Trial by Fire

Noah had another amazing day fencing yesterday!

The Winter Garden Fencing Club hosted this senior foil "Trial by Fire" event at a venue in Ocoee, Florida. Eighteen fencers participated, twelve of whom were ranked fencers. The event carried a B1 rating.

Since Noah is ranked a C15 in foil, he drew the number four seed going into the pool round. His pool included one B-rated fencer, Noah (C-rated), one D-rated and one E-rated fencer, as well as two unrated fencers.

Noah handled the unrated fencers easily, winning those bouts by scores of 5-1 and 5-2. The D-rated fencer who he had fenced before, also proved to be no match for him; Noah prevailed in this bout 5-1. The E-rated fencer put up a bit more of a fight before going down 5-3.

Noah's battle with the older B-rated fencer was the one to watch. Noah has never beaten this fencer. Last week, Noah had him on the ropes, ahead 3-1 before finally losing 4-5 to this guy. So today the stage was set for a gritty rematch. Noah fought hard in this close bout and pulled out the win!!  5-4.

Having won all of his pool bouts, Noah earned the number 3 seed in the Direct Elimination bracket. (There were two other fencers who won all of their pool bouts. They placed ahead of Noah because they had allowed fewer touches to be scored against them.) As a high seed, Noah earned an easier path in this round. His first match was against the number 14 seed, an E-rated fencer. Noah won 15-12--not a blow out, but we'll take it.  Next he faced the number 6 seed, a D-rated fencer. Noah again found the win, 15-9--in better form. Noah arrives in the semifinal round, assured of a medal. He faced the number 2 seed (C-rated) in the semis. He's fenced this guy before and had trouble. Today proved to be not much different; Noah fought hard and went down in a good match by the score of 12-15.  This guy went on to be the gold-medal winner in the event.

Noah wins a bronze medal (third place) in a senior B-rated event. Bravo to Noah!!!

Blue and Orange

Noah competed in the senior mixed foil event at the University of Florida Blue and Orange tournament yesterday.

Some good fencing.

Noah had a tremendous showing against a B-rated fencer in the pool round. Noah scored first, then his opponent matched him. Two hard-fought touches brought Noah a 3-1 lead. One more touch by each fencer brought the score to 4-2, Noah was within one touch of winning. His opponent was able to fight back to win the match, however.  A very exciting bout.

Noah lost one other bout in the pools, earning the #17 seed going into the Direct Elimination round.

His first DE was an easy 15-4 win against the #16 seed. His next bout pitted him against the number one seed--an A-rated fencer considered to be one of the best fencers in Florida.  Noah found a way to score several touches against him, but could not prevail, losing 5-15.