I would like to let you know that you are way off on this. The coaches did NOT say to stay down, nor would they ever. The score was 2-2, that call was made due to Shebel taking a shot to Romero's knee's before the whistle was blown. Shebel might have heard a whistle from another mat, but Romero was standing straight up and his knee was hyper-extended.

But that is neither here nor there atm as Romero was raised to be a better person and not take a "dive". You better get your facts straight before you make malicious claims.

I have to admit that I was guilty in assuming that Romero would take the win off the penalty...although I didn't boo.

Mixed reviews of this one. I agree that the refs should have blown the whistle when Romero was essentially over Vaughters head...and put himself there by jumping up. It almost looked like he was asking for a slam knowing Vaughters agressive and extremely physical style (and in my opinion Vaughters obliged him with one).

After the end result, I realize how wrong I was and felt very guilty about assuming the worst...I stood, applauded and thought that it was the classiest thing i had ever witnessed in MD Wrestling. And to Vaughter's defense, there really was no soft way to take him down from there and Romero could have cushioned his own landing but for some reason didn't. I also thought Vaughter's theatrics before Romero got back up were a little much but I would leave that to his coaches who calmed him down once but then let him get riled up again and stomp around in anger.

I have been reading the responses concerning the Vaughters/Romero match. I know neither young man and have no affiliation with either school. I have been associated with high school wrestling as a coach and a referee for over 30 years. I watched the conclusion of this match and would like to make a couple of points;
1- it was without a doubt a slam
2- the outstanding sportsmanship on the part of LaPlata coaches and wrestler should have never
come into question
3- a wrestlier injured by an illegal move gets 2 minutes of recovery - at the end of the two
minutes, if unable to continue, the injured wrestler is declared the winner
4- the booing of the injured wrestler was disgraceful and an embarassment
5- helping the injured wrestler to the center of the mat to finish the 12 seconds in the match so
that the offending wrestler could win his championship was irresponsible and unconscienable
The referee's number one priority in a match must be the safety of the competitors. To ignore the rules (2 minute recovery) and allow a kid, with undiagnosed injuries, to complete a match so the crowd would be pleased was a deriliction of responsibility, to say the least.

miner52,

In regards to your fifth point, by the letter of the rule book you are correct. The restart was basically abolished a few years ago with a little publicised rule change that at ANY time during a match, the coach or wrestler could throw in the towel, (not sure of the exact wording but basically concede victory to the other wrestler). I think that what transpired in this case is that Romero took it upon himself to finish the match and therefore, not leave a black mark on his or Vaughter's performance. The official final score was 8-3, NOT an injury default. Again, I can't say enough about the class of Nick Romero and his coach for doing the right thing. I also have no hard feelings toward Ron. He is a very talented wrestler and I look forward to watching him again next year as he tries for a three-peat.

Vaughters did not slam him to the mat. I've seen some ferocious slams, and this was not even close.
He appeared to me that he had ample time and opportunity to put out his hands and break his fall. I was bewildered as to why he didn't. The boy didn't wrestle those last 12 seconds, so how is it deriliction of duty and irresponsible. Apparently, he and coaches didn't think it was an illegal move, or they wouldn't have conceded the win. I wouldn't have wanted to win it that way, and neither did they. Very honorable. Congratulations!

Shebel vs Romero Match

This is in response to ARomero

You don't even know the referee started the match and your asking me to get my facts straight!
Here are the facts I know:
The wrestlers go back to the center after going out of bounce
The referee blows the whistle 00:00
Wrestlers move clockwise / referee moves back
Shebel's back is to the referee / Romero facing the referee
The referee blows the whistle 1.69 secs after starting it
Shebel shoots .74 secs after referee blows the whistle to stop the match for blood time
2.94 secs after the first whistle to stop / he blows the whistle again
3.19 secs after that he calls for blood time to start
2.13 secs after that he offers the point after looking down at Romero
Romero is down on the mat for 1 minute 11 secs total time
1 minute 18 secs after going down / Romero has full weight on both legs with his hands on his knees
in a hyperextended stance.
1 minute 44 secs after going down / Romero is walking over to his corner and smiling at his coaches, even well before the hand shake

How are those for facts!

