Watchung's Sampson Ho Leads Fencers Over Voorhees in State Playoffs

Watchung Hills Regional High School, ranked No. 7 in the Star-Ledger Top 10, knocked off Voorhees by a score of 18-9 in the first round of
the NJSIAA/Bollinger state boys tournament playoffs Tuesday night at WHRHS in Warren.

Watchung Hills came into the tournament as the sixth seed, and unranked Voorhees was seeded 11th.

Watchung Hills sabre squad, led by senior Nick Sadowski on the A strip, started the match with a 3-0 sweep of Voorhees. The A and B strip foil fencers for Voorhees made a run to close the gap to 3-2, before Gabe Price closed out the first round’s foil match-up with a dominating win on the C strip.

Epee, led by team captain Joe Kong, closed out the first round with three wins to power Watchung Hills to a 7-2 lead.

The second round was almost a repeat of the first, with Watchung Hills sweeping sabre to bring the score to 10-2 in Watchung Hill’s favor. Coles Degeorges, on B strip, overpowered Voorhees’ top man to lead the sabrists, and Yash Srivastav contributed with a nice win for the foil squad.

With the score at 11-4, epeeists Kong, Joey Cline and Eric Gardner secured the victory over Voorhees by the 18th bout at the end of the second round.

Sampson Ho led all Watchung fencers with 3-0 performance, as Watchung Hills (9-2) advances to the second round to face third seed Montgomery. The
second round of the playoffs continues next week at an away match on Tuesday in Montgomery.

Submitted by Jeffrey Gardner