Hopkinton High Defeats Salem High

(DURHAM, March 25, 2024) - Hopkinton High defeated Salem High on Granite State Challenge in Round One.

Playing for Hopkinton High was team captain and senior Adam Richter, joined by senior Colton Murphy, junior Flo Dapice, and senior Jackson Kovar. The team alternates were sophomores Fin Murphy and Thomas Ashton. The team was coached by social studies teacher Liam Callahan. Hopkinton High enrolls around 297 students.

Playing for Salem High was the team captain and junior Quinn Einspanjer, along with sophomore Meghan Sneed, junior Seth Gallant,  and sophomore Sophie Pan. The team alternates were senior Shea Briody and freshman Gabe Bradley. The team was coached by social studies teacher Bernie Campbell. Salem High enrolls around 1,146 students.

ROUND ONE

Quinn Einspanjer of Salem picked up the first 10 points on a question about Peter Piper and what he picked. Colton Murphy of Hopkinton tied the score on a question about the first U.S. president to be impeached, and his teammate, captain Adam Richter, added another 10 points to Hopkinton's score on a question on the origins of the San Francisco 49ers name. Salem's Seth Gallant tied the score again on a question about the only U.S. president to have been twice elected unanimously by the Electoral College.

The teams traded the lead for much of the round and with under a minute left, the score was 80-50, with Hopkinton in the lead. Colton Murphy extended his team's lead to 90-50 on a question about Taylor Swift. The next question was the Unitil Power Question worth double points. Colton picked up the 20 points for Hopkinton on a question about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and turtle power, and the score was now 110-50. Colton picked up another 10 points with a soccer World Cup question and Seth Gallant picked up 10 points for Salem with a question about Buzz Lightyear, and the round ended with Hopkinton in the lead by a score of  120-60. 

THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT ROUND
In the Three Strikes and You're Out Round, each team picks a 10-question category and each team member, starting with the captain, gets one question. The team continues to answer questions until they miss three questions. Each team also has three passes in each round. If a team answers all 10 questions correctly, they pick up an additional 10 points. Hopkinton picked up 50 points in the round with Adam Richter adding 20 points, Colton Murphy adding another 20 points, and Jackson Kovar adding 10. On the Salem side, Quinn Einspanjer and Meghan Sneed each picked up 10 points and Seth Gallant picked up 20 points, and the round ended with Hopkinton holding a lead of 170-100.,

60-SECOND ROUND
In the 60-Second Round alternates join their teams. Each team picks a ten-question category and has 60 seconds to answer the questions. If they answer all ten correctly, teams get a 10-point bonus. Team members can confer in the round, but the captain answers.

Salem High chose the category "Deep Purple." All of the answers in the category included the word purple or violet. They answered eight questions correctly and picked up 80 points, taking Salem into the lead by a score of 180-170.

Hopkinton chose the category "Out of This World." All of the answers in the category were famous space aliens. Hopkinton answered seven questions correctly, picking up 70 points and bringing the score to 240-180.

FINAL ROUND
In the final round of the game, each correct answer is worth 20 points, but teams lose 20 points with an incorrect answer and a lead can be easily lost or gained in the round. Hopkinton's Adam Richter picked up the first 20 points in the round with a question about Mongolia. Neither team could answer a question about author Herman Melville, but Hopkinton's Colton Murphy picked up 20 points on a question about Taiwan. Quinn Einspanjer of Salem demonstrated his spelling chops by spelling zucchini. His teammate Seth Gallant added another 20 points to Salem's score with a question about the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, narrowing the score to 280-220. Quinn Einspanjer confidently added another 20 points to Salem's score with a question about the movie The Princess Bride, and the score was now 280-240.

Next up was a civics question from Hannah McCarthy, co-host of the NHPR podcast, Civics 101. The question asked how many years an 18-year-old would have to wait to serve as a representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hopkinton's Colton Murphy proved he knew his civics and his math and picked up 20 points for his team. Hopkinton now had a lead of 300-240 with under a minute left in the game. Salem missed a question and lost 20 points, but got them back on another question, and Hopkinton picked up 40 points on two questions and won the game by a score of 340-240.

Hopkinton now moves on to the quarterfinals where they will meet either Inter-Lakes High or Laconia High in a game airing on Thursday, April 25 at 7:30 pm on NHPBS.

The final Round One Game pits Inter-Lakes High against Laconia High in a game airing Thursday, March 21 at 7:30 pm on NHPBS.

Hosted by Bow High School teacher and former Granite State Challenge coach (Bedford High), contestant (Belmont High), and Granite State Challenge crew member, Jon Cannon, Granite State Challenge features some of New Hampshire's brightest high school students as they demonstrate remarkable teamwork, quick thinking, and smarts to beat the clock and buzz in first on this iconic New Hampshire game show. The game emphasizes quick recall of math, science, social studies, language arts, and fine arts facts - along with questions about current events, entertainment, sports, and New Hampshire.

You can follow your favorite team, test your knowledge with GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE online quizzes, and more at the GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE web page, or try your hands at daily brainteasers on the GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE Facebook page.

GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE is funded by lead sponsor Unitil with additional funding from NEA New Hampshire, Safety Insurance, D.F. Richard Energy, and HRCU.

Pressroom Contact

Carla Gordon Russell
Director of Communications
crussell@nhpbs.org
(603) 868-4339