My problem isn't with Romero. He did what most wrestlers would have done. But please don't tell me how hurt he was. Smiling less than 2 minutes after going down, walking fine.

The referee called for blood time, looked at the River Hill coach and thought to himself, Hey, I could end this here. Why would he call for blood time to start ( which he called for several times ) if the match was over? The referee immediately became defensive.
The River Hill coach was not saying anything at that time.
The referee when he made his descision to give a point, points at the River Hill coach in a angry manner and awards the point.
The referee most certainly had a problem with the River Hill coach. If he was angry with the River Hill coach, thats no reason to take it out on the wrestler. Romero was fine to continue.
I believe the referee was bias with ties to LaPlata, and also had it in for the River Hill coach.
The Maryland State Officials should be ashamed of themselfs for allowing this to happen!

All caught in HD

Mr. Downey, and anyone else commenting on this subject take this into account:
The forum allows for discussion and the sharing of views and opinions. Which everyone who chooses to do so within reason can.

However, for anyone to question the events that took place or place question upon the motives of the La Plata program is not appropriate. The official called it a slam, the events could have played out any number of ways, but it was an aggressive attempt to score and an aggressive attempt to counter being scored upon, nothing else.

Everyone is free to speak their mind as you do, and I am now, however I would greatly appreciate it if everyone would pause before they attempt to make claims for other people. You didnt think it was a slam and that is your opinion. I wont come on here and make comments about you, your son, or his team just as I would not do so about anyone else and I would appreciate it if you and others would apply enough restraint, maturity and thought to not speak as though you know anyone from La Plata or how the program operates.

The simple fact is that Vaughters was favored, Romero wrestled him as tough as he could and when the final few seconds played out the way they did everyone assumed what would happen, some rather vocally, rather than allow an injured young man to recover and show his class.

It is more than just winning or losing, I think some of us have forgotten the greater possibilities and lessons athletics and wrestling can teach us. Too often people want to cry foul and search for a loophole rather than accept responsibility. Some people will work hard for success and accept what happens with their heads high rather than scream foul and complain. Whether it was illegal or not is not the point, whether you win or lose is not the point. Witnessing something greater should have left an impression upon everyone, and rather than creating a negative situation perhaps we should be trying to develop positive traits in our youth so that our future will be better than our present.

"We" as in a majority of society place a great deal of blame upon officials, unless we won...what if we did not do enough to win? Or if we made the wrong decision? Rather than accept our loses and learn from them "we" want to blame someone other than the one in the mirror. I have disagreed with many a call, but I have agreed with countless more. The way I choose to handle myself and present myself to those around me matters more to me than whether I got my way. We are supposed to learn from our victories and our defeats and improve ourselves as well as those around us. When we set a poor example we damage our future and our society. This whole issue is embarassing, but just like the rest of you I have said my piece, only now I am done....May you all be safe and healthy.

Dude, chill out. I wasn't criticizing the young man, I congratulated him. You need to re-read it. He landed face-first, not tossed to his side or back...certainly would have helped to put out his hands. If he couldn't get them out in time, so be it. It's just my opinion, I didn't think it was an illegal slam.
This is still the USA, where we have freedom of speech. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, right?

Dave
Here is the point. Neither the LaPlata coaches nor their wrestler "threw in the towel." Rather,after much more than two minutes had expired, the LaPlata wrestler, clearly still wobbly from the slam, was assisted to the center of the mat and the final twelve seconds were run off the clock. The class of this young man and his coaches is unquestioned. The problem is that those final twelve seconds should have never taken place. The official of that match was charged with the application and interpretation of the rules and, most importantly, the safety of the wrestlers. To allow an obviously still shaken and injured young man to toe the line long after two minutes of recovery had expired was irresponsible.

I just watched the video and I agree with pdowney on this one. Romero jumped at least twice and was up in the air over Vaughters head. The ref should have stopped it both times, then this never would have happened.

I know the ref's have a tough job and only a split second to make calls, however, this was for the safety of the kid. The call should have been potentially dangerous. The restart would have been with about 16 seconds left.

