Is it better to get it right or is better to strictly follow rules? That is the question following the bombshell that came down last week when it was subsequently revealed the team that had the second most points at the Colonial Valley Conference Wrestling Tournament on Jan. 30 had incorrectly been declared the champion. Steinert was named the winner on the day of the tournament after it was announced it had finished one point ahead of host Robbinsville. Five days later, however, it was discovered a mistake had been made and Robbinsville had not been awarded two advancement points for a forfeit win. When the correction was made, it resulted in Robbinsville finishing one point ahead of Steinert. Obviously, the easy solution would have been to acknowledge the error and declare Robbinsville was the actual champion. Instead, the decision was made to follow the National Federation rule that states errors involving team scores “must be corrected within 30 minutes of the official posting of team scores.” As a result, Steinert is the champion — even though it didn’t win the tournament. “It’s unfortunate,” replied Steinert coach Joe Panfili about a team title he acknowledged will be perceived by some as “tainted.” As of last check, Steinert has not conceded the title to Robbinsville and has no plans to give the championship trophy to the Ravens. This decision flies in the face of what many people think the Spartans should do. “Of course they should give Robbinsville the trophy,” said one Mercer County coach on Saturday. “They didn’t win the tournament.” Although it’s unclear when the federation’s 30-minute rule was implemented, this isn’t the first time in area wrestling a team tourney title was changed after a scoring error. In 2011, North Hunterdon was declared the winner of the District 17 Tournament three days after host Hunterdon Central had been incorrectly named the champion. In fact, it’s actually the third time because Voorhees one year was also named the team champion at District 17 after Hunterdon Central had initially been awarded the title in its own fieldhouse. In all three of the above mentioned instances, it was the home team’s tournament officials who were the ones responsible for the scoring error. The difference at Robbinsville was the error penalized the home team. “It’s disappointing,” reiterated Panfili. “There are no winners here.” In some ways, it’s also complicated. Steinert certainly did nothing wrong and you can even make the argument one of its wrestlers might have found a way to score an extra point if the Spartans had known it was needed. This 30-minute rule is also ridiculous. For openers, it took easily over 30 minutes to figure out where a mistake was made. Furthermore, is every coach really supposed to bring someone to a tourney who is totally knowledgeable about tournament scoring and spends the day monitoring what is plugged into a computer. What sucks for Steinert is it’s being perceived by many as the bad guy for not conceding the title. On the other hand. … It’s kind of like the statue of limitations. Did something not happen just because time ran out before it could be determined what did? The idea of declaring co-champions has also been suggested. This, of course, is a cop out, but might be a way to keep everyone relatively happy. After all, if you simply list Steinert as the winner in the record books, it could be accompanied by the biggest asterisk since they put one next to the name of Roger Maris for breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record. SECTIONAL UPDATE Although nothing is official until the recalculation along with a final review and announcement of the pairings on Tuesday, the cutoff for the sectionals has come and gone and there has been some reshuffling involving local teams. In Central Jersey Group 3 power points, Brick Memorial is No. 1, followed by Matawan, Robbinsville and Hopewell Valley. Robbinsville, however, will bump Matawan because it beat the Shore Conference team, 37-35, on Saturday. Hopewell would have bumped Robbinsville because of a head to head, but no longer can because Matawan will be in between. This means on the opening night of sectionals next week at Robbinsville, in the quarterfinals the Ravens will take on Burlington Township and Matawan will face Lawrence. Hopewell Valley, meanwhile, will wrestle Brick Township at Brick Memorial, which will open against No. 8 Allentown. The winners will then wrestle later in the evening in the semifinals. Turning to C.J. 4, heavily favored Colts Neck is No. 1, Hightstown is No. 2 and Steinert has dropped all the way to No. 6. In the quarterfinals at Hightstown, the Rams would face No. 7 Long Branch and Steinert would take on No. 3 Manalapan. The very good thing for CVC wrestling there’s an excellent chance at least one of its teams will be in a sectional final a week from Wednesday. STATE NOTES The battle for public school bragging rights in the state lived up to its billing as No. 1 Southern beat No. 2 Delsea, 37-31, on Saturday when it won the last bout by decision. Had it ended up tied at 34-all, Southern would have won by criteria.Keep in mind the final No. 1 public school rating is still up grabs because Southern and No. 3 Howell are in the same S.J. 5 section. The NJSIAA has another scheduling conflict on its hands following the news the MAAC has signed a five-year contract to hold its basketball championships in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. The way the state dealt with this problem this year was to push the season back one week later than it had in the past. Why not go the other way and simply shorten the season to insure Boardwalk Hall is available? The wrestlers sure aren’t going to complain about having to make weight for one less week. Trentonian Public School State Wrestling Rankings 1. Southern (15-1) 2. Delsea (16-3) 3. Howell (19-1) 4. Delaware Valley (17-0) 5. Mt. Olive (13-2) 6. Phillipsburg (10-4) 7. North Hunterdon (10-8) 8. Lower Cape May (17-3) 9. Jackson (15-2) 10. Washington Township (15-5) Trentonian Area Wrestling Ratings 1. Delaware Valley (17-0) 2. North Hunterdon (10-8) 3. Seneca (16-3) 4. Hopewell Valley (17-2) 5. Robbinsville (16-9) 6. Lenape (12-4) 7. Rancocas Valley (12-4) 8. Delran (17-5) 9. Steinert (17-4) 10. Northern Burlington (12-11) 11. Hightstown (16-9) 12. Shawnee (10-13) 13. Cherokee (14-13) 14. Cinnaminson (12-10) 15. Allentown (9-7) HIGHLIGHT MATCHES Wednesday: Shawnee at Robbinsville. Thursday: Ocean at Hopewell Valley. Saturday: Robbinsville at Rancocas Valley. Monday: NJSIAA sectional quarters and semifinals. ...read more read less