The Bedford Bulldogs Move On to the Quarterfinals After Defeating the Hopkinton Hawks

Granite State Challenge

Durham, NH (March 28, 2025) - The Bedford Bulldogs pulled away late in the match to beat the Hopkinton Hawks, 360-290 in the final Round One game on GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE.

Playing for Bedford High were team captain and 9th grader Matthew Ruggiero along with 10th graders Tabitha Arp, Alina Chausovsky and 9th grader Sumedh Godavarthy. Team alternates were 10th grader Samantha Arp and 9th grader Tristan Albano. Destination Imagination Coordinator Kelly Chausovsky and parent volunteer Sherry Arp coached the team. Bedford High School enrolls 1,492 students. Bedford High was the youngest team competing this year. Bedford High School enrolls 1,492 students. Bedford High was the youngest team competing this year.

Playing for Hopkinton High were team captain and 12th grader Flo Dapice, 10th grader Lucy Beardmore, 11th grader Tad Stokes and 12th grader Michael Pantano. The team alternate was 11th grader Rebecca LeWine. Social studies teacher Liam Callahan coached the team. Hopkinton High School enrolls 271 students.

ROUND ONE

Round one was neck-and-neck. Matthew started hot for Bedford and answered multiple history questions correctly, while Hopkinton’s Lucy and Tad answered pop culture and science questions to keep it close.

Bedford teammates Sumedh got another history question right and Matthew took a few pop-culture questions with quick buzz-ins. Hopkinton’s Lucy and Tad stayed strong with science-related questions to fight back to a nearly even score, and at the end of the round, Bedford held a slight lead of 100-90.

ROUND TWO – THREE STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT

In the Three Strikes and You're Out Round, each team gets a 10-question category and each team member, gets one question, starting with the captain. 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. 

The Bulldogs played a nearly perfect second round and answered nine of 10 questions correctly taking them to a 190-90 lead with Matthew answering four questions correctly and Alina answering three questions correctly.

Sumedh got his first two but erred on the third, but it was the penultimate question of the round and Bedford had already secured eighty points. Tabitha intelligently used all three passes on her questions, which set the team up for success.

“I think that we have a really strong group of kids and they know each other’s strengths really well and the strategy for that round worked out,” said Bedford coach Chausovsky.

On the other hand, Hopkinton struggled early, answering two right and two wrong in the first go-around. The team did not use any of its three passes and Flo was unable to answer the fifth question. Hopkinton managed 20 points in this round, giving Bedford a lead of 190-110 going into the 60-Second Round.

ROUND THREE – 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.

Hopkinton had the first choice of a category and the opportunity to make up some ground. The Hawks chose “Put a Lid on it” where each answer was related to hats.

Hopkinton convened and successfully answered eight of 10 questions correctly with answers such as “Indiana Jones,” “Mad-Hatter,” “Tin Foil Hat” and “Charlie Chaplin.”

“I think we got lucky with the category and the hat thing played to our advantage and that helped us a lot,” said Hopkinton’s Lucy.

The Bulldogs had a tough second-choice category, electing “Fiddle Me This,” a category in which every question was fiddle or violin-related. Matthew and his team had a surprisingly good performance in this tough category to get five of 10 correct answers.

“I think we know what we have to improve just based on this. Of course, our coaches were saying that we don’t really have weaknesses, but I think we can use this time to improve,” said Bedford’s Sumedh.  At the end of the round Bedford held a lead of 240-190.

FINAL ROUND – TOSS-UP

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.

The game was close as Hopkinton entered the final round behind just 50 points behind. Matthew got a geography question to widen Bedford’s lead, but then Hopkinton’s Michael and Lucy got three in a row correct, including a math question, to bring the Hawks within 10 points.

However, Alina got one back on a question about Mozart from N.H. Kid Governor, Jade Adams, and then Matthew answered three questions in a row to rebuild the lead and slow the Hawks’ comeback. Tad, Michael and Lucy all answered a few more questions, but Hopkinton was unable to close the gap with time running out.

“I think we have a lot of good people coming up, so we'll have a good strong team next year. Hopkinton’s Tad Stokes said. “Definitely working on the three strikes round and then again, just working with the buzzers trying to increase our speed.”

“I think I did better than I thought we would. I'm pretty confident about going into the Quarterfinals and hopefully, we can keep it up because we all did amazing,” said Bedford’s team captain Matthew Ruggiero.

Bedford High now moves on to face Profile High in the Quarterfinals in a game airing on April 24 at 8:30 p.m. on NHPBS.

On the Next Game of GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE
Plymouth Regional High Faces Trinity High in the First Quarterfinal Game of GRANITE STATE  CHALLENGE on Thursday, April 3, 2025, at 8:30 p.m. on NHPBS. You can also stream it on the PBS App, the NHPBS YouTube channel, or online at nhpbs.org/gsc.

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 Bangor Savings Bank, Safety Insurance, NEA New Hampshire and Aroma Joe’s.

About Host Jon Cannon: GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE is hosted by Bow High School teacher Jon Cannon.  Cannon has a long history with GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE. You might say he grew up with the game.  He was a member of the Belmont High team when he was in high school, was a member of the NHPBS GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE crew when he was in college at UNH and was the coach of the Bedford High GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE team.

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