By Robert Carter

The North Jefferson News



Sometimes arguing with a referee does work after all.

It did for Mortimer Jordan wrestling coach Terry Tingle, who was upset that the Devils’ Matt Barnett was not credited with a takedown of Walker’s Andy Fike.

After a the referee discussed the matter with his assistant, the call was changed, giving Barnett a 9-8 win in the 140-pound class of Saturday’s Class 5A sectional championship.

Barnett is one of 32 wrestlers from four North Jefferson schools that qualified for this weekend’s AHSAA State Wrestling Championships at Von Braun Center in Huntsville.

Fultondale leads the quartet with nine qualifiers, including defending state champion Brett Pennington at 140 pounds. Three Wildcats won sectional titles: Pennington, Sam Robles at 171, and Chris Self at 152.

Fultondale placed second in the team standings at St. Clair County, trailing the host team by a 180-143 margin.

Gardendale placed eight qualifiers and took Class 6A sectional titles in three weight classes: Connor Hayman at 119 pounds, Andrew Todd at 152, and Joe Jones at heavyweight.

The Rockets were fourth in team standings, with host Hewitt-Trussville winning the section.

Hayden will send seven wrestlers, including sectional winner Josh McCoy at 152 pounds. The Wildcats were placed fifth as a team in the Class 5A Section 1 meet at Arab.

Jordan, which hosted the 5A Section 2 meet, will send eight wrestlers to state finals, including Brandon Brindley, who is the the defending 103-pound state champion. He’ll wrestle this year at 112 pounds, and won a sectional title with a 9-3 decision over Jessey Averett of Brookwood.

Along with Brindley and Barnett, Travis Shelnutt also captured a sectional title at 119 pounds for the Blue Devils, with a 11-4 win over Craton Bush of McAdory.

After leading the team standings following Friday’s early rounds, Jordan fell behind a surging Tallassee team and finished second. Nonetheless, Tingle was very happy with his team’s showing.

“Eight at state out of 12 — that ain’t bad,” Tingle said. “I’m ecstatic. With five seniors and a bunch of young guys, you never know what you’re going to get. I thought we wrestled great [Friday], and okay today.”

The controversial ending in Barnett’s match was set up by a strategy decision on Tingle’s part. With 41 seconds left in the third and final period, Barnett had scored a takedown to tie the score at 7-7. But with the clock running down, Tingle told Barnett to let Fike go free.

“It was a strategy decision, and was the best strategy at the time because we didn’t want overtime,” Tingle said.

The intentional escape gave File a point and an 8-7 lead. But soon after the release, Barnett brought Fike down to the mat, and appeared to have him in control and his back exposed, which is the definition of a takedown. The referee didn’t agree, despite the thunderous reaction from the near-capacity crowd, and time expired with Fike’s lead intact.

Tingle immediately went to the scorer’s table to register a complaint.

“I asked him to ask his assistant, because the ref was on the opposite side of the action,” Tingle said. “The assistant helped him make the call, and I think it was the right call.”

Competition at the state finals begins on Thursday for Class 6A, and Friday for Class 1A-4A and 5A. Championship matches are scheduled for Saturday.