be in that situation.

It was time to hit the showers and get home quick. I was really exhausted after a night like that. To be honest I usually will dream a lot about a match like that because it's so intense, exciting and a close result. However, the dream was replaced the following night because I had to officiate one of the biggest rivals in the city in Elder vs Moeller.