“It didn’t make any sense to me,” Halter said. “To have an escape, you have to be totally separated from your opponent, and we were together in those final 20 seconds. I said to the ref, ‘What was that’ and he gave me an unsportsmanlike conduct call.”

After that call was issued, Halter shook hands with Willis and then flexed his muscles.

“(The officials) said I was flexing toward the crowd and taunting them, but I was flexing at my dad because I just won the match and I was excited,” Halter said. “To have the ref take this opportunity to go to state away from me; it’s personal.”

Arendt officiating Halter’s match did not sit well with Waterford coach Tom Fitzpatrick.

“I think there’s a conflict of interest with a referee that knows Cooper and Cade Willis,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think there’s a desire to bring a talented wrestler down for no reason because he’s showing emotion. And now the WIAA keeps adding to the list of things that Hayden allegedly did. Why did (Arendt) not recuse himself from the match?”