Plymouth Regional High Tops Merrimack High

Plymouth Regional High is headed to the Granite State Challenge SuperChallenge game for the second time in two years.  They took on a tough Merrimack High team that played for the championship title in 2016.

The Bobcats of Plymouth Regional High were represented by captain junior Rhys Harris, junior Michael Cathy, junior Erek Bickford, and junior Rhianna Herlihy. The alternates were junior Ben Kresge and sophomore Mason Earick. Jay Fogarty and Troy Harris coached the team.

The Merrimack High Tomahawks were represented by captain junior Scott Peyton, junior Alex Jobin, junior Troy Church, senior Sophie Kim and alternates sophomore Nick Gacharna and junior Andrew Peyton. Sara Campbell was the team's coach. 

Merrimack came out to the gate strong, correctly answering seven out of the first eight questions. Plymouth then did the same and answered seven out of the next eight questions correctly. The lead went back and forth, but Alex from Merrimack correctly identified Peter Jackson as director of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on the UNITIL Power Question and picked up double points, giving Merrimack a lead of 150-130 at the end of the round.  

In the second round, Plymouth picked up steam and correctly answered questions about  Leda, Jupiter and the Spice Girls and ended the round with a lead of 330-230.

In the 60-second round, Merrimack chose the category "I've Got Your Number" where they had to identify movies with numbers in the title. They correctly identified all ten movies and picked up a bonus 10 points.  Plymouth Central picked the category "The Shape of Things" where they had to identify words or phrases that included a shape. The team missed on clues about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and the Ellipse in Washington D.C.  At the end of the round, Plymouth held a lead of 410-340.

Leads can be fragile in the final round, where an incorrect answer can cost team 20 points. Merrimack played aggressively and with just 50 seconds left in the game trailed by only 10 points. Alex of Merrimack correctly identified Gemini as the constellation with the stars Castor and Pollus, giving Merrimack a 10-point lead with 36 seconds left in the game. They missed on the next question about the name for the innate behavior of animals related to self-preservation, losing 20 points. The points were quickly picked up by Plymouth when Troy correctly answered instinct giving Plymouth a lead of 590-560. Neither team could identify Nadia Comeneci as the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics. Rhianna of Plymouth correctly answered a question about how many items are in a baker's dozen and Alex of Merrimack knew that in baseball the acronym MVP stands for most valuable player, but it was too little too late for Merrimack as time ran out and Plymouth won the game with a final score of 601-580.

Plymouth Regional High moves on to meet Littleton High in the championship GSC Super Challenge game Saturday May 11 at 6pm on NHPBS in what will be a battle between two teams from Grafton County!

GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE features New Hampshire's top high school academic quiz teams 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.

GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE is funded by lead sponsor Unitil; with additional funding from NEA New Hampshire, Heinemann Publishing, New Hampshire Lottery, D.F. Richard Energy, HRCU, Measured Progress, The NHHEAF Network Organizations, Safety Insurance and Super Sunday partner, Manchester Community College.

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Carla Gordon Russell
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