The Untouchables, the boys’ fencing team won the city championship by a mere half of a point on Friday, November 16, in one of the closest matches that Stuyvesant has fenced this season. Stuyvesant defeated Tottenville High School, 4.75-4.25, at Roberto Clemente State Park, in the Bronx.
The Untouchables, seeded first in the playoffs, reached the final after defeating Frederick Douglass Academy and Townsend Harris High School in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. Stuyvesant faced little competition in both matches even though their top fencer, sophomore Ian Armstrong, was not able to fence due to a hip injury. Junior David Kam served as a substitute for Armstrong.
In the quarterfinals, the Untouchables gave up only 18 touches, defeating Frederick Douglass, 7.5-1.5. Stuyvesant then defeated Townsend Harris easily, 6.5-2.5, after allowing 32 touches in the entire match. The Untouchables clinched a berth in the final after their eighth bout when sophomore Max Blitzer defeated Townsend Harris sophomore Isaiah Yim, 5-1.
“Staying focused is our strategy,” Untouchables’ coach Joel Winston said prior to the championship match.
Staying focused proved difficult as Stuyvesant faced Tottenville, who upset numerous top seeds in the playoffs, including second-seeded Benjamin Cardozo High School, 8-5-0.5, and third-seeded Staten Island Tech in a tightly played semifinal, 5-4.
After the end of six bouts, Stuyvesant trailed Tottenville by half a point. By then, both senior and B1 fencer Jonathan Tang and junior and B2 fencer Muzhou Liu had lost their respective matches, giving 1.5 points to Tottenville. “[Our B fencers] were over cautious. We were hesitating and our rhythm was off,” Winston said.
The lead changed in the seventh bout when Tang, in his last bout of his high school career, defeated Tottenville senior and B1 fencer Kyle Ditieri, 5-4, in a slowly-played match that was decided in overtime. Tang had a 3-0 lead over Ditieri until he came back, scoring four consecutive touches. Tang, who lost his two previous bouts, then scored two straight touches to win the bout and give Stuyvesant a 2.75-2.5 lead. “I realized that I just have to fence normally. I don’t have to worry about them at all,” Tang said. “I knew we were going to win by then.”
Blitzer and senior and C2 fencer Angus Armstrong then won their respective matches to allow junior and C1 fencer Ken Siu to clinch the city championship for Stuyvesant after he won his bout, 5-2. “We gave ourselves a scare. But we came in here to win and we won,” Siu said.
Winston congratulated Tottenville for giving the Untouchables the closest match that Stuyvesant has played since last year’s championship match against Hunter High School, where Stuyvesant lost, 5.25-3.75. “A very hard fought game. I can’t say enough about [Tottenville], what an effort,” Winston said.
This is Stuyvesant’s first city championship since 2004, when Tang was a freshman. “[The championship] means a lot because I have been training since I was a freshman. I just wanted to get it back,” Tang said.