Ramapo Out Duels Wayne Hills

The following report was contributed by  boys fencing head coach Paul Apostol: 

The Ramapo Team had to rely Tuesday on their strong sabre squad to beat Wayne Hills whose foilists and epeeists outmatched Ramapo’s Green Raiders.

Ramapo jumped out to an early lead thanks to a clean sweep of the first three sabre bouts, but struggled to a 5-4 record at the end of the first round as the foilists and epeeists were unable to win more than one bout apiece.

That pattern repeated itself during the second round, which ended with Ramapo in the lead, 11-7. Fortunately, the sabreists repeated with three opening victories in the 3rd round to clinch the meet at 14-7, when Ramapo sent in their bench — mostly freshmen who managed one more victory to finish the meet at 15-12.

Green Raider sabre fencers dominated their Wayne Hills opponents going 9-0. Most of their victories were by lopsided scores of 5-0 or 5-1. The closest bout was an exciting one where freshman Adam Carcione was in the high-pressure situation of fencing the bout that could deliver the crucial 14th victory to clinch the meet.

Unsure how to combat a lefty, Carcione lost 3 touches to his opponent immediately. After a time out and some valuable input from team captain, senior Charles Copti, Adam fought his way back to a 4-4 score before landing his final touch to win his bout and clinch the meet for Ramapo.

Copti overwhelmed his opponents with 5-0, 5-1, and 5-1 scores.

Squad captain, senior Josh Chang similarly dispatched his opponents with 5-0, 5-0 and 5-3 victories. Adam Carcione also won all three of his bouts, with his final win being the only one with a close score.

Ramapo epeeists did not fence their best and were able to produce only a 3-6 record. Starters, juniors Sam Judd, Scott Zellers and Anthony Sclafani all went 1-1.

All three were disappointed to lose to opponents they feel they should have beaten.

Foilists — like their epee teammates — also struggled to produce a 3-6 record. Starter and squad captain, junior Tyler Clarke went 1-1, as did junior Tanner Frank. Sophomore Tim Lee produced the third victory for the squad. 

There was also a JV meet that was not completed but which gave many of our younger fencers an opportunity to compete. Sophomore sabreists Chris Muller and Gregory Duch both went 2-0, while sophomore Stephan Vazquez and freshman Dan Carione went 1-0. Freshman foilist Eugene Won went 1-1. Epeeists, sophomore Matt Martone and freshmen John Lim and Matt Rizzo all went 1-0.

The squad  

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