However, I agree with the previous post, the two minutes had run out and the match should have been stopped right there, according to the rules. If there is interpretation here, then if the chair of the referee's association could explain, it would be greatly appreciated.

Romero and LaPlata are definitely a class act!

First of all, I am Nick Romero's dad and I would like to thank everyone for all the nice things that have been said in the positive qoutes that have been posted, I am very proud of my son for making it the finals and his actions should leave no questions to his heart or character. With that being said I would like to address a couple of posts.

Mr. Downey,
I have the entire match on film and the series of events from the time that Nick was hopping up to try to get out of the single leg till his head hit the mat was less than 3 seconds (very quick) so I doubt that you have perfect recall on exactly what you might have saw. After looking again at the film in slow motion, you can plainly see that it was a slam and the referee made the correct call. The referee was placing his whistle in his mouth and it appeared he was going to call potentially dangerous but never got the chance because it all was happening so quick. But the film shows Ron switched to a double while Nick was in the air and when his head hit the ground ( btw after his left arm did in an attempt to cushion himself) Ron was still in an upright position with niether knee being close to touching the mat. Now I don't believe at all for one minute that it was malicious or intended to hurt Nick, but it is the wrestler's responsibility to safely return him to the mat. It was not that Nick or the coaches didn't think it was illeagal, just not intentional, so Nick didn't want to punish Ron for making a mistake, he was the better wrestler that day & won the match. If you or anyone else wants to see the final seconds of that series of events give me your e-mail and I'll send an mpeg so you can see for yourself again in slow motion. Enough said about that.


Now, on the matter of the the behavior of the Old Mill fans,
First of all, I have already talked to Ron and his Dad and they should know this is not aimed at them or any of the other Old Mill fans not part of the repulsive display.

I understand being passionate, hell I'm passionate ,borderline fanatical sometimes, but I have 3 words for the Mob-like scene that they created.. SHAME ON YOU!!!!!

One post said that you guys called my son a chump, believe me that would have been 1 of the nicer words yelled, try a 5 letter word that begins with a P & ends in Y, and I heard them all because I was right by you during this time, Real nice thing to yell at a kid who just came down partially on his head from over 5 foot in the air and had his bell rung. Do you realize that YOU could have cost Ron his title. Being his father I could stooped the match and not have allowed Nick to do what he did and the match would have been over with Ron not winning and Nick being mad at me for doing it. But it would have been your fault, you guys were causing such a scene with the booing and cursing I could not get the coaches attention to find out how bad he was hurt, lucky I trust their judgement and didn't have to step in. Also if it weren't for those 2 kids on the mat being hurt by it because of your actions, I should have did it just for the horrible way you were acting and the vicious things being said about my son, who none of you know at all. All of you need to sit back and ask yourself if it was really worth the embarasment that you have brought on for your team and school and how bad you looked after the outcome of the match. The outcome for which you had NOTHING to do with. Please remember that family of the kids your talking about like a dog may be around and nobody wants to hear crap like that and all the excuses and apologies in the world will never give you back your dignity.

Mr. Romero not all Old Mill fans are like that. Most Old Mill fans are dedicated to their sports teams and follow them to all their athletic events. You, your son, and your coach are class acts for what you did. We need more examples like this in sports. I know Ron appreciates what your son and coach did. Ron is aggresive and very physical, but does not want to hurt anyone. I am sorry for the reactions of some of our fans. Please accept my apology for anything that affended you and the Laplata fans.

