I was going to wait and respond to and respond to this post tomorrow morning after I got to school and had a chance to look at the tape of the match, but because someone had to come on to this board and call one of my wrestlers an absolute fish and a dirty athlete I feel as though I need to respond in defense of my wrestler, my team, and my school. Did this wrestler get called for biting Stephen yes, should it of been called probably, did the official see it occur I don’t know. Was I upset yes, not at the official, not at my wrestler, not at Santiago, or at my AD when he informed me that this wrestler who worked all year would not have the opportunity to compete in the regional tourney. No I was just upset in general.

At the time when the DQ happened the score was 15-10. So that leaves me to question how you could say he didn’t have a chance. Yes there were 2 sets of teeth an upper and a lower. Could they of occurred from a bite yes, could they of come from someone pushing a forearm into an open mouth yes (which would be a legitimate cross face). The cross face didn’t draw blood as someone stated earlier.

As for him strutting around. I never once saw him strut. Yes he did remain at the tourney. Why may you ask did I allow him to stay at the tourney. To support his teammates, his friends and his wrestling family. It would be unfair to him for me to of made him leave and not give him the ability to watch his fellow Heights wrestlers compete.

Maybe I will post more after I have a chance to review the film tomorrow morning. I hope that everyone understands that I will not and have not ever coached my wrestlers to be dirty. One thing that I tell them to earn on the mat and in life is respect.

Todd Sacquitne
Wichita Heights

Good response coach. My comments are not regarding any wrestler, I wasn't there, it is regarding a cross face and the potential to show teeth marks. I do know that Santiago is a quality young man and wrestler. I didn't know who was involved in the incident until after my post. I know how careful one has to be from experience. Something similar happened with my son, thankfully the other coach saw the incident, and told the ref that it wasn't a bite, after the ref threatened to throw my son out of a match. I respected the kid, coach and official, for making things right in that situation. I do know some about the Heights program, and after review of the tape I know that Coach Sacquitne will deal with things accordingly.

I don't know the young man that bit my son, but I can assure you Stephen was bit. Danny came up to us after the incident and apologized to myself, my husband and my son.

To accuse him of biting himself is at best laughable, he had the kid in a headlock, his own mouth was nowhere near his arm. And to say it was from a cross face also doesn't hold water, he wasn't cross facing the kid.

Stephen did what he has been taught since he was little. As soon as he let the kid go, he jumped up and showed the referee the bite.

If you wanted to see the teeth marks in his arm, they were there for a good time afterwards, and he is still sporting red marks and swelling on his wrist.

As to who would have won? Stephen won because the kid he was wrestling got desperate and bit. Stephen didn't wrestle near to his capablities, but I believe the outcome would have been the same, if the match would have continued.

Please do not come on this site and attack my son or his integrity. Anyone who knows him, knows that he is a good young man. Most of the time the biggest complaint about him is that he's too nice.

Noone has attacked your son, However someone didn't hesitate to come on here and call the heights boy A FISH and DIRTY. Which is bacically how some but NOT ALL of the people from private institutions feel about kids from public schools.
So don't come on here and try to make out like anyone is picking on your little boy because their not. ONCE AGAIN THE POINT HAS BEEN MISSED.
The ref didn't see it, the Heights boy said he didnt do it. Thats good enough for me, also try not to make it sound like Danny's apology was an admission of a deliberate bite, it just shows his class and i'm sure his regret it even happened. I respect the refs call I just think it was the wrong call. I also think the rule should be reviewed!! Turn it into something else if you like.ive seen red, blood and swelling on plenty of wrestlers.

Well, your entitled to your opinion. I will not argue with you on wether the ref made the correct decision. I know what I know.

You don't have a clue what Danny said to me and it was a private conversation.

And I don't think I'm any better than anyone, nor does my son. My husband and I both graduated from North High School, so climb off your soapbox about Parochial school kids.

If someone hits your car in the parking lot, but the cop doesn't see it, is it enough that the paint and dent is there?

Chance Nelson: Fish of the year award????
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Now, I have known Chance since he was in diapers. I used to walk into the house and see him on the floor watching T.V. and kick him weekly. His family is like my family. His oldest brother is pretty much a brother to me.
He comes from a great family of kind and polite people.

So if you don't know the kid personally, don't attack him. It's this simple. The bite happened. It was not on purpose. He would not do that ever. Did he strut around the rest of the tournament....no, but he did walk around and enjoy good wrestling all day like a KID should be allowed to do.

Chance, I hope the decision is rendered that you get to compete in regionals. If we were allowed to vote you would get my vote. Coach S and Coach D. nice job with those boys this week-end.

