Edgar-McNerney, Williams & Amend Pace Blue Devils

The Blue Devil boys’ fencing team won six matches this winter, placing second in the league and sixth in Suffolk. All-Long Island honorees Jake Amend and Benjamin Edgar-McNerney paced the squad along with All-County recipient Chase Williams and All-League Cole Lima.

The 21 member team was coached by Michelle O’Brien and Vincent O’Garra and captained by Amend, Edgar-McNerney, Williams, Lima, Owen Stevens and Thomas Galicia-Martinez.

Edgar-McNerney (season record of 36-3) placed second in sabre at the Suffolk championships while Williams (29-9) and Amend (27-2) finished fourth and fifth in foil, respectively.

“Jake has been on the team for five years and has improved dramatically every year since he joined,” said O’Garra about the senior who won 93.1 percent of his matches. “His level of determination and discipline to learning and perfecting his technique and craft has made him one of the best foil fencers in the county. He stepped up to the role of weapon and team captain and took so much pride in his work as a leader.”

Edgar-McNerney also enjoyed a splendid senior season, winning 92.3 percent of his bouts. “Ben has also been on the team for five years and he has just blown me away with the passion that he has for sabre and for his personal and team improvement,” O’Garra said. “This has led him to becoming one of the best sabre fencers in Suffolk. He’s always taking extra time to work with others and help them to become better fencers. Always rallying the team and keeping everyone motivated, leading us to some great wins this season.”

Huntington welcomed fencers from Harborfields in both boys’ and girls’ teams for the first time this winter, forming what Section XI calls a super team.

“I have a lot of brand new fencers that will be returning and who are mostly freshmen and sophomores, which I’m excited for since this will be a team that will continue to build their skills and become a force as time goes on,” O’Garra said. “Having the same kid return builds a rapport and you get to know them as people. I see no reason why they couldn’t be league champions or even county champions in years to come. As they spend more time together, their confidence will grow and this will produce many high levels of achievement as time goes on.”

After dropping its first five matches, the Blue Devil boys rallied to go 6-2 in the second half to grab second place in the team standings and conclude the season on a high note.