The Bedford Bulldogs Square Off Against the Purple Panthers of Nashua South on GSC

QUARTERFINALS

Durham, NH (April 6, 2026) - The Bedford Bulldogs meet the Purple Panthers of Nashua South in the first quarterfinal game of GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE on Thursday, April 9th 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 Tabitha Arp, 10^th-grader Sumedh Godavarthy, along with 9^th-grader Sam Dooley. Supporting the team is alternate 11^th-grader Samantha Arp. 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.

With both their co-captain and primary literature team expert out sick, Bedford captain Matthew Ruggiero feels pretty confident about the upcoming game. “ I think we'll be able to put forth a strong team,” said Matthew. “We’ll just try to focus on making sure people don't feel the tension of the increase of moving up the bracket.”

Bedford coach Kelly Chausovsky and her team expressed how excited the team was to make it to the quarterfinals. “They’ve had fun practicing some more and they’re excited to see what happens.” said Chausovsky.

The Purple Panthers of Nashua South are captained by 12th-grader Henry Long and include fellow 12th-graders Eric Picanco and Thanasi Miris, along with 10th-grader Charlie Long. Rounding out the team is alternate 12th-grader Jerry Primo. The team is coached by Social Studies teacher Lex Duval and English teacher Kelli Thornhill-Telerski. The Purple Panthers were Granite State Challenge champions in 2016 and 2017.

Nashua South captain Henry Long noted that while the Bedford team is young, his team has a leg up thanks to their recent experience on Granite State Challenge. “We know kind of how Bedford works because we got to see them play,” said Henry. “We looked at that and evaluated what we needed to work on to counter them.”

Reflecting on how close her team is, Nashua South coach Kelli Thornhill-Telerski thinks this could be their advantage. “They sit together at lunch, they are constantly hanging out with each other and they're involved in a lot of other things together,” said Thornhill-Telerski. “I think the camaraderie with our team is incredibly strong and that has been really fun for us to watch too.”

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 on GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE, Thursday, April 9th 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 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.

Return to the
Granite State Challenge
Main Page

Watch More The Bedford Bulldogs Square Off Against the Purple Panthers of Nashua South on GSC

TV Schedule

• bishop guertin VS salem
  Granite State Challenge
  Thursday, 4/9 at 3:30 P.M. on EXPLORE
  
  

• bedford VS nashua south
  Granite State Challenge
  Thursday, 4/9 at 8:30 P.M. on NHPBS
  
  

• bishop guertin VS salem
  Granite State Challenge
  Friday, 4/10 at 4:30 A.M. on EXPLORE
  
  

• bedford VS nashua south
  Granite State Challenge
  Sunday, 4/12 at 6:00 P.M. on NHPBS
  
  

Full Schedule