Insanely Controversial State Finals 👀 

For y’all who don’t know. The refs who officiated this match split fast. They know they messed up and split. They need to be held accountable. This was egregious

Dude...seriously?! That was clearly a reversal, leg hooked AND on top position. I wouldn't necessarily call any nearfall, considering the ride was not controlled and turned into a leg scramble; but the 2 reversal came prior...plain and simple. State Champ: Mantanona of PO!

That young man is a better sport than most of us because I would've been wreaking havoc

I’m really hoping those two referees are no longer employed as referees.

You can’t reverse the call on the mat just because a scramble ensues after points have been awarded. Obviously had Mantonona known he was still down by 1 he would have wrestled for an escape.

I was there and watched it live. You gotta love crowd involvement, but this whole controversy pretty much ruined the atmosphere of the finals. It was the last match before awards too, so a large part of the crowd ended up booing the champion. I can’t say I agree with the ref’s decision here, but the least the crowd could have done is not boo this poor kid on what is probably the greatest day of his life.

Simply Inexcusable! There has to be a way to file a protest.. happened to Kolat several times in the past.. but honestly, this is unacceptable. There Has to be an official video reply, rulebook consultation, right there on the mat.. and then sanctions against the ref for wiping FOUR points off the board

I have wrestled and coached, and lately refed for 14 years. I have made some mistakes, and I regret them all. But I never made one this bad. Thankfully. congrats to both boys. well done. Beau..you are a State Champ in my book.

If the ref tosses that two points for the reversal (or backpoints) and the scoreboard says Beau is winning, that really really affects what he's gonna attempt in that last 7 seconds of double overtime. What you attempt being up 1pt vs down 1pt is like opposite when you have any mat awareness- and both kids do. That's that real fuckup here. Letting the beau kid believe he just had to hold on to win and not kick loose and score. Beau even looks up at the clock/score to confirm🤷🏻‍♂️. A false pretense was established affecting the entire outcome- and in a scramble situation 5 seconds is an eternity. The call was terrible, but that's the true tragedy of this...the refs setting up a false sense of what's happening the last 7 secs. 🤦‍♂️

Ref clearly awards the reversal and started counting the nearfall with 3 swipes. There is no way you can deny Mantanona his win. Head referee and review process failed this young man and robbed him of his State Title.

Kid is a champ for his sportsmanship toward the opponent and situation.

I've been coaching wrestling since the 90s, that officiating was perfect and the score was correct at the end of the match. Whatever criteria they used to reverse the decision was ridiculous. This will be overturned

Green: does an inside switch at 10:00, Red feels he is in trouble and grabs onto Green's right leg or ankle 10:01. Green continues to scoot to the rear of Red eventually lacing Red's right ankle, pulling Green hip to hip behind Red 10:06.Criteria is met for the reversal, Red panics showing he has lost control and attempts a funk/leg pass 10:07 but due to his leg being laced can not roll all the way through 10:08. Mat Official starts criteria count, 10:08-10:11getting a 2 count for near fall criteria. Red is rolling back and forth not exhibiting any control 10:11. Red has one hand on Green's ankle at 10:22 not an indication of control, Green has both of Red's feet a good indicator of control 10:22. Mat official was in position to make the reversal call, you could argue he was not in the best position to make near fall criteria count and points. Side judge was not in position to make the reversal call or even question that call but was in position to question near fall criteria. Mat official should have been strong on the reversal call and could have waved off the 2 backs. Moral of this story: Athletes have to be good enough to beat their opponent and the officials too!

I really hope this is taken to a higher level. I don’t know if it’s a high school athletic commission or what but this is wrong in so many ways. To not be able to video review has to change. There is no point in not allowing video review. Mistakes happen by referees yes I get it but they shouldn’t come at the cost of these young athletes. They simply review it and get it right one way or the other and the athlete that wins gets the title.

This exact situation unfortunately happened to me in a regional final match back in 2016. Still sucks to think about but once points are awarded like that, the refs should not be able to go back into the match after the match is over and make changes. I bet the last 15 seconds of that match would’ve been a whole lot different if there was never points given.

You know the officiating wasn't good if Flo is talking about it. Also it was a clear 2 and you can pull up the rule book, if they hook the foot it's 2.

That’s one the most heartbreaking ways to lose, that’s really not fair at all.

