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Sports

Ramapo Fencing Loses to Ridge School

The loss drops the team to an overall 10-3 record for the year

Ramapo lost a close match Wednesday against Ridge 13-14 (12-14) and were eliminated from the team championship.

In the round of 8 all the competitors are really tough. Ramapo fencers who should be proud to get to the round of 8 fenced really well against an excellent team and came within one bout of winning. Going into the competition we were hoping that our dominant sabre squad would match the record of their dominant foil squad and that our epee squad could go 5-4 to clinch the meet.

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As predicted our sabre went 8-1 matching their foil that went 8-1, but although they were fencing very well against excellent epeeists, our epee squad was able to make only four victories, which tilted the match to Ridge.

Ramapo fencers did well in the first round going 5-4 after two wins apiece by the sabre and epee squads and one win from foil. In the second round sabreists produced 3 wins, while epee contributed 1, which put the score at the end of the round at 9-7, Ramapo.

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Sabreists swept again in the third round which gave Ramapo a 12-9 lead, two wins away from victory if only we could win two our of the next six bouts.

Unfortunately, Ridge swept foil and won the first two epee bouts to clinch the meet at 12-14. Ramapo won the last epee bout to bring the final score to 13-14.

The sabre squad went 8-1 with outstanding fencing by Alex Gorloff, who won his bouts by scores of 5-0, 5-0, and 5-3. Adam Carcione who also dominated his opponents with scores of 
5-1, 5-3, and 5-0 matched Alex’s three wins. Gregg Duch was subbed into the competition in the second round, fenced aggressively, and won both of his bouts to help produce the 8 victories.

Against a very strong Ridge epee squad Sam Judd was undefeated going 3-0 but he had to work hard for his victories, which he made by two 5-4 and one 5-3 scores. Matt Martone got a 4-3 lead in his winning bout and held off his opponent until time ran out to add the fourth victory for the squad whose record was 4-5.

Ramapo foilists struggled against a much stronger Ridge squad. Eugene Won produced the only win by gaining a one point lead and holding off his opponent until time ran out giving him a 4-3 victory.

This weekend a number of Ramapo fencers who qualified will travel to Baltimore, Maryland to fence in the Junior Olympics. We wish them well and will report on their accomplishments.

Ramapo’s next meet against Teaneck on Friday, 2/22, at home, will be our last, regular season League meet. All three of our squads, having qualified at Districts, will fence in the State Squad Competition on Sunday, 2/24.

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

Regular season 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), Pingry 16-11 (14-10), Wayne Hills 18-9 (14-7).

State championship meets against: Pingry 16-22 (14-10), Ridge 13-14 (12-14)

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