Bow High Narrowly Defeats Mascoma Valley Regional High on Granite State Challenge

(DURHAM, March 10, 2023) - Bow High beat Mascoma Valley Regional High in game six in Round One of Granite State Challenge.

Playing for Bow High were senior and captain Alessandra Sargent, along with seniors Emily Vincent, Theodore Barker, and Logan Fox. The team alternates were seniors Daniel Miranda and Becky Zheng. The team was coached by Michelle Hlavaz. Bow High enrolls around 650 students from Bow and Dunbarton.

Playing for Mascoma Valley Regional High was captain and senior Gage Lambert along with seniors Logan Escano-Smith and Liam Finger, and junior Lidia Josephson. John Sweetland coached the team. Mascoma Valley Regional High School enrolls around 340 students from Canaan, Grafton, Enfield, Orange, and Dorchester.

ROUND ONE
Emily Vincent of Bow picked up the game's first points on a question about the Three Stooges. Alessandra Sargent added 10 points to Bow's total with a question about judicial review and Marbury v. Madison. Logan Fox picked up another 10 points for Bow with a question about boxer Muhammad Ali.  Liam Finger put the first points on the board for Mascoma with a question about Miranda v. Arizona, Logan Escano-Smith picked up another 10 points for Mascoma with a question about the element mercury, and captain Gage Lambert knew that actor Ian McKellen portrayed Magneto in the X-Men films and Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings. With under a minute left to play Bow led the game 90-40. Lidia Josephson of Masoma brought the score to 90-50 with a correct answer on a math question and Gage Lambert added another 10 points to Mascoma's score with a question about former Canadian prime minister, Kim Campbell.   Bow captain Alessandra Sargent answered a question about Andrew Jackson and  Gage Lambert answered the last question of the round about architect I. M. Pei correctly ad the round ended with Bow in the lead by a score of 100-70.

THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT ROUND
The second round of the game is the Three Strikes and You're Out Round. Each team picks a 10-question category, and each team member gets a 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. Bow picked up 30 points in their round that included questions about the Salem Witch Trials, accused NH witch Goody Cole, actor Cole Sprouse, and Old King Cole.

Mascoma picked up 20 points in their round that included questions about the Karner blue butterfly, Reading Rainbow, Star Tek the Next Generation, Spock, and Vulcanization. The round ended with Bow in the lead by a score of 130-90

60-SECOND ROUND
In the third 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 up a 10-point bonus. Team members can confer in the round, but the captain answers for the team.

Mascoma chose the category No Place Like Home in which all of the answers were New Hampshire cities or towns. They were almost perfect in the round getting nine out of ten questions in the round correct and taking the lead with a score of 180-130.

Bow chose the category No Ifs or Ands, But There is a But in which all of the answers included the letters b-u-t-or b-u-t-t, in that order. They swept the board and picked up 110 points and flipped the lead with a score of 240 -180.

FINAL ROUND
In the game's final round, each correct answer is worth 20 points, but teams lose 20 points with an incorrect answer and leads can quickly be lost or gained. 

Emily Vincent of Bow answered the first question in the round about drumsticks. Neither team could answer the next two questions. The fourth question in the round was the Unitil Power Question worth double points.  Bow captain Alessandra Sargent picked up 40 points for her team by knowing that Mjølnir is the name of Thor's hammer, extending Bow's lead to 300 -180. The teams went back and forth between correct and incorrect answers and with less than 40 seconds left in the game Bow led by a score of 340-320.  Liam Finger of Mascoma tied the score  340-340 with a question about the Missouri Compromise. Emily Vincent of Bow answered the next question about Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, giving Bow a 20-point lead with 18 seconds left on the clock.  Gage Lambert of Mascoma tied the score with a question about cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, and with only 6 seconds on the clock, the game came down to this question: This 16th-century Flemish cartographer is known for his geographical map which flattened the globe into a two-dimensional map. Captain Gage Lambert of Bow buzzed in and for a few seconds looked a bit uncertain, but then correctly answered Mercator and Bow won the game by a score of 380-360.

Bow High now moves on to the quarterfinals where they will face Plymouth Regional High on Thursday, April 13 @ 7:30 pm on NHPBS.  The next round-one game pits Oyster River High against Winnacunnnet High School and airs on Thursday, March 16 @ 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 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.

You can follow your favorite team, test your own 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, The New Hampshire Lottery, D.F. Richard Energy, Cognia, and HRCU.

Pressroom Contact

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