Never seen something like that...especially in a CA state title match! Mantanona heard the 2 reversal and then 2 NF and just did what he was supposed to do, hold on for the last few seconds to win his state title. It was stolen from him.

Thank you @flowrestling for posting this!! The referees CIF used in this match should be ashamed of themselves. If not for being in an era of cellphones, it would be close to impossible to prove anything in the face of official denial! #wedemandanexplanation

I feel so bad for Montana he got his dreams taken due to refs making poor decisions 😪

In my opinion, after watching and rewatching this, I would say that Moantanona should have won that match 4-3. I don't think the back points were clear, but the reversal was indicated by the ref, and no disagreement with the other ref ever. Also, if those points were not to be counted I would argue to return to the beginning of the OT 3rd period and allow them to compete evenly for the title. How can you overrule your own decision after the fact? I can see how the ref could not have given the reversal, as Gioffre did seem to have the leg of Mantanona, but that was decided by the ref, and then they had like 15 seconds left at least in the period. This was a match decided by the refs and that's wrong and terrible. It cheapens the win and minimizes the loss.

10:07 Pause the video you will see the ref clearly has awarded the reversal holding up two fingers with his right arm outstretched upwardly, and with his left arm pointing toward the scramble.

Bullsh*t! Not only did he clearly win, in the absence of video replay, what is awarded by the ref on the mat should stand. The ref sees what he sees on the mat. Dude standing on the side is just that, dude standing on the side.

Bad call, period. Lead the wrestler Mantanona to understand he had the reversal. Wow!

The whole thing stinks. The "control" rule stinks. There is far too much of this thing where a wrestler grabs a leg/ankle and holds on for dear life to disallow a reversal, takedown or escape. They HAVE to change the rules. If a top wrestler loses control of the bottom wrestler it should be an escape, at the least. In this match the Gioffre kid lost control of Mantanona. Gioffre grabbed a leg and held on to prevent a reversal/escape. That's all he did. He was not in control, was not trying to improve, and certainly was in not position to score. This crap has to stop. It's hurting college wrestling. Too many wrestlers have perfected the "art" of hanging on and causing a stalemate. It's far to easy to grab an leg or ankle and stalemate out an aggressive opponent. Terrible.

So in the end, there is no basis for reversing this call outside of the mat referee changing his mind again and re-awarding the points. The talk of "bad time" etc is meaningless. This is not a situation that is covered by bad time. I agree with the comment below that the ref just messed up his timing and got quick on his call. But I think the thing he saw was the near fall - if he's counting near fall points, the control is implicit, so he gave the reversal. I won't argue whether it was a reversal or not. I think it would have been fine if he had held off the call and not given the reversal, and there is an argument there was a reversal. What should have happened, though, is that he should have stuck with the call. He awarded the points based on his best information at the time. If he had stuck with the call, or not made the call in the first place, we could have a fun discussion of whether he got the reversal or not. That would be a lot more interesting than the discussion of how the ref screwed the pooch.

100% was at least 2

The assistant referee should have never been involved, he screwed that kid out of a title. Kudos to both wrestlers.

Cali Reffs have created A MONSTER! I feel bad for anyone wrestling beau next year! Good Luck!

Something similar happened at 182 MN class AA state finals. One point match, crazy scramble, half the arena screaming two and the other half screaming no points. One ref had reversal and the other had no reversal. They chose to settle on a loss of control and let the two battle it out on the feet. Perfect decision in my mind.

1st and foremost; In dual mechanic officiating, the assistant ref cannot overturn the head ref. The head ref could ask the assistant if he had a better view, which in this case, the head ref had the best view of the leg being hooked on the switch. The assistant ref approached the head ref and started talking. A MAJOR NO-NO!. Lastly, it was clearly a reversal when the kid hit the switch he scooted around and hooked the leg while his own hips were up and off the mat. There is even a picture of this in the 2021-22 rule book. The ENTIRE blame goes to the assistant ref who was wrong on multiple levels.

Love hearing Oren’s voice on Flow! Good stuff!

It did not seem to be a reversal. The other wrestler still had the lower part of his leg. The ref totally blew that call by awarding him two points. It clearly affected how Beau finished the match. He would have wrestled differently if he knew that he was losing by a point instead of being ahead by a point. What a shame.

