Gordon Technical High School - Tech Log Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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‘and the inexperience of Gordon’s epeeist showed. With only two bouts to go, the score was NTE 9, GT 7. With GT needing both bouts to tie, Luis | Scarmuzza stepped on the strip. In a pitched bout, Luis won. The score was 9-8. The meet’s outcome would be de- termined by the next bout. If NTE won, it would go as a 10-8 victory over Gordon, but if Luis would win the ‘bout the victory would be determined ‘by the number of touches just as in our previous clash with NTE. The fencer for this bout was chosen by Mr. Morrison. Luis fenced well and had shown that he could win under pres- sure, so Mr. Morrison decided to keep him in but Luis fell 5-3. We had lost but we still felt confident because we didn’t lose by much and thought that NTE would be our stiffest competition. But we were not as strong as we ‘thought. We fell to a weak New Trier West. Our losses began to mount, Main 'West and Main South both beat us twice. We gave these defeats grudging- ly, we knew the other teams were not so much better, but just more exper- ienced than we were. But we gain that experience when we lost, and when we stepped off the strip Mr. Morrison and Bruce Ward told us our mistakes and how to correct them. As news got around that Gordon wasn’t good, we developed into better fencers. Their suspicions were confirmed at Number two foilist David Silva salutes his opponent and the director before the bout. Mr. Morrison gives advice to Ron Zaremba as his friends listen in. Sophomore Abundio Aleman lunges and scores against his opponent in a J-V bout. 107

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FENCING VARSITY a A a oe Standing: Arquimedes Perez, Tom Stanley, Tom Foley, Joe Cygan, Zeyad Suqi, Captain Luis Scaramuzza. Kneeling: Coach Peter Morrison, David Silva, Paul Johnson, Tom Argy, Steve Curtis, Bruce Mann. When the Gordon Tech Fencers be- gan our season, we were shaken. Al- though last year we had an exper- ienced State Championship team and were proud of it, that was what we were worried about. Graduation took our entire Epee team and all the Foil Team except Tom Argy. We knew there was talent on the team, but we were inexperienced. It was difficult for the two seniors, Captain Luis Scaramuzza and Tom Stanley to ac- cept that this season would be a time for the team to gain experience. As the season approached, we be- gan to feel confident. We were shaping up. Another boost was the appearance of Alumnus Bruce Ward, the 1978 State Foil Champion, who was going to help coach us. We strengthened our confidence during the preseason meet where we had a 5-1 record against our competition for this year. Next we be- gan the season by fencing our tradition- al rival New Trier East, who we had barely beaten the previous week. We knew they wanted revenge, but we knew we could beat them. This meet was the harbinger of the way most of the season went. Led by a es Luis Scaramuzza lunges, but his attack is deflected, as both bollguards come violently together. Tom Argy’s strong performance and by the fencing of Dave Silva and Steve Curtis Gordon won the foil strip 6-3 But NTE had a veteran Epee Team.

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OPPONENT GORDON 8 New Trier East 9 New Trier West (lost by touches) Culver Military Academy Maine West Maine South New Trier East (won by touches) Maine South Culver Military Academy (won by touches) Maine West New Trier West the Intra-Suburban Tournament. Gor- don took a dismal fifth, but Bruce Ward congratulated them on their dog- ged dtermination and for not giving up hope. Throughout the season, glimpses of the type of team we could be burst out. We beat Culver Military Academy, a team from Indiana who scrimmaged with teams of Ohio State and Notre Dame. But when we faced New Trier East again, we knew that we had to win that one. We were 1-1 against them, and we didn’t want to be second to our arch rivals, who were also our friends. The confrontation was almost the same as our previous meet. The GT foil gave us a strong lead, but epee lost their first two bouts. But there was a difference. The GT fencers had gained experience. In the first meets they lost 5-1 and 5-2. Now they are losing 5-4, or as in the third bout they won. Then all GT epeeists had taken victories and they managed to win Tom Stanley. After the bout is over, Mr. Morrison analyzes the bout with fencer Bruce Mann attacks as his opponent vainly defends himself. Freshman Francisco Scaramuzza presses home an attack while his opponent retreats and counterattacks. enough to tie the score 9-9. The fenc- ing done by GT Squads was enough to give Gordon the victory by touches. When we went down to Indiana to fence Culver, the Foil Team showed what they could do. Tom Argy was his usual strong self, while David Silva kept has steady improvement. But Steve Curtis’ ability was revealed that day. Until then Steve had been like many GT fencers who were losing but gaining the knowledge of how to fence well and began to win. Because of their fencing, Gordon overcame their