The assistance official MUST be watching the clock at the end of the period as the official on the whistle is focused on the action. The assistant SHOULD count down so the whistle KNOWS when time has expired and there is no guess work or conference......When you have TWO officials the table nor towel tapper should EVER be involved in a decision about scoring. I personally believe there should be NO towel tapper when a assistant is being utilized.
Not looking to argue, just offering another point of view. There is a fine line between the assist focusing on counting down and trying to keep an eye on the action. I used to officiate I had a situation a several years ago at a regional where I was the assist and was counting down for my head official. The position of the clock for the mat was at the top of the gym. At the time I felt the same way you do about assists must count down. But while I was counting down on the clock and took my eyes off the action (which you have to do) and the wrestlers were in a scramble. I felt that I should count down so my head official would know exactly when time was up so he knew if points should be awarded. I believe the score was tied at the time and this was at the end of regulation. Sure enough, while I'm glancing at the clock to and back at the action a wrestler apparently grabbed his opponents singlet. It was on the back side from the head official so he couldn't see it, but I should have if I wasn't counting down the clock. This 1-point would have won the match. The coach took the head official to the table and knew that I was the one in position to make the call, my head official asked me and I told him exactly what I just typed. The match went to OT and the kid who would have gotten the penalty point ended up losing. The coach pointed directly at me and told me quote, "You're the reason my kid lost!"
Since then I have only counted down clock when it is visually feasible for me to do so with my eyes spending more time on the action than the clock. This isn't the only situation you could have with an assist watching the clock. He could miss a locked hands, he could miss potential changes in control or when they occurred at the end of a period. If an official is stuck counting down the clock it is inevitable that he will be needed at some point in those waning seconds and he will have left his head official out to dry even though he is performing the mechanic correctly.
I think for that reason you NEED to have a tapper still with the assist out there. Just my 2-cents.