They really should have run it back with the time left from the false points call. It's on the ref, it's his fault in this situation.

Damn, imagine being that ref. Just threw away a kids title bc of the call he made. The ref legitimately just decided that he wanted the kid to lose and reversed the points. Don't even call the points if you aren't 100% sure man. It would have been way better to have called nothing and given points after rather than during the match and take them away after.

this was heartbreaking to watch in person

From the angle that was shown. That was a clear reversal and back-points. Even if they ended up taking off the points they should've ran back the time since the wrong score was posted. There's no real good explanation for this. This needs to be reevaluated. Maybe it won't help Mantanona but for future wrestlers in this situation.

The final reversal and meatball were awarded. How did another ref change that? Once in the board you can't just take it away.

Love to see how the 2 competitors handled the situation. Good call. 1 Ref got way too excited! It is that referees fault!!

I watched it live, I also saw a lot of other fishy incidents of Buchanon choachses getting mad and than calls being reversed

19:21 😂 wrestling fans are ruthless

“I’m not going to comment on the BAD call!” Good job of not commenting! 😂

I was there when it happened and the officiating was horrible it disgusted me he obviously got the reversal and the ref even started swiping near fall but somehow ended up losing. So when Palm deserts coaches went to argue the call the refs ran off the mat.

I’m a Buchanan fan all day. I live 5 min from the school but I honestly think Mantanona should have won with the reversal. That’s a heartbreaking lost.

Whether it’s a reversal or not is not the issue it’s the way the ref went about waiving off the points. Once the call is made on the mat and both wrestlers process it, it creates a sequence of actions based on the call on the mat. Officials have 1-2 seconds max to waive off a call otherwise stuff like this happens and everyone loses, including the kid who “won” bc his championship is now considered illegitimate by most, obviously the kid who got robbed, and now both officials who’s credibility and reputation will be damaged beyond repair. You can argue semantics about the reversal call but the refs should have stuck with and lived with what they called in real time. Horrible precedent

Y’all know what the reaction time rule is right? Ok just checking👍🏽

I had a state title taken from me by a reff in a more controversial way so I feel his pain

I don’t know about near fall but it was definitely a reversal

There is control by the wrestler on top even thought the hands of the opponent are locked around a leg. The top wrestler has his opponent off the base and is hip to hip. The 2 pts for reversal were legit. 4-3 final, Montanona state champ

Poor kid, both of these dudes gave it all they had and terrible officiating determined the winner. The refs have to know that they took the title from Montanona. Good respect shown by both guys with the embrace at the end.

This is impossible. It is exactly as bad as changing a first period after the match is over. Heads should roll, and they should award both of them champion medals and brackets.

This was a robbery if I ever seen one. The refs really need to take accountability for this. Wether it was two or not Beau had no reason to change positions when he was thinking he was up and then lost bc he wrestled like he was winning. Absolutely horrible.

I'm just out here really appreciating that no look coin flip half way across the map by the ref at the end of the first period. I don't think I've seen one quite like that before. Past that though....that's incredibly rough for Mantanona to have the points awarded and then disallowed after the match ends. Doing that in a 15-1 match is one thing, doing that in a SV match is another, and then doing that in a SV State Finals match is incredibly brutal. Not sure anything about the makeup of the crowd and whatnot, but kudos to them for realizing the shittiness of the situation and showing Mantanona support.

The officials SCREWED up .

The problem here is simply that the ref called a reversal and awarded the points. Then the match continued for another 18 seconds until time ran out. This is the point in which the referees try and decide whether or not points should have been awarded? Why didn't the other ref step in if he thought there wasn't a reversal? During that entire, last, 18 seconds (which seems like an eternity when you're wrestling) Mantanona was just trying to maintain the control he had been awarded. Unfortunately, there was no justification for that final call; however, to boo Gioffre wasn't appropriate either. I hope the organization in charge of California high school athletics can find a viable solution to resolve this matter.

Has anyone seen an example of this before? I've never EVER heard of points getting taken off the board after a ref makes the call at a high school level. That's bonkers. I know in higher levels there is video review and what not, but man, that is a brutal way to lose a match.

In that first match in the second 30seconds- the reversal / NF wasn’t scored because the opponent never released the leg even when bottom wrestler sat up and turned the corner. That was the right call. Control was not established!!!!

