Plymouth Regional Defeats Bow High School

(DURHAM, April 14, 2023) - Bow High fell to Plymouth Regional High in the third quarterfinal game of the Granite State Challenge.

Bow High was represented by 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. Bow defeated Mascoma High on their way to the quarterfinals.

Captain and senior Dash Ough, junior Khalil Dakhlia, senior Natalie Boyer, and senior Trevor Tobine played for Plymouth Regional High. The team alternates were senior Jason Vuong and sophomore Reagan Sutherland. The team was coached by Jay Fogarty and Troy Harris. Plymouth Regional High enrolls around 647 students from Plymouth, Ashland, Holderness, Campton, Rumney, Wentworth, Warren, Ellsworth, Waterville Valley, and Thornton.  Plymouth Regional High defeated Salem High to secure their spot in the quarterfinals.

ROUND ONE

Both teams were stumped on the opening question about Nashua, NH native and wrestler Paul Michael Levesque, also known as Triple H. Khalil Dakhlia put the first 10 points of the game on the board for Plymouth on a question about Elton John and later picked up another 20 points for his team on questions about  Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and singer Etta James. Dash Ough of Plymouth correctly calculated how much you would save by not having to pay a sales tax if you bought a 600 dollar computer in New Hampshire and not Massachusetts and Plymouth was out to a 40-0 lead. Khalil took the score to 50-0 on a question about camels.  Logan Fox picked up the first points for Bow on a question about Bill Russell and Emily Vincent picked up another 10 points for Bow on a question about astronaut and senator John Glenn.

Natalie added 10 points to the board for Plymouth on a question about historian and author Howard Zinn and Khalil picked up another 10 points on a question about Benjamin Franklin and with just under a minute left in the round Plymouth he's a commanding lead of 70-20. Dash extended that lead to 80-20 with a question about the author Aldous Huxley, but Logan of Bow knew that the Los Angeles Dodgers were once the Brooklyn Dodgers and narrowed the score to 80-30.

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 Bow's round, Allesandra, Logan, and Emily each picked up ten points, and Bow narrowed the lead to 80-60.

In Plymouth's round, Dash picked up 40 points, Khalil and Trevor each picked up 20 points, and Natalie picked up 10 points giving Plymouth a total of 90 points in the round and the score was now 170-60.

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.

Bow chose the category "N to N" in which all of the answers were words that began and ended in the letter N.  The team answered eight questions correctly and added 80 points to their score.

Plymouth chose the category "Eggsellent" in which all of the answers were related to eggs. They missed only one question in the round and added 90 points to their score and the round ended with Plymouth in the lead by a score of 260-140.

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.

Dash of Plymouth answered the two first questions of the round about Jackie Robinson's retired number 42 and guitarist Jeff Beck and added 40 points to Plymouth's score. The next question was the Unitil Power Question worth double points. Dash of Plymouth picked up the points on a question about the Scarlet Witch and Plymouth was out to a lead of 340-140. Emily picked up 20 points for Bow on a question about the Purple Heart medal and her teammate Theodore picked up another 20 points on a question about Harvey Milk and the score was now 340-180. Plymouth played a commanding round, and despite their best efforts, Bow was not able to overcome their lead. The game ended with Plymouth winning by a score of 540-220.

Plymouth Regional now moves on to the semifinals where they will meet the winner of the final quarterfinal game, between Oyster River High and Trinity High airing on Thursday, April 20 @ 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