How would you rank the referee's performances this past weekend?  Don't factor in the regular season, or any long standing grudges you may have because you got "screwed" out of a stalling call in 1992 in the quarter finals of state.  Be honest.  I don't know all their names....if you do, please clue me in.

My picks would be:

1) Todd Cole

2) young dude with a flat top.....not sure of his name, he was EXCELLENT this past weekend

3) Shaw

4) Barnett

Overall i will say i thought the reffing was excellent.  I'm surprised there is negativity on here at all.  Yes it could be better, wish there would be much more aggressive stalling & stalemate calls, but other than that, very good.

would that young guy be walls?

I would say:

1. Shumate

2. Walls

3. Cole

4. Ford

5. Cattan

6. other young guy

7. Shaw

8. Barnett

How could I forget Cattan.  I have to make a few adjustments now.

you're forgetting Cattan

i think hes good

I would go.

1.  Barnett

2.  Shumate

3.  Cole

4.  Walls

5.  Other young guy (we must find out his name)

6.  Ford

7.  Cattan

8.  Shaw

The other young guy was Robert Durham or Rocky as he is more commonly known.  I was glad to see Rocky get his chance to finally ref at state.  He has done a fairly good job for quite a while now.  When ranking officials, I think consistency is the key, so I would go with:

1. Cole

2. Walls

3. Shumate

4. Durham

5. Shaw

6. Cattan

7. Barnett

8. Ford

Yes there were some bad calls this weekend, but with that many matches, there are going to be.  They can't get them all right all the time.  The one thing as a coach that I want to see from officials is consistency.  I don't want to see an official call stalling or fleeing the mat one match and then let a guy get away with doing absolutely nothing the next match.  Overall I didn't have a problem with stalling being called more often than usual.  Almost all of us know that it is not called nearly enough during the regular season so when we get to state and it is called more often (actually the way it should be) we tend to say they call it way to much.  Fleeing the mat calls and escape calls were the 2 areas I thought needed to be more consistent across the board.  However, of the 8 officials there this weekend, I thought Cole and Walls were the 2 most consistent.

1.  Ford

2.  Walls

3.  Shaw (except for the illegal slam he called against us that cost us the match, it was a 6 point swing and we lost by 2).

4.  Cole

5.  Barnett

5.  Shumate

5.  Cattan

8.  Durham

I think alot of this is prejudiced too base on seeing them through the year.  This was the first time I had seen Walls ref and I think he did good.  It's hard to not have a prejudiced when you disagree with some through the year as well.  I would say 5-7 were really equal.  I will have to hand it (no pun intended) to Ford for battleing it out this weekend after getting his thumb dislocated early on Friday when someones foot came flying through the air from a headlock and hit his hand.  One of the trainers put it back in and he iced it en between matches and then had it splinted.  I saw him go over to the middle of the mats and I thought he was going to pass out.

santa is the best ref ever

santa is the best ref ever

1. Ford

2. Cole

3. Walls

4. Barnett

5. Shaw

6. Shumate

7. Durham

8. A 4 year old

9. A homeless guy

10. An infant baby

11. and then i guess Cattan

1. Ford

2. Cole

3. Walls

4. Barnett

5. Shaw

6. Shumate

7. Durham

8. A 4 year old

9. A homeless guy

10. An infant baby

11. and then i guess Cattan

c'mon lowsingle, don't beat around the bush. Tell us how you really feel about Cattan :-D :evil:

santa is the best ref ever

haha are you talking about hardy?

We call him "Papa Smurf"

Cattan Cattan Cattan Cattan

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

the refs were excellent what have you been drinking? the only good call i seen all weekend was when they decided to leave.  Tell me you saw the 125 pound championship match and if you can say excellent you need to get your eyes checked.

the refs were excellent what have you been drinking? the only good call i seen all weekend was when they decided to leave.  Tell me you saw the 125 pound championship match and if you can say excellent you need to get your eyes checked.

Yes, maybe I need my eyes checked...but you need to get some cheese with that whine.  Did you read my entire first post?  The last statement when I said something like "wish there would be much more aggressive stalling & stalemate calls, but other than that, very good. "

The 125 lbs finals was 1 that I thought Parks was stalling and got away with it.  I also thought Spencer was stalling...and Choate was big time.  I think a ref allowing stalling is very bad, because it has a major impact on the entire match.  Not taking anything away from those 3 wrestlers, they took what the ref allowed..it's not their job to ref, just wrestle.  If the ref allows stalling, and I had a 1 point lead...heck yea I'm gonna stall!  They are the champs, no question. 

What I'm saying, is if you consider:

1) how hard of a job it is to ref a 3 day tournament....GUARANTEE you have not done this, neither have i, but i would say that is a major challenge.

2) how many calls are made, and just how technical of a sport wrestling is to ref.....we are not talking about calling balls & strikes in a softball game here....really observe a wrestling ref some time, they are all over that mat. 

Other than the lack of stalling & stalemate calls - which is a chronic problem in this state - there were few really blown calls.  I guess it's just my opinion, but I thought the refs were excellent.  I've watched many wrestling tournaments over the years and seen a lot of pretty obvious blown calls.  I seen very few of those at state this year.  If what you are referring to in the 125 lbs finals was a lack of stalling call.....get in line brother.  Everyone thinks there needs to be more stalling called unless you have a kid out there stalling. 

