NORTH BEND — Midway through the hectic madness of the Coast Classic at North Bend gym Friday night, referee Lester McFall stood, hands on his knees, and watched two wrestlers locked in red-faced combat. 

“Come on! Give him a point!” screamed an outraged onlooker who thought he’d seen a move worth counting. McFall squinted and calmly did not award a point.

The life of a referee.

But McFall is used to ignoring screeching fans — he’s a veteran official of nearly 20 years, and one of the best in the business, for that matter. And when it comes to the Coast Classic, he fits right in. Throughout its 24-year history, the tournament has attracted the top high school wrestling talent in the state, and so the event’s organizers have taken the approach that the officiating ought to live up to that as well. So they compile the best referees the South Coast has to offer, and import the top officials from other leagues in Oregon. The result — hopefully — is as close to error-free officiating as is humanly possible.

“Good officials are the key to a good tournament,” said tournament chairman Fred Lucas. “We try to get the best ones from throughout the state.”

Good referees come in all shapes, sizes and styles. McFall, a veteran high school and college official from Southern Oregon, had a kindly demeanor on the mat Friday night. He looked wrestlers in the eye and took the time to explain what he’d called and why. During the action, he got up close to the wrestlers, and softly described to them what he was seeing.

“How do I put this?” mused McFall in between matches. “I’m trying to prevent legal holds from going illegal. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Compare that to someone like Scott Hall — an 18-year veteran, and a Division I ref for the Pac-10 and ACC — who’s lean, bald and all business. Serious mat demeanor aside, though, talk to Hall and you’ll find the reason he’s willing to tack 20 hours a week on top of a full-time job is because he loves the sport and thinks it’s important for young athletes.

“I myself wrestled, so this was something I could give back to the sport. It’s probably one of the best sports, in that it teaches you a lot about life.” said Hall. “It is a tough job, though. There’s times where you’re not the most well-liked person in the building. ... We’re not there to try to decide any matches or anything like that. We’re just trying to interpret the action.”

But much of wrestling officiating can be arbitrary — Hall admitted up to 50 percent of it comes down to judgment calls — and people watching from outside the ring may not see the same thing.

“You know one coach is going to be happy, and one coach is not,” said Hall. “We all make bad calls. You just hope it doesn’t decide the outcome of the match.”

A thoughtful guy like Hall may have doubts about his officiating, but the organizers of the Coast Classic invited him to come call these matches because of a long history of being one of the best referees in the state. At this point, being asked to do the Coast Classic means you’ve made a name for yourself as a ref.

“I do consider it an honor to be invited to the Coast Classic,” said Hall, who’s now done the tourney about 10 times. “It’s one of the premier tournaments in the state.”

Not all the officials are brought in from outside, though. Plenty of the best officials at the Coast Classic are homegrown.

“The local (leagues) have some good ones too, but it’s just not enough for this size of tournament,” said Lucas of filling the requisite 16 refereeing spots for the event. 

Southwestern Oregon Officials Association commissioner Gary Grassham is himself a referee of more than two decades, and he’s been calling the Coast Classic for years. He said it’s a highlight of the season.

“This is the biggest single high school tournament being put on in the state right now, other than the state tournament,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun; you get to see a lot of really good wrestling. It’s bar-none one of the best tournaments that I’ve ever worked, and I’ve worked them all.”

The Coast Classic, with its eight varsity mats, is the kind of event that builds to ever-better competition.

“It’s great, there are some really good matches, although some of the early matches can be pretty lopsided,” said Tom Dyar, who’s been volunteering for wrestling tournaments for years and was handling staging Friday night. “(The wrestlers) are champions and runners-up, and they’re seeing where whey stand right now.”

Indeed, some of the early matches were tough to watch, and challenging to officiate as well. McFall watched a 15-5 rout and a largely scoreless heavyweight snoozefest with equal concentration. Other matches were better.

“I love it. This is a good tournament,” said McFall.

As McFall was leaving to head south — he has more refereeing to do elsewhere tomorrow — Hall was still striding the mat, looking confident and in control. His officiating record speaks for itself (he’s been voted the top official at the Oregon State Tournament in the past) but he knows enough about wrestling to realize he’s not going to be perfect — nobody is. Mainly, he hopes he can still sleep after the day’s action.

“At the end of the day, all you want to make sure of is that the right kid wins,” he said.