Robbinsville’s boys wrestling team should have won the overall title at the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament last Saturday.
It did not, however, because of a scoring error.
Steinert did win, ending a 30-year title drought in a dramatic finish. Steinert beat Robbinsville by a single point to win the overall team championship.
The error, which was detected on Thursday, showed a Robbinsville wrestler was not given credit for a forfeit victory. If it had been entered correctly into trackwrestling.com, Robbinsville would have received two advancement points. That would have been enough to win the team title, 237-236.
Adding salt to the wound, Robbinsville was the host team.
The scoring error was first reported by the Trentonian.
“At the end of the day it was my responsibility to catch the mistake in real time,” said Robbinsville head coach Dan Hughes. “Our tournament staff is full of great people and they do not deserve any blame.”
Coaches contacted the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association about the scoring discrepancy, but the association did not make an official ruling. Instead, it directed both schools to read the National Federation of State High School Associations rule.
“The Colonial Valley Conference Wrestling Tournament is not an NJSIAA tournament,” NJSIAA spokesperson Mike Cherenson said in an email. “The association did not issue any ruling regarding the status of the CVC conference championship and has no role in determining conference championship outcomes.
“On Thursday, February 6, coaches involved in the match contacted the NJSIAA State Rules Interpreter and asked him to provide the applicable rule related to an alleged scoring error. The State Rules Interpreter did not issue a ruling and simply shared the relevant National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) rule.”
In the NFHS rulebook, it reads:
“Rule 6 – Correction of Errors – Article 5 – Tournament scoring errors by match official or official scorer:b. Team Score: Errors involving the recording or computation of team scores must be corrected within 30 minutes of the official posting of team scores.
Note: It is the coach’s responsibility to know the team scores at the conclusion of the tournament. Any discrepancy must be reported within a 30-minute time frame following the conclusion of the tournament.”
Cherenson said the NJSIAA had no further involvement in the outcome.
Steinert Athletic Director Bill James called the error “unfortunate.”
“The mistake was not malicious,” James said. “We had discussions with NJSIAA rules interpreters and it was decided five days after the tournament was too long to make a change.”
Hughes explained to his team the scoring error and the decision not to change the outcome.
“I explained I made the mistake,” Hughes said. “We told the kids the same thing we always tell them: We are proud of the way they act and compete. Every kid who steps on the mat for us is a champion. They are proud to know the actual result and we can sleep easy knowing it.”
Will Robbinsville hang a banner acknowledging the team title that wasn’t?
“That’s between me and my team,” Hughes said.