1. Ford

2. Cole

3. Walls

4. Barnett

5. Shaw

6. Shumate

7. Durham

8. A 4 year old

9. A homeless guy

10. An infant baby

11. and then i guess Cattan

A blind guy at number 8?

yeah the refs did pretty good this weekend...however i feel that Cole should have called stalling on Shane Parks in the 3rd period of finals with John Voth. Shane was just dancing around the mat and Voth couldnt work anything. That match should have gone into extra periods where i think John could have easily won the match

yeah the refs did pretty good this weekend...however i feel that Cole should have called stalling on Shane Parks in the 3rd period of finals with John Voth. Shane was just dancing around the mat and Voth couldnt work anything. That match should have gone into extra periods where i think John could have easily won the match

I completely agree.  Cole probably thinks the same thing.  But most good refs do not want to decide the match with a call like that.  It's hard to pull that trigger sometimes.  I just think with stalling though that it really throws a kid off when he's taking shots, and his opponent is just backing up and blocking off.  A lot of people have posted on here that the refs should be consistent with stalling, and not call it differently at state.  I agree.  But i'd like to see it consistently called more than it is. 

This thread is for whiners. Whine away.

Fleeing the mat called as many times as it was called is absolutely ridiculous, but at the same time I think that is half of the coaches fault for asking for the refs to watch for it. I have only seen a handfull of this call my entire wrestling career until this weekend where I seen it called at least 50 times. I think the call caused alot of people matches, medals, championships, and possibly team trophies. In the future the refs need to understand that it is OK to go out of bounds as a wrestler and not get hit for a point. This is not freestyle wrestling. Other than this call I thought 125 stalling was missed, and the over scissor call by the one ref who don't even understand what an overscissor is.

Fleeing the mat called as many times as it was called is absolutely ridiculous, but at the same time I think that is half of the coaches fault for asking for the refs to watch for it. I have only seen a handfull of this call my entire wrestling career until this weekend where I seen it called at least 50 times. I think the call caused alot of people matches, medals, championships, and possibly team trophies. In the future the refs need to understand that it is OK to go out of bounds as a wrestler and not get hit for a point. This is not freestyle wrestling. Other than this call I thought 125 stalling was missed, and the over scissor call by the one ref who don't even understand what an overscissor is.

I agree coach, fleeing the mat call was very much abused this year. As a coach, why don't you suggest at the next coaches meetings to educate the ref's on this call, or at least standardize the call.  I also believe stalling was very inconsistent. From my standpoint, it appeared if the bottom wrestler just remained on the bottom he got stalling points awarded to him. On several occasions I saw wrestlers from various teams off the hips of the bottom wrestler yet still getting stalling calls. This was totally inappropriate and simply bad officiating. I am also of the opinion, all wrestlers should be able to score an escape irregardless of what the top wrestler is doing.

These issues should come from the coaches and standardized. The coaches need to be very proactive. As this adversely affects all teams, all coaches should be interested in making sure these calls are consistent.

As a coach on the advisory board, I can assure that we are going to discuss some of the occurences of this past weekend including stalling, tapping out, and fleeing the mat. One thing we have to do is work together with the referees rather than work against them by belittling them on message boards, etc.

I normally just read these comments and don't reply but I do have to speak out.  As for tapping out, it happens more than just at the state tournament.  We are refs not doctors.  If a wrestler says they are injured then we stop the match no matter what position they are in.  All of us try our best to be consistant.  We have called stalling and fleeing the mat all year.  As for myself, I have been calling stalling and fleeing as consistant as I can in every match throughout the entire season and I am sure the others have put the same effort into there officiating.  Everyone knows that we are short of officials so for all the people who think the have what it takes, take the test , pay the fees, buy the equipment and get out on the mat and give it a shot.  If you can contribute to this sport then we need you!

I will say I like the way the matches are officiated at state with stalling being called more.  But with that being said no ref calls it the same during the season....I think every coach and wrestler will agree with that.  We had seen everyone of those refs this season with the exception of Walls and there was an obvious difference between this weekend and the rest of the season, there always is.  I wish the season was called like this so that it would keep the action going more and make kids keep moving, not stalling or hanging on. 

I want to give props to cody walls for the job he did in the state tournament and in the finals. He looked more confident as a second year ref than some of the others there. I noticed in the finals He was constantly telling the wrestlers to stay in the small circle and to wrestle wrestle wreslte, I could here him in the stands. He also appears to know the rule book inside and out. As a second year ref myself I think he stepped up the calabor of exelance at the state tournament,  Good job man

Barnett is my number 1 referee with Jimmy Shaw a very close second. I like the way each manages the match. They seem to be in control without appearing arrogant, flashy or having to be the center of attention. I can think of one time that I

I normally just read these comments and don't reply but I do have to speak out.  As for tapping out, it happens more than just at the state tournament.  We are refs not doctors.  If a wrestler says they are injured then we stop the match no matter what position they are in.  All of us try our best to be consistant.  We have called stalling and fleeing the mat all year.  As for myself, I have been calling stalling and fleeing as consistant as I can in every match throughout the entire season and I am sure the others have put the same effort into there officiating.  Everyone knows that we are short of officials so for all the people who think the have what it takes, take the test , pay the fees, buy the equipment and get out on the mat and give it a shot.  If you can contribute to this sport then we need you!

Regarding the tap out, I would like to see points awarded if a referee stops a match for a wrestler that taps, crys, or screams and you find out there was nothing wrong with them, regardless of whether the kid is on their back. I witnessed a kid who cried out to the referee just after making a mistake and was about to be turned with a half nelson. The kid was wearing a mask so referee stopped the match for blood and there was none. The wrestler on top was awarded zero points, when it was clear that there was nothing wrong with the other wrestler. Is there an unsportsmanlike rule that will allow a referee to award points when somehting like this happens? I realize this would be a judgement call, but it might prevent wrestlers from pretending to be hurt so that they can catch their breath or to keep their opponent from getting points.

Shumate is my hero and catan.

I also have seen wrestlers who don't even wear contact lenses act like they lost one so they could catch their breath.  And wouldn't you know it a minute later the second non existent lenses supposedly popped out.  How convienient.