There are three ways to score points for your team. Placement points, advancement points, and bonus points.
Placement Points
- 1st place: 16 points
- 2nd place: 12 points
- 3rd place: 10 points
- 4th place: 9 points
- 5th place: 7 points
- 6th place: 6 points
- 7th place: 4 points
- 8th place: 3 points
Pretty straightforward. You place first, you get 16 points. You place 9th, you get nothing.
Advancement Points
- Each advancement in championship bracket: 1 point
- Each advancement in consolation bracket: 0.5 point
This is also pretty straightforward. A wrestler is awarded one point for each match that he wins in the championship bracket, and half a point for wins in the consolation bracket.
For example, Nolan Boyd wins three matches in the championship bracket before losing to Gabe Dean in the quarterfinals. Nolan is then bumped down to the consolation semi-finals where he wins two matches to capture third place. Nolan would be awarded 4 advancement points (3+0.5+0.5) and 10 placement points for a total of 14 team points.
Bonus Points
- Each fall, forfeit, default, disqualification: 2 points
- Each tech fall (w/ near fall points): 1.5 points
- Each tech fall (w/o near fall points): 1 point
- Each major decision: 1 point
Bonus points are where championships are won. Penn State has won most of their 5 titles in the last 6 years on bonus points. Defeating your opponents handily, especially in the early rounds, is crucial to your team’s success.
To expound on what exactly the different ways to score bonus points are…
Fall: When a wrestler is able to get both of his opponent’s shoulder blades on the mat and hold them there for one second. This immediately ends the match and the winner is declared.
Default/Forfeit/Disqualification: When a match is called for any reason. The opponent is injured and cannot continue, a wrestler missed weigh-in and did not make his weight cut, an illegal or unsportsmanlike penalty is ruled.
Tech Fall: A tech fall occurs when a wrestler defeats his opponent by 15 points or more. Once the 15 point mark is achieved, the match is ended. In tournament scoring, a wrestler receives an additional half point when he is able to secure near fall points on his opponent. Near fall points are when a wrestler is able to get his opponent to his back, but unable to get both shoulder blades to the mat to secure the pin.
Major Decision: Major decisions are when a wrestler defeats his opponent by 8 or more points.
Consolation Brackets
Naturally we want our wrestlers to wrestle five matches, win them all, and have multiple individual champions every year. In reality, consolation brackets play a major role in deciding which team is going home with hardware.
When a wrestler loses in the championship round, they get an opportunity to rally and wrestle for third-seventh place in the consolations. The more you wrestle, the more opportunity you get to score bonus points, advancement points, and placement points for your teams.
