Watch: Oklahoma high school wrestling dual between Elgin, Tuttle ends in benches clearing

A dual between two powerhouse Oklahoma high school wrestling programs ended in both benches clearing Friday.

The incident came at the end of Elgin’s dual at Tuttle. Elgin junior heavyweight Jace Williams drove Tuttle senior Jace Warren off the mat and into Tuttle’s bench before members of each team swarmed to the area.

The situation essentially ended with that, and Warren was awarded the victory via disqualification as Class 4A top-ranked Tuttle sealed a 48-18 win over the Class 5A second-ranked Owls.

A video of the match and the aftermath was posted on social media and quickly gained popularity.

More: Elgin, Tuttle wrestling dual ends in benches clearing: Everything we know

Although the dual ended in rough fashion and with Warren on his back, no further altercations ensued, although the girls dual that was scheduled to follow was called off.

“It’s really not that bad,” Tuttle coach Bobby Williams said. “The situation of the kid driving our guy through the bench to the floor, that was a very unfortunate thing. The kid was in the wrong, and that was bad. But the stuff that happened afterwards, there’s no punches. We got control of the situation really fast.”

Bobby Williams was sitting on the bench before the two heavyweights rapidly advanced toward him.

“The only person that got beat up was me and my heavyweight,” the coach said. “They ran through me.”

This wasn’t the first time Jace Williams and Warren had faced off this year.

The two battled in the third-place match at the 79th annual Geary Invitational earlier this month and things got rough before Williams notched the win with a pin.

Bobby Williams said Friday’s dual was going well before the heavyweight match.

“We’ve never had bad blood with Elgin,” he said. “It’s not something that’s ever came across. Coach (Cody) Rowell was actually doing me a solid. I had another team planned to come wrestle us that night and they dropped us and I called Coach Rowell and he was like, ‘Hey, we’ll come up.’”

Attempts to reach Elgin’s coaching staff were unsuccessful.

The Owls, who won their first dual state title in school history last year, are having a great season and were 9-0 in duals heading into Friday.

The dual had some close matches, and Bobby Williams said the score wasn’t a great indication of how competitive Elgin was with Tuttle, which will try to pass Perry next month for the most dual state titles in state history with 21.

Bobby Williams said he’s thankful Friday’s situation didn’t escalate further.

“The situation itself was handled really well,” he said. “Just look at us coaches and I know you see everybody is flying around and it looks chaotic, but we de-escalated the whole thing really quickly.”

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What are the OSSAA rules regarding altercations?

Bobby Williams said he isn’t sure about the repercussions of Friday’s dual, but the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association rulebook states that athletes must be suspended at least one contest if they clear the bench during an altercation.

“Any substitute or team member who leaves the team bench (football player leaving the team box, baseball or softball player leaving the dugout, basketball player or wrestler leaving the team bench, etc.) and enters the playing area during a fight or any other serious unsportsmanlike act shall be ejected,” the OSSAA rulebook says.

“Those players or team members identified by game officials, school administrators, or videotape will be suspended a minimum of one game if they were not involved in the altercation and a minimum of two games (exception: soccer) if they were involved in the altercation. This rule applies to both regular season and play-off games.”

Punishment for athletes directly involved with altercations is also outlined in the OSSAA rulebook.

"A student who is disqualified during a game or contest because of a flagrant or unsportsmanlike conduct shall be ineligible," the rulebook says. "A disqualified student shall remain ineligible for at least one contest before he/she is reinstated by the principal. If the ejection occurs at the end of a season and there are not a sufficient number of contests left in the activity for the season to satisfy the sit out period, then the student shall sit out an appropriate number of contests in the next activity in which the student participates. If the student is a senior and there are not a sufficient number of contests left in the activity for the season to satisfy the sit out period, then the student shall sit out an appropriate number of contests in the next activity in which the student participates.

"A student whose flagrant or unsportsmanlike conduct consists of fighting, cursing or using foul language toward a game official will be automatically suspended from participating in a minimum of the next two regularly scheduled games or contests on the same level of competition that his/her team plays (Exception: See Soccer).”

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What's next for Tuttle, Elgin wrestling in 2024?

Tuttle is scheduled to end its regular season Tuesday with a dual at Mustang.

Elgin placed second behind Bixby in the Big 4+4 Tournament in Ponca City on Saturday. Shay Spencer wrestled as Elgin's heavyweight. The Owls are set to end their regular season with a dual Tuesday at Cache.

Tuttle and Elgin have both qualified for the dual state tournament, which will be held at Stride Bank Center in Enid. Classes 6A and 4A will wrestle on Feb. 9, while Classes 5A and 3A will compete the following day.

Regionals for boys wrestling will be held Feb. 16-17, and the state tournament will follow Feb. 22-24 at State Fair Arena.

Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma high school wrestling: Elgin-Tuttle ends in benches clearing