At a massive high school tournament like the NHSCA Nationals, where there are something like 32 mats and multiple weight and age divisions, it is hard to keep track, and wrestlers will get calls on the PA system with final warnings. Some matches are forfeited.

But at the college opens, although it may look chaotic, it's actually not too hard to follow the progress. They usually progress through the brackets from 125 to HWT, so there's plenty of advance notice on how close they are getting to your match. And each match has a number beside it on the bracket. So if there are eight mats going, and most of the matches going are nos. 130-138 (more or less) and your match is #178, you could be up in about 5 matches (40 matches / 8 mats). And you often (not always) know which mat you'll be on next.

And then once the first round is over, everyone usually knows if the event is moving to a consolation round or staying in the top bracket for the next round. If they are going to a consi round, and you won your first match, you know you have a long break coming.

The wrestlers follow this flow like second nature, and they are usually reminding each other with comments like " hey, they're on 133, a couple 141s out there now," things like that.