Merrimack Defeats Souhegan

(DURHAM, March 31, 2023) - Merrimack High defeated Souhegan High in the first game in the quarterfinal round of Granite State Challenge.

Playing for Merrimack High was captain and senior Jack Pikora joined by seniors Rainier Murray, Aris Corman-O’Reilly, and Alli Pikora. The team alternates were juniors Kishan Sreenivasan, Trey Grant, and Liam Clark. Merrimack was coached by Sara Campbell and Sally Agel. Merrimack enrolls around 1,119 students.

Playing for Souhegan High was captain and senior PJ Cloutier-Kennedy. PJ is joined by sophomore Kasen Fox, senior Andrew Coleman, and junior Alec Simoneau. The team alternates were junior Telisho “Taloosh” Anderson and sophomore Caleb Brower. The team was coached by Nicholas Drinkwater. Souhegan High enrolls around 831 students from Amherst and Mont Vernon.

ROUND ONE
Aris Corman-O’Reilly of Merrimack opened the game with a question about the Kate Bush song "Wuthering Heights."  Rainier Murray of Merrimack followed up with a correct answer about Picasso's painting "Guernica" and Aris added another 10 points to Merrimack's score with a question about  Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania bringing the score to 30-0 in Merrimack's favor. Aris added another 10 points to the score on a question about the Golden Gate Bridge and teammate Alli Pikora brought the score to 50-0 with a correct answer about the Back Street Boys. Ranier picked up another 10 points on a question about the Thames in London and captain Jack Pikora took the score to 70-0 on a question about Pasadena, California. Ranier, Jack, and Alli added 40 more points to the score bringing the lead to 110-0. Aris answered the Unitil Power Question, worth 20 points, correctly and Merrimack was now out to a commanding lead of 130-0. Aris picked up another 10 points for Merrimack and with less than 30 seconds on the clock, Kasen Fox put up the first points for Souhegan with a question about Benjamin Harrison, and the round ended with Merrimack in the lead by a score of 140-10.

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.

In Merrimack's round,  Jack Pikora picked up 40 points, Rainier Murray added 10 points, Aris Corman-O’Reilly and Alli Pikora each added 20 points to the score and Merrimack was out to a lead of 230-10.

In Souhegan's round, PJ Cloutier-Kennedy and Kasen Fox scored 20 points, Andrew Coleman scored 10 and Alec Simoneau scored 30 points, narrowing the score to 230-90.

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.

Souhegan chose the category "Tower Time" in which all of the answers were related to towers. The team answered eight questions correctly and added 80 points to their score.

Merrimack chose the category "Girl Power" in which all of the answers were female characters from children's and young adult literature.  They missed only one question in the round and added 90 points to their score and the round ended with Merrimack in the lead by a score of 320-170

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.

Kasen of Souhegan opened the round by spelling archaeologist correctly. Jack added 40 points to Merrimack's total, but neither team could identify Cornish, New Hampshire native and politician Salmon P. Chase. Despite their best efforts, Souhegan was not able to catch up to Merrimack, and the game ended with a score of 520-210.

Merrimack now moves on to the semifinals where they will face the winner of the next quarterfinal game between Hopkinton High and St. Thomas Aquinas High airing on Thursday, April 6 @ 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