Noah competed at the Sunshine State Games--Florida State Fencing Championship--this past weekend. He had a spectacular showing that demonstrates how he has worked his way back from last year's injury and is ready for the future.
Saturday he saw competition in the Y14 Foil event. This event, open to fencers 14 and under, included six rated fencers, one A (the highest rating), 3 Bs, and 2 Es. Noah is unrated. He enjoyed fencing the older crowd.
He had a thrilling encounter with a B-rated fencer during the pool bouts. Noah started the bout winning the first three touches. Exciting! His opponent evened the score, then Noah went up 4-3. One more touch and Noah would beat the older, B-rated fencer! His opponent tied it up. The next person to score a touch will win the bout. After some fierce fencing, Noah's opponent scored the winning touch. Noah was excited about almost winning that one. An excellent showing against a strong opponent.
He won three of his five pool bouts, losing only to the two B-rated fencers in his group. This earned him the 5th seed going into the next round (the single-elimination bracket) of the Y14 foil competition.
Noah won his first Direct Elimination round match 15-6 against the #12 seed. His second match was against the #4 seed, another B-rated fencer. Noah fought valiantly before succumbing to this guy. It was quite an accomplishment to score 10 touches on this fencer who eventually won the silver medal in this event. Noah placed fifth, just out of the medals, right behind all of the A- and B-rated fencers. Noah was very happy with his performance on this day.
Sunday, Noah competed in the Y12 Foil competition. This is his age group. Going into the pool round, he started with the number 2 seed behind an E-rated fencer. It takes some excellent fencing to earn an E rating as a 12-year-old. This fencer is also nationally ranked. As a result of their #1 and #2 preliminary seeding, Noah and this fencer were placed in different pools.
Noah had great success in his pool bouts, winning them all and allowing only 3 touches against him in five bouts. As a result, Noah earned the #1 seed going into the single-elimination round of the Y12 foil event.
He received a bye in the first round. His second round match was against the #8 seed. At the end of the first period, Noah was ahead 9-2. He then scored six quick touches in the second period to win the match 15-2.
His semi-final bout was against the #5 seed. His opponent scored first, but Noah quickly retaliated with 8 unanswered touches. He was up 12-4 at the break, and finished the match with three straight touches early in the second period. Winning 15-4.
Noah's final match was against the #2 seed--the much larger, E-rated, nationally-ranked fencer. Just as the match got underway, Noah was issued a yellow card--in the noisy hall, Noah had thought an off-target touch had been scored so he turned his back on his opponent. When play resumed, the opponent scored the first touch on Noah. Noah tied it up. 1-1. The larger fencer then scored the next two touches. 1-3. Noah scored again, then his opponent scored four touches in a row. Noah was down 2-7. After a few words of advice from his coach, Noah regrouped and came back. He scored. His opponent scored. Then Noah went on a tear and scored five consecutive touches, tying the score at 8-8. Wow! What excitement. His opponent scored twice more bringing us to the break at 8-10 with Noah down by 2.
When the second period began, Noah fought hard and won the next four touches in a row. Ahead now, 12-10. Still anyone's game. His opponent scored. And scored again. Now 12-12. Noah bore down and was able to fight for three more consecutive touches to win the match and the gold medal!!!! An amazing come-from-behind win! Noah is the 2015 Florida State Champion in Y12 Foil.
He can't wait until competition resumes in the fall.
