Game Two of Granite State Challenge Heats Up as the Bedford Bulldogs Take on the Souhegan Sabers

BEDFORD AND SOUHEGAN ARE READY TO GO

(Durham, February 16, 2026) - The Bedford Bulldogs face the Souhegan Sabers in the second game of round one of GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE on Thursday, February 19 at 8:30 p.m. on New Hampshire PBS.

The Bedford Bulldogs are led by captain Matthew Ruggiero, a 10^th-grader, along with 11^th-grader Alina Chausovsky, 10^th-grader Sumedh Godavarthy, along with 9^th-grader Sam Dooley. Supporting the team as alternates are 11^th-graders Tabitha Arp and Samantha Arp along with 10^th-grader Victoria von Wallenstein. The Bulldogs are coached by Kelly Chausovsky, the school’s Destination Imagination coordinator, and Sherry Arp, a parent coach. Bedford High enrolls close to 1500 students from Bedford. They made it to the championship game in 2017, where they fell to Nashua High South.

Bedford’s team captain Matthew Ruggiero is feeling pretty optimistic going into the game. “We’ve got a great team. We have a really broad base of knowledge and I think that we’ve put in the necessary work to get very far in this show this year,” said Ruggiero. “I think we’ll do better than last year.”

Kelly Chausovsky, the Bulldogs’ coach, said the team’s greatest strength lies in how its players complement one another. Reflecting on what she calls their “superpower,” she said, “They have a really wide variety of knowledge. Each kid is sort of a specialist in a different subject, and they’ve been able to find each other’s strengths and make sure they have the major bases covered.”

The Souhegan Sabers are captained by 11th-grader Rhys Macdonald and feature a deep roster that includes 12th-grader Sam Hogan, 11th-grader Gideon Allen and 10th-grader Harrison Towne. Team alternates are 12th-grader Roman Block and 11th-graders Aaron Coleman and Alex Grayson. The Sabers are coached by Nicholas Drinkwater, an American Studies teacher. Souhegan High is located in Hillsborough county and has about 708 students from Amherst and Mont Vernon.

“This year we have a younger team,” said Souhegan captain Rhys Macdonald. “We only have one senior, last year we had five seniors. So, I have a couple of more years with my teammates."

The Sabers practice every Friday morning before school, and coach Nicholas Drinkwater said that he was really impressed by their commitment and knowledge. “One of our team members works at a library, and she’s had exposure to authors and book titles that maybe they wouldn’t have read in school,” said Drinkwater.

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.

Catch the next game of GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE on Thursday, February 19th at 8:30 p.m. on NHPBS. You can also steam 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 hand at daily brain teasers on the GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE Facebook page.

GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE is funded by lead sponsor Unitil with additional funding from Safety Insurance and NEA New Hampshire.

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