This is mind blowing I can’t believe how stupid that ref is I’m pissed I feel so sorry for mantanona

whoever those two refs are should be fired and never allowed to ref again. can’t be making calls like that especially in a state finals match. just terrible.

They are getting ready to show what happens at the end and a freaking domino's ad starts playing. Dammitbobbi!

Damn bro. I feel terrible

The reff hesitated on his reversal and that made it look bad. As soon as the bottom wrestler got behind both arms the reversal should have been awarded. Since it was a late call the, now defensive wrestler did a roll through which shouldn't have been counted since the offensive wrestler didn't hold him there. You cannot score near fall unless the offensive wrestler holds you in near fall criteria. If the official would have called it faster I believe the other wrestler would have immediately worked for an escape to tie it back up. Teaching moment for the official for sure, but these are intense matches and it's not easy being on the whistle. I know I just did the OR state tournament.

Should have looked at the video FloWrestling was shooting if they didn't have their own video to review!

This was all on the ref! How could he call that a reversal? It changed the entire match. It sucks for both of these kids. Hope this ref never gets to a state final again.

I hate to second guess officials (since I am a wrestling official myself) but in my opinion, I think the head official may have called that reversal too quickly and probably should have held that call as the wrestlers were still scrambling. So I think there was no change. HOWEVER, if the ref awarded the reversal too quickly, I think that those points should be waived off IMMEDIATELY while the wrestlers are still wrestling….not after the match since the wrong wrestler may have thought he was in the lead when he wasn’t. In that situation, it’s tough to justify taking points off the board when you’ve put them on. For purposes of selling the call, the refs should have stayed with original call since there likely would have been no controversy in that circumstance . I feel really sorry for the officials for being in that situation.

The sad thing is every time they got in a wrestling position Mantanona won. If he had the college 3 count we would have had a take down in the first period anyhow. I don't blame the officials and its really tough to see if he legitimately got that reversal. However, it is a common thing for officials to take points away after they call it on the mat, and it often happens that it changes the tactics as soon as the points are awarded.

Shades of 2012 “Fail Mary” or “Inaccurate Reception”.

leg hooked & had control, that was 2pts.. worst case if the ref robs him of the 2pts he should have restarted the match at the point he awarded the 2

You can always tell when two wrestlers have wrestled multiple times

As a former ref mistakes happen. No one is trying to screw one kid over intentionally. It’s tough to make a call in the moment only to see later you made a mistake. But it’s not intentional.

My son his Senior year was behind going into the 3 period down 1. The other guy was a leg rider and he put the legs in on my son and my son was right in the middle of the mat and really didn't get much going but in the last 30 seconds wiggled out and up and was awarded 1 to tie then took the guy down and was awarded 2 seconds before the buzzer. Winning the match at first as the boys were walking back to the center the other coach starts Questioning the score the refs confer on it and after both Coaches and the refs got done no points were awarded and my son lost. He ended up coming thru thre the lower bracket and got 3rd at State anyway ahead of the wrestler that beat him. My son was picked top 6 but did better than most thought.

I wrestled my whole life, never in the State Finals but i was involved in many controversial calls like the one that got my arm broken!! But I think Dana White said it best when he said a very long time ago, DONT LEAVE THE OUTCOME IN THE HANDS OF THE REFS!! So heartbreaking

Take this down, This shit has throughly pissed me the fuck off, someones job needs to be had Mantanona 4-3 for the win, this is the wildest shit.

I can see the ref going either way here. It did appear that he had 2 on the reversal when he hooked the leg and briefly maintained control. The other kid then transitioned well out of desperation in the funk roll. I agree with no back points here but if they were going to wipe the two (reversal) away then they should reconsidered restarting at that time to allow him to try to escape. Refs are human and not perfect but this call to non call ruined this kid’s chance of the state title bc he wrestled the remainder of the time as if he had his needed points. I hope they consider a new rule out of this situation to stop this from happening again.