P.S. If your going to come on here and bash a kid, make sure you would say the same things to his face and more importantly, his brothers face! I am sure Joe Nelson (2 X undefeated state champion and College Football player) my assitant coach, would love to talk to you about it since he is Chances brother. See how far you get with that one! He also has an uncle that is a 2 time state champion (Lance Nelson) who might like to talk to you about Chance if you feel the need to bash a freshman on the internet as well!

GOOD LUCK

Santiago Mom, Thank you for getting me off my soapbox. You are absolutely right when you say I don't have a clue of exactly what he said. But I do know that young man did not intentionally bite your son. So lets go to the point and this is why i like the forum ASK THE REF as I was certainly confused when i seen the ref make this call. Ohh by the way two of my kids went to Parocial Schools most their life St. Peters and Bishop Carroll so now i'm getting back on my soapbox. Been there done that. Now for explanation of the confusion when I was coaching a match the wrestler I was coaching being the one the got bit, I showed the ref, and he tells me HE DID'T SEE IT HAPPEN AND HE CANNOT MAKE THAT CALL. I was beside myself, his explanation continued to let me know had that bite mark been in the middle of my wrestler's back he could make that call. So you see i have two different definitons of the ruling both from refs. Its a judgement call. I have to respect it, but I don't agree. I think the rule should be reviewed. I'm sure your son is a good kid as MOST OF THE KMC KIDS ARE. But also keep in mind public school kids are neither Fish or Dirty. they are just kids. Coming from North I would think you would know that. Have a nice day.
I also wish your son the best at regionals.

hahahahaha....nice anology! Dad, what do you have to say about that!!!! I really am sitting in a room laughing loud at this thread and how people have dropped to a level of bashing kids on the internet on all sides!

Just for the record, I don't know the people who said the things about the Nelson boy. I would never come on here and say those things about anyone.

I was upset because I felt like my son was being attacked. If he wasn't then I apologize to anyone that I offended. Again, not my intent.

Good luck to all at regionals.

Biting:

Clearly natural instinct to clamp down with jaws if foreign object forciably enters mouth (potential crossface or even headlock)

I doubt it was intential... if it was intential kid would probably have history of this behavior.

AD to eliminate kid from Regionals?? I would go above AD. School board or State. Does this AD kick a kid off the football team if he gets an unneccessary roughness call? Does he sit a basketball coach without pay when he gets a technical? Same with throwing a baseball coach out of a game, arguing a call?

It is wrong to be a bad sport. But consequences need to be based a clear hard evedience... like teethmarks on the back..

Mrs. Santiago, I don’t believe anyone ever accused your son of biting him or said that he was in the wrong. The young man that was wrestling your son was not attempting something desperate. I don’t know what a biting or supposed biting would have done in that situation. I did look at the tape and have watched the incident numerous times. The forearm is in the mouth. The move that is being ran on him is some sort of reverse cross face. The move goes on for a number of seconds and then Stephen looks up and we finish the takedown and the ref stops the match. I think the whole situation could have been handled differently. There was only about 20 seconds left on the clock and we were down by 3 after the takedown was awarded. Do I think he could of pulled it out yes, because I am his coach did anyone else in the gym think he could of probably not. I would of liked to of seen the match continue and allow Chase to finish the tourney. I believe he could have placed. We did beat the young man from SE who finished 4th. The fact that he doesn’t get the opportunity to wrestle at the regional sucks. I am just glad that he is not a senior and still has 3 more chances to wrestle at regionals and show off his wrestling skills. I don’t think that there is any sort of appeal process that we can go through in order to get him elgible to wrestle unless we had a dual this week. That can’t happen because we didn’t originally have one scheduled. I will take it as a learning experience and grow with it. Thank you to Coach Church and Mr. Furches for the complements to both me and the Heights program. Coach D is an excellent assistant as long as I can keep him off the officials case, but we are working on that. I see our program growing and getting better each and every match. The kids have been wrestling great the past few weeks. If they keep it up and continue and do some work this summer I see great things for the Heights Falcons.

Todd Sacquitne
Heights Wrestling

The AD is not the one that is not allowing him to wrestle it is the rule book that is not letting him. My AD, the tourney dircetor is the one that pointed it out to me, because I asked him to find out. Coach Wheeler is a great man very knowlegable about wrestling, up and untill last year he was officiating matches and many of the major tourney's including the state finals around the state. It was called a Flagrant Misconduct. -3 team points (almost hurt us in the end) and he has to sit out the next competition, in this case regionals.

Mrs. Santiago, again I want to clarify that my comments have nothing to do with Stephen. He is a great kid and a great wrestler. I can't tell you how much I have respected you and your family over the years I have been in Kansas. In many ways, I don't see Steven as doing anything wrong in this situation. That much should be, and I think is clear.

