Ramapo Fencers Fight Off Scrappy West Milford Team

Ramapo sabreists competing against West Milford on Thursday began in their usual dominant fashion, going 3-0 in the first round. Foilists did an admirable job going 2-1, but in a surprising upset, W. Milford epeeists, who are traditionally very strong, beat our epee squad 2-1 to put the first round score at 6-3, Ramapo.

Ramapo subbed in most of their second string in the second round of sabre and foil but a number of unexpected defeats which left the score at 9-6 after the foil round convinced the team that they should keep their epee starters in the meet.

With the pressure on, the epeeists validated this decision by going  3-0 in the second round to bring the score at the end of the round to 12-6. Sabre starter, Chris Muller stayed in the match to contribute a decisive 5-0 victory for the 13th win, and substitute Greg Duch delivered an effortless 5-0 victory that clinched the meet at 14-6.  

Ramapo sabreists, still fresh from their gold medal performance at the Cetrulo Tournament and their dominant performances against Northern Highlands and Bergen Tech, confidently opened the first round with a clean 3-0 sweep. Alex Gorloff, Adam Carcione, and Chris Muller overwhelmed their opponents with 5-1, 5-0, and 5-1 scores. Chris Muller stayed in the meet for all three rounds and finished with a 3-0 record. Greg Duch came into the meet in the second round and promptly demonstrated that he is a solid member of a strong Ramapo sabre tradition by winning his second and third round bouts by 5-1 and 5-0. J.J. Marcus, who only joined the Team in his sophomore year and has had a total of seven weeks of experience,
took to the strip in the third round and defeated his opponent 5-1 as he scored his first Varsity meet victory. The sabre squad finished with an 8-1 record.

West Milford’s strong epee contingent surprised Ramapo by going 2-1 in the first round, when squad captain Sam Judd was the only one to win his bout. Ramapo epeeists rebounded in the second round to go 3-0 as Judd, Zellers, and Martone each won their bouts. Third round substitute Matt Rizzo won his bout to bring the epee squad’s total record to 5-4.

Ramapo foilists fought to a 5-4 victory, led by Tanner Frank’s 2-0 record. Tanner had trouble with his first opponent and had to fight to a 5-4 finish, but against his second opponent he let his talent take over and he won the bout 5-0. The other victories were contributed by Dan Kim, Nick Carpino, and last but not least, freshman Patrick Pinney, a freshman who has been fencing for seven weeks, fenced to a 5-0 victory in the first Varsity Fencing bout of his career.

Ramapo’s next competition is the District Championship at Fair Lawn High School on Saturday. The bus will leave Ramapo at 7:30 a.m. Parents who want to attend the tournament should know that fencing would probably not commence until 9 a.m. and hopefully the tournament will end at around 8 p.m.

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), 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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