Ramapo Fencers Victorious over Pompton Lakes

Ramapo fencers sharpened their skills by defeating Pompton Lakes Pompton Lakes 17-10 (14-5) in a one-sided match Friday.

At the end of the 2nd round, with Ramapo holding a 13-5 lead, the second string replaced 8 of the 9 starters.  A sub fenced the first sabre bout in the 3rd round to clinch the meet at 14-5.  

The Ramapo sabreists are seeded number 1 in the Cetrulo and they demonstrated their strength by beating the Pompton Lakes squad 8-1. Gregg Duch led the squad with a 3-0 record. He got off to a rough start squeaking out a 5-4 victory in his first match but then settled down to win his next two bouts by 5-1 scores. Alex Gorloff, who has a 16-0 record and is the only starter on the Team to be undefeated for the season, showed his ample talents by winning both of his bouts 5-0. Chris Muller also won both his bouts with convincing 5-1 and 5-2 scores. Sophomore Dan Carione, who was subbed into the meet for the 1st  bout of the third round, contributed the squad’s 8th victory with a well-fence 5-2 win to clinch the meet for Ramapo.

The foil squad fenced much better than they have in our last several meets and produced a 5-4 record, but three of their losses were by substitutes. Starter Tanner Frank won both of his bouts with impressive 5-2 and 5-1 scores.  Eugene Won also fenced exceptionally well and won both of his bouts by 5-1 scores. Daniel Kim contributed the squads 5th victory with a hard-fought 5-4 win.

Pompton Lakes epeeists have some of the highest ratings in the state and showed why when their starters defeated our starters 4-2. Sam Judd produced an exciting 5-3 victory against Cooper Schumacher the defending NJ State High School champion. Matt Martone bided his time and let the three-minute clock run out with the score at 1-1. He secured his 2-1 victory by scoring the first touch during the sudden death overtime period. Third round substitutes John Lim and Gerry Stamatelatos each won their bout to round out the 4-5 score for the squad.

The Team Parents showed off their cooking and baking skills by contributing a variety of outstanding dishes to the good luck send off dinner that they hold for the Team before it leaves for major Tournaments. A highlight were cookies in the shape of fencers with readily identifiable foilists, sabreists and epeeists. The Team was inspired and felt ready to face tomorrow’s challenges.

Ramapo’s next meet is against Northern Highlands, at home, Tues. Jan. 15.

Please come and support the Team. It makes a difference.

Ramapo’s prior meets against: Nyack 28-1 (14-1), Fair Lawn 23-4 (14-2), Passaic Valley 16-11 (14-7), Bernards 15-12 (14-12), Columbia 11-16 (8-14), Don Bosco 13-14 (12-14).

Have a question or news tip for Wyckoff-Franklin Lakes Patch? Contact editor Joseph M. Gerace at Joseph.Gerace@patch.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox every morning, sign up for our daily newsletter.