Millburn Boys Fencing Team Falls to Berkeley Heights 13-14

By Alexander Ren

There was no clear victor until the final beep sounded.

Last Friday, in a close and thrilling meet, Millburn’s boys fencing team lost 13-14 to Governor Livingston’s fencing squad. The two teams exchanged victories throughout the match, with neither team able to create a winning streak of more than three bouts.

At the end of the first round, the Governor Livingston Highlanders, of Berkeley Heights, led the Millburn Millers 5-4. The saber squad performed well for Millburn, posting a 2-1 record in the first round and going 6-3 overall. Millburn freshman A.J. Greenberg had an excellent first showing, going undefeated with three victories. Junior Simon Yang also went undefeated in epee for Millburn.

The second round again ended with Millburn losing 5-4 and losing 10-8 overall. Governor Livingston’s foil and epee squads proved challenging for the Millers, with each squad going 6-3 overall. Highlander foilist Sean Li posted a 3-0 record. The Millburn squad was shorthanded, missing foilist Zohaib Mannan and epeeist Michael Tai due to sickness.

Tensions became high in the beginning of the third round when Millburn’s saber squad cut the Millers’ deficit with two quick victories from senior Drew Vreeland and A.J. Greenberg. With the bout score tied at ten apiece, Governor Livingston’s Ian McLean defeated Millburn’s Ian Jaffe in the final saber bout 5-4, putting the Highlanders up 11-10. Millburn then followed up with two foil victories, in which senior Alex Brod defeated Alex Ju 5-0 and junior Misheel Boldbaatar defeated Ben Carlick 5-4. Sean Li then tied up the score once again, winning the final foil bout 5-2 against Millburn’s Tobias Simon.

With the score tied at 12-12, it all came down to epee. Simon Yang narrowly won a 5-4 bout against Highlander Andrew Savino in the first of the last three epee bouts. The second bout was tied at 4-4. With Millburn one point from victory, Governor Livingston’s Pierre Arca-Sedda scored on sophomore Jonathan Gaelen, giving the Highlanders a crucial win and saving them from defeat.

The third and final epee bout decided the end result. Millburn’s Jarrod Irwin squared off with Governor Livingston’s Brandon Donahue. Although the previous two epee bouts were extremely close, the final bout was much more lopsided. Donohue scored four consecutive points to start the bout. After a timeout called by Millburn coach Robert Baum, Irwin scored twice. As Irwin attacked hoping to score a third point, Donahue extended his blade at the same time, resulting in a double touch and sealing Governor Livingston’s victory.

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