My issue is with an official making a call that they do not personally observe, that has such a dramatic impact on a wrestler. There are a number of rules that fall into this category. This week I was officiating a match when a kid threw a quick headlock and took the kid to the mat. Immediately, the coach started yelling "illegal, illegal." I'll admit, I got to position as quick as I could to see the illegal headlock but by the time I got there I just didn't see it, the kid had an arm, and there was nothing illegal about the hold at that point. Now for those that have seen me officiate, I do my best to move quickly for a big guy, I try to protect the wrestler, and do everything I can to provide as fair a playing field as possible. But I feel, that I must observe the illegal tactic before I can call it. A bite, pulling one or two fingers, that type of thing is sometimes difficult to observe. There are sometimes indications that a foul or penalty has occurred, but I know enough to know that the appearance of something does not always make it so. Now I must also state here, that I don't know if the official in this case saw the event, again, I wasn't there and pertaining to this match, if he saw it he saw it.

If the official sees this call and makes it I have no issue with the rule being the rule. Now I may not like the consequences of the rule and at that point, I have to work to change the rule, or the consequences. I personally think that if this type of action is not typical of this young man, or if it is something, he has never done, then the penalty is too harsh for the crime. That is something I would personally like to see our rules committee look at in the future. That is not a comment for or against any wrestler in this particular situation. It is a comment that I would hope would benefit all wrestlers who may, or may not have, made a one-time mistake. Unfortunately, I think there are grounds for an appeal; the other unfortunate though is that as best as I can indicate, it would be a minimum of 10-15 days before a ruling would come into play on something like this. That is just too late for the kid except as a matter of principle, which by the way I think is worth it. I would hope that another consideration is that we could have a quicker appeal process in a situation like this, a situation, where what is fair and right is provided for everyone involved.

Coach Sacquitne, one last thing about Coach D. He has coached my son in the past, and I can honestly say, that I don’t know of many people I would rather have in my sons’ corner than Coach D. Why? I know as a parent, that he will stand up for my son and always do what he can to help him out and insure a fair playing field. I may not always like his tactics as an opponent, but I personally can’t tell you how much I admire him for his loyalty to the wrestlers he coaches. Ask him, we have had words when he coached against my son, and great times when he coaches my son. I’d want him as a coach as opposed to an adversary any day.

Save the drama for Santiagos mama! This forum went from soap-box to soap-opera in no time! How many Mike Churchs' are there anyways? If the kid can't wrestle, then the ref shouldn't be able to officiate.

For the record: Joe and Lance Nelson are two very bad dudes!!!

I would like to say im sorry to everyone because i'm home with this nasty cough that i'm sure i got from KMC and having nothing to do but express myself. :-) That being said i have decided to change my name to MIKE FURCHE'S SR. for the respect end of it and bighead ive seen you on soapboxes and soap opera's you idiot lol!!

If he was an "absolute fish" then shouldn't he have been pinned in about 30 seconds or less?

Does this mean I can become little Mike's daddy? We both love Carson Newman.

ok. i never should have called this kid a fish. i was extremely angry at the time while reading all of these ridiculous accusations towards steven. the truth is, i don't regret calling the kid dirty, because what he did was just that-dirty. and i do know for FACT that he bit steven on purpose. he tried to pull away in a move WHICH WAS NOT A CROSSFACE and the kid bit down harder. it was a cheap, dirty move and he deserves the punishment he was given. there was no way he was going to win the match.

if he were to move on to regionals without any punishment, he would probably try it again. i'm not going to take his word over a kid's who has been wrestling for 10+ years. plus, sr., you asked the ref on this forum and he said that the call was the correct one to make if the ref believed that there was a biting incident. there was no question that there wasn't.

next time, do not accuse someone of something if you have no idea who the person is or what happened in the match. you obviously were not watching close enough while you were "mat side." next time i will watch what i say and instead of saying "fish" i will say "highly inexperienced."

do not attack santiago's mother on here for defending her son. she has no idea who i am. did she ever call that wrestler what i called him. no. if you knew that steven has had broken bones from wrestling for the past 3 years and has still managed to be a quality person and wrestler, would it have affected your accusations? this kid loses the same way that he wins, with class. never will you see him throwing a fit or punching a wall after a match. when guys are trying to mug him before a match he does nothing back. that's just the way he is. his mom had every right to be outraged at your words, because she has raised a damn good kid.

raslindude, the only thing in your entire response even worthy of a comment is the part where you said she has raised a damn good kid, that is probably true which is more than what i can say for whoever raised you!!!