Sports

Ramapo Fencing Wins District Title for 10th Straight Year

Team qualifies for state team championship; Gorloff, Carcione and Judd qualify for individual state championships

Once again Ramapo’s journey to the District crown was a nip and tuck battle with archrival Don Bosco. But unlike last year, when at the end of the tournament they were tied for total victories and the winner had to be decided by counting touches, this time Ramapo won cleanly with a total of 69 bouts won vs. 67 for Don Bosco. Ramapo had the lead going into its next to last foil match against Don Bosco, and needed only one victory to clinch the overall gold. Ramapo lost the first two bouts and left the burden of producing a victory weighing on the shoulders of A-strip foilist Tanner Frank. Once again, the fans were in nail-biting mode as Tanner traded touches with his opponent until the score was tied at 4-4. They went back and forth for what seemed like an eternity, neither one being able to score the winning touch. Finally Tanner launched his best attack, a double disengage, to score the fifth touch, win the bout, and secure the overall gold medal.

The sabre squad, state champions last year and Cetrulo champions three weeks ago, in the biggest high school tournament in the country, were heavily favored to win gold, but they ran into a buzz saw of poor officiating. Chris Muller, fencing on the C-strip, fenced well but was unable to overcome missed calls by the referee in several of his bouts and finished with a 7-3 record. Adam Carcione on the B-strip fenced strongly, beating half his opponents 5-1 or 5-0 mostly with one light situations, where there was no possibility of the referee awarding the touch the wrong way. Adam went 10-0, giving a big boost the squad’s record and securing his place in the individual final. Alex Gorloff was plagued by bad calls by the referee, who happened to be the sister of his main competitor in the event. This conflict of interest never should have been allowed.  I have lodged a protest with the event organizers. Despite the problems, Alex fought to an 8-2 record, which qualified him for a spot in the individual finals. The combined score of 25 victories placed the squad in a tie with Don Bosco, which was resolved in Ramapo’s favor after counting touches. The squad won the gold and qualified to fence in the state squad championship. Gorloff and Carcione qualified for the individual championship round where Carcione finished 2nd and Gorloff finished 3rd, again with terrible calls by the referee. Nevertheless, both qualified to fence in the individual State Championship in March.

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As was the case in the Cetrulo, Ramapo epeeists matched the results of the sabre squad by winning gold in the squad competition. Sam Judd, on the A-strip, had a terrific 9-1 record, losing only to Cooper Schumacher, last year’s NJ State Champion. His record secured his place in the afternoon individual championship and helped propel the epee squad to their 
first place finish. Scott Zellers, fencing on the B-strip, fenced extremely well and also produced a 9-1 record, which earned him a slot in the afternoon individual event. Matt Martone, fencing in his first District Championship, did a great job with a 7-3 record, which helped the squad win gold but was not quite good enough to earn him a berth in the individual event. The squad qualified to fence in the State Squad Championship. In the Individual Championship Judd beat Schumacher but suffered his only loss to Andrew Gavrun, the teammate of Schumacher at Pompton Lakes. But Schumacher beat Gavrun resulting in a three-way tie for first place. In the fence off, Judd beat Gavrun, but lost to Schumacher to finish second. Sam will go to the State Individual Championship. Unfortunately, Scott Zellers fenced so hard for the squad in the morning that he was unable to keep up the intensity in the individuals and finished 7th.

The foilists produced a much better result than in Cetrulo by finishing fourth. Tanner Frank, fencing on the A-strip, went 7-3 to lead the squad in victories. He really came through for the Squad and the Team when he won his bout against Don Bosco. His record earned him a berth in the District individual Championship. Dan Kim did an admirable job on the B-strip with a 6-4 record helping to insure the squad a spot in the top half of the field. Finally Eugene Won, who was a last minute entry on the C-strip, validated our decision by more than holding his own to produce a 6-4 record. The squad finished 4th which has qualifies them to fence in the State Squad Championship. In the Individual Championship, Tanner fought hard against a very talented field and finish 6th.

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Thanks also go to all the substitutes and score keepers who did not get to fence but who stayed with the Team the whole day giving their support; Gregory Duch, Dan Carione, Tim Lee, Nick Carpino, Tommy Sheng, Patrick Pinney, Matt Rizzo and Adam Polevoy.

The Team’s next competition will be Tuesday, Feb. 5, at home, in the first round of the State Team Championship. The opponent will be determined by the outcome of the other District Championships. The time will be announced shortly.

Please come support the Team…it makes a difference!!!

Contact: Coach Paul Apostol 201-891-6208; pdapostol@optonline.net

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), Pompton Lakes 17-10 (14-5), Northern Highlands 19-8 (14-4), Indian Hills 15-12 (14-5), Bergen Tech 19-8 (14-3), W. Milford 18-9 (14-6).

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