Golden Boy!

Yesterday, Noah competed in an RYC Y14 foil event in Atlanta.

Noah had seven in his pool, so he fenced six bouts. His first encounter was with a fencer from Virginia. He was up for a moment, 2-1, early on, but quickly fell behind as the other fencer scored three touches in a row. Down now, 2-4, Noah scored again, but couldn't pull it out, losing by a score of 3-5.

The remainder of his pool bouts went pretty well. He won four of them by a score of 5-2, and won the last 5-1.  He was the top fencer in his pool, earning the number two seed going into the elimination bracket.

Noah earned a bye in the round of 16. This round took forever since the organizers only used two strips and two referees. Eventually, Noah's DE bout in the round of 8 started. After all that waiting, this was a good warm-up bout for Noah. He was facing the number seven seed. Noah scored the first seven touches, allowing him to relax and try some new things. He won, 15-6.

The number three seed was next. Not an easy bout, this.  Noah fell behind quickly, down 1-6. Not looking good. But Noah rallied and brought the score to within one, and edging ahead to lead at the break 9-8. In the second period, Noah scored, then his opponent scored, then Noah, then his opponent.  11-10.  Then Noah scored twice. Then the other fencer scored twice.  Noah was then able to make the final two touches for the win. A hotly-contested battle.  Noah wins, 15-12.

The gold-medal final bout was against the fencer who beat him in the pools. I don't think Noah was too concerned since he tends to warm up during the course of an event, and he was fencing well. Noah began strong, scoring three unanswered touches. His opponent won 5 of the next nine points, but at the break Noah was still in the lead, 7-5. Noah came back after the break to score two more quick touches to extend his lead. These were then matched by his opponent, but then Noah scored four unanswered points to bring the score to 13-7.  Then it was the opponent's turn. He turned turned it up and scored the next four touches. Now 13-11. Not over yet. Noah did eventually score the final two touches to win the day. 15-11. A gold-medal performance!