It’s a shitty ordeal for the kid who thought he had 4 points there & so he let off the gas especially since he’s a senior & from the sounds of it this was his best year & his first & only State Title. That’s why I always tell my Jr. High team I coach “WRESTLE THROUGH THE WHISTLE” bc you never know. I didn’t see a reversal let alone a near fall. He didn’t have control when they called the reversal. He only had 1 leg free & he clearly wasn’t gonna go anywhere. There would’ve been a scramble but a few more seconds and it likely would’ve been a stalemate. IMO Gioffre still had control of him w/the leg he had. Every ref is gonna be different but apparently the other ref didn’t agree with the reversal either. I know in Ohio they wouldn’t of called that a reversal. There was a match at The Ironman just last year where something almost exactly like that happened but the top man still had control of the bottom man’s leg & they didn’t call it a reversal either. In all my matches for a reversal we always had to be in control to get the 2 for that bc if 1 of your legs are still held I mean your really not in control regardless of what it may look like to ppl wether your on top or not.

When you try pumping up the crowd but remember it’s high school 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I mean what sucks the most is that the kid had an easy escape but didn’t want to risk anything after assuming he was up by a lot. It’s a shame.

This was one of the best matches of the night. It was also such a bs call. The whole place knew who the real winner was.

This "funk" wrestling needs to be re-evaluated. At 4:09 Montanona should be getting near fall points for having control and exposing back points. Also, the ending should at least be loss of control for 1 pt to Montanona. Also, holding on to a leg should be stalling, it is if you drop to a leg and hold onto it from a standing position, it should hold the same from a non-standing position, but someone determined at some point that this "funk" wrestling still determines control which is absolutely asinine. This rolling onto your back should be either loss of control or reversal and IF, big IF, the wrestling performing "funk" regains control, should be awarded another takedown. This should all be predicated on whether wrestling performing "funk" gains control or action results in stalemate. If wrestler performing "funk" gains control it should be reversal of points and then awards points for regain of control. If it results in stalemate, opposing wrestling should be awarded loss of control 1 pt escape. OR just don't reward any points if wrestler regains control and loss of control in stalemate. There's no way any one wrestler has control in this ying yang position or if either wrestler has each other's legs. NO ONE IS IN CONTROL AT THIS POINT OF ACTION. Refer to Section 24 - Stalling, Article 4, d.

Tough lesson. As my coach always said "never stop wrestling"

We had a ref call locked hands, the side ref overruled while our kid was hitting a Free move and got pinned then the main ref agreed and our kid lost thinking he had a free move on locked hands

Holy shit, this breaks my heart

👀 I always tell my kids, "Never leave up to the table help or refs. Decisive victories." Hopefully they initiate replay after this debacle.

Did I miss it? What state? Michigan?

The winner should have conceded and give the de facto winner the spot. He knew it he didn’t deserve it anyway. Sportsmanship could have led this moment better.

Mantanona handled themselves from Grace though shook the man's hand give him a little hug he will do well in the ncaa's

I just saw this match and I think the Mantanona kid should be declared the winner. He was given a reversal and back points.

What state was this in?

I didn't see a change in control, nor back points, but the ref blew the call and changed the wrestlers strategy. What a horrible job by a ref that is working a State final match!

I think I heard that the 2a 138 Illinois state championship match always also controversial

I just bad for both of these young men. Even the kid who won has a shadow cast over his state title.

“It’s not college they don’t have video review here” The camera recording the match: 🤨📸

Just FYI everyone there is not a bad time situation here here regardless if the ref changes his decision. All they could have done is changed the score, and if the decided to give 1 then continue wrestling into the ultimate tiebreaker.

As a lifelong wrestler with many close matches I think that was the right call. Yeah he did grab the ANKLE for the reversal but the bottom wrestler still had his right arm fully into the leg (like a high crotch). The top wrestler would’ve had to clear his leg from that inside hook.

The ref clearly gives 2 reversal, at the 10:07 mark, then at the 10:12 mark, he gave 2 back points, for some reason the scorekeeper never updated the score. I don't know how they came up 4-3? Fishy for sure!

He was down 1 point. He got the reversal. The ref called it. Then he got two backs, the ref banked it. His helping official never refuted it during the scramble. Mantanona is the champ.

The only thing worse than that call was the commentators during this match. That was a reversal from this angle, doesn’t matter if he has the leg grabbed.

No sir, no Beauty to this at all. Those refs should never ref another match again

I’d love to hear mike Perez’s opinion on this

It's 2023 and he's currently ranked #1 in the state at 152. His brother is at 138 also ranked #1. The entire team is on a mission. CIFSS Masters is up next, then state. Leave no doubt!