Moeller Division I Sectional Wrestling Tournament

That's what I'm talking about! Some good wrestling.

For those of you reading that may not know, you have to place in the top four in your weight class to qualify for the District tournament the following week. All the wrestlers that make it to District have to place in the top four to qualify for the State tournament.

So as you can imagine, it is an intense day for everyone in the gym. The wrestlers, coaches, officials, fans, scorekeepers, trainers, and anyone else you can think of.

One great thing about the day for us is that we had a strong day! Dan, a fellow official who I spoke about on a previous post gathered us around and coached us up. For this tournament there were 6 officials on 3 mats. Wrestling started at about 10:30am with six rat-tail matches. I had the pleasure of getting us started, and just like that it was qualifying time.

Good battles all day long and just a lot of rooting by the fans and a lot of coaching by the coaches. I think I only got booed once on the day (at least the only one that caught my ear, ha ha!). After the first round, we had two officials for every match in the winner's bracket. That definitely worked well.

So before you know it we're drawing numbers for our rotation to officiate the finals matches. Once again I would be starting us off with the first championship match at 103 lbs. Because of the draw I would end up officiating three finals. The next final I would officiate was the 135-weight class, but it would end early because of injury default.

The last championship match I would officiate on the night was the 215-weight class. At this weight the Hamilton wrestler was winning the entire match against the Glen Este wrestler. What was really great about officiating this match is that the Hamilton wrestler stayed aggressive and kept going forward the whole third period so I didn't even have to think about calling stalling.

This makes me think about something else, the match of the day. I mentioned Dan earlier rallying us around and coaching us up. Well he had the honor in officiating Part IV of the Match!

It was at 130 lbs. and it was the classic Gcl match-up between Moeller and St. Xavier. I had the privilege of officiating Part II between these two wrestlers a couple of weeks ago and that was a doozy! I was told there first match-up was 1-0 with the X wrestler coming out on top. The match I officiated was 5-3 for the Moeller wrestler. They went at again last week for the league title in the championship match with the Moe wrestler coming out on top again 1-0. So here we go again in the finals for all the marbles.

As an official we love to do these high pressure matches. I remember my rookie year in officiating someone said if you really want to be a great official, "You need to officiate a lot of matches and get experience, and desire to do the tough matches and get it right." Couldn't agree more.

Dan was happy to have drawn this match and has kind of gotten used to them since he does such a good job and has officiated in the last two State Championship tournaments. So enough talk the match was on. One thing though, I didn't get to watch one moment of it because I was officiating two very good wrestlers in the own right for the third place match right next to it. So I had no idea what was going on. So as I think back, I heard the fans a few times throughout their match. But then as my matching was getting near the end I heard a thud and the crowd erupt crazy loud! I still had no idea what was going since I had to focus on my own match. So the first place match ended before mine. So a few moments later my match was over and I got the 411 on the championship match. It was 3-2 with time winding down, just like the match I officiated between these two recently. But this time the X wrestler hit a throw for a five point combo and that was it. 7-3 was the final. The place went nuts.

So Dan if you happen to read this, I've heard great feedback on how the match was officiated.

Part V could very well happen again next week at the Districts at Fairfield. It's sort of too bad we'll miss it. It's not all bad because Dan, myself, and about six others will be officiating at the Kettering Fairmont District.

If I have the pleasure of getting a match of that caliber I will work to be as steady and consistent as Danny Boy! My wife, friends, peers and most importantly myself have confidence that I'll come through in the clutch. So I'm good to go!

Foot on the line, 'wrestle in the center of the mat', 'shake hands', Whistle!!!