I don't think that religion or coaches had anything to do with the outcome of this match. There was obviously a great deal of confusion surrounding the final score of it. Honestly, even twenty minutes after the conclusion of the match the ref still offered a very sketchy account of what determined the final score. It was disappointing to see a young man's high school wrestling career end on such a note. That's life. Congratulations to Tommy Williams. Good kid, Great wrestler. Congrats to Jake Gentzler on his 3rd championship. (even though the announcer only credited him for two). Another great kid and phenomenal wrestler. The 125 bracket was a fun one to follow with a lot of talented young men. Also, Congrats to AC for the team title. Very impressive as a team this weekend.
Stan Kmiec
Very well said Mr. Kmiec. I was there. I saw the match. I even saw the refs still talking about it prior to the next match starting. I thought, "well good in that they are still trying to learn from what just happened a few minutes ago - teachable folks are always better to work with than NON-teachable folks.
The wrestlers were scrambling so good, hard and fast - that it became very, very hard to recall just exactly what in fact happened.
I love the way they both wrestled hard and with tons of offensive. A lot of the defensive matches (wrestling not to lose as opposed to wrestling to win - put me asleep). Not so with this match!
Well said, sad way to end his high school career but as you appropriately stated, "that's life". He'll recover and I bet ultimately be a better young man from the whole ordeal in the long run.
Finally, unless and until you (the general public, I am not addressing this part of my note to Mr. K.) have actually ref'd a match - you have no idea how hard and challenging it is.
I used to be 'hard' on them and thought I 'knew it all', then I ref'd for just one year. I was so bad at it, that I fired myself! Impossible job. You have to know the rules WELL. You have to have EXCELLENT vision. You have to make SPLIT SECOND decisions in HIGH PRESSURE situations.
My brief experience in trying it sure humbled me. I still get dumb occasionally and think I know better than the ref (or two or three as in these finals matches) down on the mat (who is more knowledgeable, more experienced and has a MUCH BETTER view) but of those view times, I would imagine that 99% of the time I was wrong.
Thank you refs for doing your job. I know how difficult it is.
Dean Welsh
Junction City, KS
