bwoodward

Stalling is a judgement call, thus it is going to vary from official to official.
Should a wrestler be called for stalling for being on his knees? I think like all stalling calls it depends. Is the wrestler trying to avoid contact with his opponent or is he using it as an effective strategy to make it harder for his opponent to attack his legs while still engaging his opponent from a position in which he can attack. There is a difference between a wrestler who is on his knees & toes and one who is on his knees with his shoe laces flat. A wrestler can attack from his toes, but it is next to impossible to attack from flat shoe laces (which is what we saw from Graves). I'm still not certain it should be classified as avoiding contact though. While, IMO, Graves was in no position to mount an attack, he was presenting himself in the middle of the mat for Lee to attack. I believe (again my opinion) that avoiding contact means constantly backing up, circling &/or any other movement that is an attempt to keep your opponent from being able to engage you.
My biggest issue with stalling calls or lack there of is why is something that isn't called in the 1st period, the second period and even the first half of the 3rd period is suddenly called in the last minute of a match? You see wrestlers who employ the strategy of circling & backing away from a attacking opponent for the first two periods to keep a match close & not get any stalling calls. Then in the last minute when they are trailing by 1 or 2 points & are now pressing the action themselves, and suddenly their opponent who pressed the action for the bulk of the match is now hit with stalling calls. If it is stalling in the last minute then it should be stalling in the first two periods as well.
With all that said, an officials job is extremely difficult. And for the most part I believe the officials this weekend have done an excellent job.

Stalling really only hurts the heavyweights. Typically if a small guy is hit with stalling, he deserves it. Refs seem to forget that slide byes, duck unders, and other non leg attack moves are still offense! Just because they don't all shoot doesn't mean they are stalling! I wish a certain Ref we had at the NE8 and Goshen Regional would understand that. I have to tell my wrestlers every time we have this certain ref that they will most likely get hit, at least once. I'm just glad our AD listens when we tell him who not to hire for our home meets! 
Sorry for the rant! 

HAHA after 3 decades of ref bashing, awood2 jumps in and steals my thunder!!  
All those years of hanging over the rail telling refs that everything from their eyesight to their hairline was fading, but none as fast their officiating skills!  Awood2 makes a simple observation that kids (dare I say athletes) deserve a certain level of consistency and BAM!!  Pandemonium ensues and the topic goes viral!!  I had to cut dreadlocks mat side to butt hurt as many people!
Tubcutter would be proud.

At 53, I pee in Morse code...dot dot dash dot dot dash
 

Rumor has it AWood2 is on double secret probation!
 

At 53, I pee in Morse code...dot dot dash dot dot dash
 

At 53, I pee in Morse code...dot dot dash dot dot dash
 

At 53, I pee in Morse code...dot dot dash dot dot dash
 

Can I be butthurt in this thread, too?
 

You need to change your name to The Strategist.

Wow.  It has been 7-8 years since I've been on this site.  And now that I am no longer an official, I am back as a fan (not a former official).
My head is about to explode.
I don't know where to start.
Wrestling Scholar...you are mostly wrong.
SIAC fan...you are less wrong than WS but still mostly wrong.
AWood2...you are mostly right but wrong on occasion.

You can’t post that and not also list the head-to-heads!! I’m too busy watching Notre Dame getting manhandled by Clemson. 

I'm so old and out of shape, I don't think I'd last the first 30.

Wow.  It has been 7-8 years since I've been on this site.  And now that I am no longer an official, I am back as a fan (not a former official).
My head is about to explode.
I don't know where to start.
Wrestling Scholar...you are mostly wrong.
SIAC fan...you are less wrong than WS but still mostly wrong.
AWood2...you are mostly right but wrong on occasion.

I know the IHSAA is short on officials, but this holiday I saw NCAA officials on high school mats creating quite a stir (bluntly, a black-eye on our sport).  I'm gonna state the obvious - there is a difference in college & high school rules.  The NCAA officials taking high school matches need to understand the differences, why there is a difference, and they should agree to call the high school rules when on a high school mat!  The number of coaches with misconduct warning, team points taken, athletes losing their minds in the bleachers b/c they are shocked in the difference between calls per match at the same tourney, and even parents being removed b/c they were so upset after a finals match that was called by a NCAA ref...
not calling stalling on the top man (stalemate instead) out-of-bounds reaction time (the need for it) potentially dangerous holds in high school we want coaches to approach us when they don't understand so they can be a better coach for this athletes in all situations Finally, the NCAA officials I watched do not apply for the IHSAA tournament series.  Therefore, the coaches involved have no recourse, or voting power to rank these officials.  We are putting our best wrestlers on the biggest stages over the holidays and our officials shouldn't try to upstage the athletes.