LowcoSports.com
Tiebreaker criteria don’t come into play all that frequently in high school wrestling duals, but they were critical in determining the outcome of the annual Coach Trap Duals on Saturday at Battery Creek High School, where the host Dolphins used a tiebreaker to their advantage to knock off Waccamaw and forge a three-way tie atop the standings. But the same criteria benefited the Bluffton Bobcats, breaking the tie and crowning them the champs.
If that sounds confusing, you aren’t alone. Battery Creek coach John Rutherford joked on the Lowco Grind presented by Reverence Wrestling Club that he asked several coaches and a couple of wrestlers to check his math before determining the Bobcats took the title after they wound up tied with the Dolphins and Waccamaw at 4-1 after the six-team round-robin.
And that was after they tracked down head official George Dixon to ask how to break a three-way tie in a round-robin dual tournament.
Incidentally, it was only because of tiebreaker criteria that the three-way tie existed. The Dolphins would have been mathematically eliminated against Waccamaw has the Warriors’ bench not been dinged for two match misconducts, costing them two team points. When John Coker secured a pin at 120 pounds, it pulled Battery Creek even at 39, and the Dolphins were awarded a point on the first tiebreaker criteria — team points lost due to match misconduct.
That gave Creek a chance to keep the hardware at home with a win against Bluffton, but the Bobcats had too much firepower and claimed a 54-24 victory that kept their hopes alive despite a 53-30 loss to Waccamaw earlier in the day.
Bluffton scored the most total points in head-to-head matchups among the tied teams, so the Bobcats were crowned champions.
Tiebreaker criteria also came into play in determining fourth and fifth place, as Beaufort and Hilton Head Island wrestled to a 42-all draw, but the Eagles were awarded a point by virtue of giving up fewer forfeits.
All of the area teams will go head-to-head again Saturday at the Bobcat Duals at Bluffton.
For more in-depth coverage of high school wrestling in the Lowcountry, tune in to the Lowco Grind presented by Reverence Wrestling Club, now streaming on-demand on the Lowco Media Network on YouTube.
Coach Trap Duals
At Battery Creek High School
1. Bluffton 4-1
2. Waccamaw 4-1
3. Battery Creek 4-1
4. Beaufort 2-3
5. Hilton Head 1-4
6. Whale Branch 0-5
*Bluffton wins three-way tiebreaker (total team points scored)