Thank you Sir,
Yes I realize that all of Old Mill's fans are not that way, our school is similar with dedicated fans and I hope the heat of the moment dosen't take things that far for any schools as it does no good for anyone. Also as I stated in my post , I never thought that there was an intention to hurt Nick by Ron, in fact I think he is a good kid and a great wrestler and I like watching him . I just hope he manages to know in the future when to throttle back to a safe limit sometimes so that mistakes don't cost him a deserved victory( I know it's hard to slow down when your going all out), after all it is a rough sport and while a good aggresive and physical attack will win you alot of matches, sometimes to much of a good thing can be bad.
With that being said, as long as it isn't against another LaPlata wrestler, I'll be rooting for Ron's continued success next season. Thanks again

justafan, I'll take your word on it. can't argue with slow motion. lol
illegal v. intentional....I understand.
thanks for your input and good luck to you and your son. congratulations on being a state finalist!
pat

i am sorry but i have tried to stay out of this but i just cant. doesnt anyone see the common thread here. this is the second time vaughters is at the center of a controversy on a forum posting for slamming. last year it was MMM with tatanish and now this. i hope we never have to post about a kid being permanetly disabled by him slamming an opponent. wanna see tough, aggressive clean wrestling watch tyler goodwin or frank wrestle. slamming people under the guise of "aggressive" is nonsense. good luck with taking that kind of style to college. taking a bad reputation to college will put you in a body cast drinking out of a straw real fast.

http://www.scholasticsportsnet.com/inde ... sportID=23

I disagree, I think Vaughters did nothing wrong. Romero put himself in a bad spot, and Vaughters seized the opportunity.

That video sheds a lot of light on what transpired. I know people have mentioned the match with Tatanish, but does anyone recall the match at states last year against Austin Wenzlaff from Tuscarora? Austin got in an awkward positon and Ron "took advantage" by bending him over backwards so far that his head touched his tailbone. It was nauseating to watch, and I couldn't help but think his promising career ended right there. He was taken to the hospital and it was deemed he had a bruised spinal cord. Do I think Ron wanted to hurt Austin? No. Do I think Ron knew exactly what he was doing? Absolutely. When wrestling, you know when you or your opponent is in a compromised position. You choose how to exploit such an opportunity. I have no issues with agressive wrestling, but I do have an issue regarding poor judgement. So I don't question Ron's ability, style, or motives, but I do question his judgement. If Ron is getting a reputation, it's probably his judgement more than his style.

Additionally, when did Ron begin to show concern for his injured opponent? His actions certainly didn't do anything to persuade the Old Mill fans to show compassion and concern for an injured wrestler. Having been in a similar situation 20 years ago in high school, albeit not in the state finals, I was so shaken by my opponents lack of responsiveness, that I don't think I could have continued even if he could have. My slam was illegal, not intended, but illegal. I lost and learned a very valuable lesson.

For the safety of everyone, let's not be so accepting of aggressive wrestling in the absense of good judgement. Had Ron lost, unfortunately as it may have been, he definitely would have learned to adjust one of them. Hopefully he still learns the lesson in victory.

that was nothing compared to what you see during summer wrestling, with the 5 point moves and the throws...not even close. he didn't "slam" him or throw him or toss him. I honestly don't see what you're seeing.

That may be true but officiating for a freestyle match is not the same as a high school competition. It is different from high school to college. I seriously have no dog in this fight as I don't know either wrestler but in high school the officiating rule book clearly states the safety of the wrestler comes first. Not saying anything is right or wrong, just what the rule states.

no ones saftey was put in danger...romero and vaughters hugged it out for the last 12 seconds. no wrestling took place, who cares what the rule says about injury time vaughters deserved to win the match and he did. end of story

Mr. Downey'
Again, any time you would like to see another angle of these events, just let me know, I have the video that shows Ron going from a single to a double and then spinning and dropping him not controling the fall. You can call it what ever you want but with 15 seconds left and the match in hand, it was not justified. But thats my opinion and you have alot of them.

When looking at it in "real time", one should be able to appreciate the speed at which these moves occur. Everthing transitioned so fact, I believe Vaughters, in the heat of battle, just kept wrestling. Perhaps it was illegal because he didn't first get his knee down, as you've mentioned; however, I don't believe there was any intention to slam him or any common denominator, as "stapes" has eluded to; in fact, I wouldn't even call it a slam. The match is over and I don't think Vaughters deserves the all of this bad publicity. I'm done. Thank you and good luck to you and your son.

Gregory Kane's view..."sportsmanship, character, courage..."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opini ... 32407.html


You can show appreciation to Nick one last time at the MSWA All-Star meet Saturday at Comcast..2pm