Souhegan High Defeats Dover High

(DURHAM, February 27, 2024) - Dover High fell to a tough Souhegan High team in the third game of Granite State Challenge.

Playing for Dover High was team captain and senior Maddie Bachrach along with seniors Travis Benincasa, Jake Gagnon, and Leviathan Stewart. The team alternates were seniors Martin Smith and Sophia Ostrander.  Math teacher Tim Elliott coached the team. Dover High School enrolls around 1,500 students from Dover, Barrington, and Nottingham.

Playing for Souhegan High was the team captain and junior Kasen Fox joined by juniors Caleb Brower, Morgan Hallett, and Emma Crisman along with team alternates freshman Maya Gascoyne, sophomore Sami Hogan, and freshman Aaron Coleman. The coach for the team was social studies teacher Nicholas Drinkwater. Souhegan High is located in Amherst and enrolls around 750 students from Amherst and Mont Vernon.

ROUND ONE

Travis Benincasa quickly put 20 points on the board for Dover by knowing that bowing balls can weigh up to 16 pounds and Walt Whitman was the author of the poem, "Oh Captain!, My Captain!" Maddie Bachrach added another 10 points to the score for Dover on a question about the three inalienable rights named in the Declaration of Independence. Kasen Fox picked up 20 points for Souhegan on a question about mistletoe and the only U.S. president to hold a patent, Abraham Lincoln. He then tied the score with a question about armadillos and then took Souhegan into the lead with questions about Dwight Eisenhower and Superman. Travis Benincasa of Dover tightened the score to 50-40 on a question about the badger. Emma Crisman of Souhegan extended her team's lead to 60-40 on a question about battleships. With a minute left in the round Souhegan had a lead of 80-60. Caleb Brower added 10 points to Souhegan's score on a question about Winston Churchill. Maddie Bachrach picked up 10 points for Dover on a question about the term Ps and Qs, bringing the score to 90-70. Morgan Hallett of Souhegan knew that the brightest star in the sky as seen from Earth is the Sun and Leviathan Stewart. of Dover knew that Krypto is Superman's pet dog and crypto is a form of currency and with less than 15 seconds left in the round the score was Souhegan 100 and Dover 80. Travis Benincasa of Dover tightened the score to 100-90 on a question about Rome and the round ended.

THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT ROUND
In the Three Strikes and You're Out Round each team picks a 10-question category and each team member, starting with the captain, gets one question. 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. Dover answered seven questions in their category correctly. Souhegan answered five questions correctly and the round ended with Dover holding a narrow lead of 160-150.

60-SECOND ROUND

In the 60-Second 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 a 10-point bonus. Team members can confer in the round, but the captain answers. Souhegan chose the category "Animal Attraction." All of the answers in the category were book titles that included the name of an animal. They answered four questions correctly and picked up 40 points.  Dover chose the category "A Capital Idea." All of the answers were state of country capitals that begin with the letter "A".  The pick was a good one for the team and captain Maddie Bachrach, who answered all 10 questions correctly and picked up 110 points for Dover.  At the end of the round, Dover led by a score of 270-190.

FINAL ROUND

In the final round of the game, each correct answer is worth 20 points, but teams lose 20 points with an incorrect answer. The first question of the round was a civics question from Peter Richard, a trustee with NH Civics. Kasen Fox knew that the 21st amendment repealed the 19th amendment and picked up 20 points for Souhegan, his teammate Caleb Brower added another 20 points on a question about Henry VIII and Kasen added another 40 points on questions about the Komodo dragon and barometers. Dover lost 20  points and Souhegan gained 20 points on a question about bifocals and with under a minute left in the game, Souhegan had a lead of  290-250. The next question was the Unitil Power question worth double points, but neither team picked up the 40 points on a question about what power of attorney is. Neither team buzzed in on the last two questions and Souhegan won the game by a score of 290-250.

Souhegan now moves on to the quarterfinals where they will meet the winner of the next Round One game, between Oyster River High or Trinity High in a game airing on Thursday, February 29, at 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 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.

You can follow your favorite team, test your 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, D.F. Richard Energy, and HRCU.

Pressroom Contact

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