Clary, Lekas capture their fourth titles
Family of late football star Forney watch Navy fighters
Two four-time champions were forged from the 79th annual Brigade Boxing Championship ring within Alumni Hall on Friday night, with both victories carrying motivations into the fight as similar as they were different.
As Sophie Lekas (119 pounds) met a standing ovation, she did so as the first woman to be crowned a Brigade Boxing Championships victor four times.
Senior Jake Clary (119) battled to his fourth title with grief in mind as much as joy from winning. He didn’t have the great 300-pound giant of a friend who had carried Clary on his shoulders when Clary clinched his first boxing win as a plebe to be here with him again this night.
On his arm he had written the football uniform number of David Forney, the senior Midshipman and standout Navy offensive lineman who died last Thursday night in his dormitory room in Bancroft Hall. The same number was written on the arms of every member of the 9th Company, Forney’s company, in the ring or in the stands.
“It’s a good thing, for 9th Company. We’re all sitting together,” Clary said. “Everybody’s here supporting each other.”
From the first bell, Clary operated with the passion of someone who foresaw victory.
The senior cut and dodged junior Amir Chase-Hill’s attacks, responding with a fury in his own peppered jabs.
Clary shoved Chase-Hill against the ropes and got in an extra slug across the jaw for good measure before the end of the second round.
But as Chase-Hill, who’d seen Clary twice before, parried back, Clary called up the second wind that accompanies most fighters after a bout early, and unloaded all his strength.
Two minutes later, Clary thrust the Tony Rubino Four-Time Brigade Champion trophy in the air, standing as the 22nd member of that exclusive group. He’d also earn the Spike Webb Outstanding Boxer Award.
“Whenever my arm is raised, it’s always a release of emotion. I’d decided I wanted to do this my plebe year,” Clary said. “I was like, alright, I gotta go for the four. There’s been many times where I wasn’t trying to box anymore, my heart wasn’t in the sport, but I’d always find a way to keep pushing, keep it in the gym.”
Lekas, a two-time national champion, overcame a fiery opponent in junior Shea
Auge to earn her unanimous decision. Though Auge poured a barrage of firepower on Lekas early in the first round, bloodying her nose and busting her lip, the senior recovered swiftly, maneuvering Auge into the walls of the ring throughout the second.
“I’m a lot taller than her, so I was trying to stay in the outside and use my long reach to get at her,” Lekas said.
By the third, Lekas tried the strategy of letting Auge come to her, dodging cuts, but that wasn’t working. So Lekas began whaling on her opponent, pressuring her into her own blue corner before the final seconds expired.
“Punch first,” Lekas said. “I think that works better.”
Upon becoming the winningest female boxer in Naval Academy history, Lekas eclipses the mark of three-time champion Stephanie Simon, who pepped Lekas up from the red corner.
As Lekas’ arm raised in the air, the noise from hundreds standing in her honor from the stands poured down so loud you couldn’t hear the glass ceiling shattering.
“It’s crazy. When I joined there were only two females above me. Steph Simon is one of them,” Lekas said. “They really inspired my class to expand the female program. Now, we have at least 20 girls in the gym every day. It’s awesome to see the women’s program grow.”
Senior Tanner Strawbridge (132) knew this freshman would pose a problem.
Adrain Johnson, a fellow Texan, carried a 6-1 club team record into the ring. Upon the first bell, Johnson rained down fists, even bringing Strawbridge to his knees 30 seconds in.
Like Clary, Strawbridge bore Forney’s number on his biceps. One week ago, Strawbridge returned to his dorm room to find the football player, his longtime roommate, unresponsive. CPR-certified, Strawbridge had tried to resuscitate him at the advice of first responders in Bancroft Hall.
Forney had been taken to Anne Arundel Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:28 p.m.
As time grew closer to Friday’s championship, Strawbridge worked hard to focus on the fight.
“My mind kept going off to David,” he said. “It was really awesome to have his family here.”
In the second round, Strawbridge lunged at Johnson, curling the freshman, at one point, into a headlock. As Johnson wheeled back, the gears turning on his features, Strawbridge continued whipping shots at him.
Johnson could feel the presence of his 14th Company and coaches and friends.
“I knew people were backing me,” Johnson said. “As I thought about them, I had to do it.”
In the third round, energy surged through Johnson. The freshman launched punches against the senior’s face, under his chin, against his shoulders.
Moments later, Johnson would be pronounced the winner.
“Wish it could have turned out differently, but having David in there, just
WOMEN’S BOUTS showing my love for him, meant a lot that I had the opportunity,” Strawbridge said.
As Strawbridge would later accept the Emerson Smith Sportsmanship Award, dressed in grey sweats — a stark contrast to the brilliant gold of the other boxers in the ring during post-match ceremonies — Johnson made sure to hug him.
Upon commission, Strawbridge intends to make Johnson his first salute recipient.
“Passing on the torch to him in the 132 is awesome,” Strawbridge said. “He’s a great kid, super kind, super dedicated. I wouldn’t have wanted to fight anyone else. He knew what this meant to me.”
After Clary’s fight, backup offensive lineman turned rookie boxer Mike Adzima approached him to ask for a marker to write “68” on his arm, too.
“I played with David since NAPS (Naval Academy Prep School) on the O-line,” Adzima said. “If I can’t do it for my brother, I can’t do it for anyone.”
Adzima had decided over Christmas break to pick up boxing to lose weight the way he wanted to. He figured if he didn’t do this boxing thing now he never would.
When Adzima recruited former heavyweight wrestler Andrew Piehl because he needed a partner in the last bout of the night, he had brought in the man who would become his victim.
Adzima funneled all of the power earned through his former life as a football player — and a month of boxing training — to put a beating on his friend earlier, despite some quality punches from the newbie, who had started boxing two weeks ago.