Hopkinton High Narrowly Defeats Laconia High

(DURHAM, April 29, 2024) - Hopkinton High narrowly defeated Laconia High in the last quarterfinal game on Granite State Challenge on Thursday, April 25, 2024, at 7:30 pm on NHPBS.

Playing for Hopkinton High were team captain and senior Adam Richter, senior Colton Murphy, senior Conrad Mollano, and senior Jackson Kovar. The team alternates were sophomore Fin Murphy and junior Flo Dapice. The team was coached by social studies teacher Liam Callahan. Hopkinton High enrolls around 297 students. Hopkinton High defeated 2018 champion Salem High on their way to the quarterfinals

Playing for Laconia High were team captain and senior Brody Rollins, along with seniors Reid Vaillancourt, James Horan, and Alex Richardson. The team alternates were seniors Wynter Murgatroy and Haley Cullen. Laconia was coached by social studies teacher Taylor Osborne, math teacher Susan Finch, and health and wellness teacher Keith Ball. Laconia High enrolls around 549 students. Laconia High defeated Inter-Lakes High on their way to the quarterfinals.

ROUND ONE
Hopkinton's Adam Richter picked up 20 points in the round on questions about HTML and Buddy Holly. His teammate Colton Murphy scored 30 points on questions about pandas, the film Psycho, and Article Seven of the U.S. Constitution, and Jackson Kovar added another 10 points to Hopkinton's score on a question about sea lions.

For Laconia, Brody Rollins scored 10 points on a question about the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Reid Vaillancourt picked up 20 points on questions about Whoville and the flag of Rhode Island, James Horan added 30 points on questions about the 18th Amendment, Super Mario Brothers, and goosebumps, and Alex Richardson tacked on 10 more points on a question about Gilligan's Island. At the end of the round, Laconia had a slim lead of 70-60.

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. 

In Hopkinton's round Colton Murphy, Jackson Kovar, and Conrad Mollano each picked up 10 points for a team total of 30 points. For Laconia, James Horan picked up 10 points for his team, and the round ended with Hopkinton in the lead by a score of 90-80.

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.

Laconia High chose the category "It Ends How It Starts." All the answers in the category were words that began and ended in the same letter. The team picked up 60 points in the round.

Hopkinton chose the category "Lend a Hand" In this category, the answers all included the word hand. Hopkinton picked up 80 points and the round ended with Hopkinton in the lead by a score of 170-140.

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 a lead can be easily lost or gained in the round.

Laconia's James Horan picked up 20 points on the first question in the round by correctly naming the four awards that make up an EGOT. The next question in the round was the Unitil Power question worth double points James Horan picked up the 40 points on a question about the Powerpuff Girls and took Laconia out to a lead of  200-170.

Hopkinton's Adam Richter narrowed the score to 200-190 by knowing that Mount Monadnock in Cheshire County, NH  is one of the most frequently climbed mountains in the world. Jame Horan picked up another 20 points for Laconia on a question about X formally known as Twitter. Hopkinton's Conrad Mollano added 20 points to his team's total on a question about Yondu, a character from the 2017 movie Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. James Horan added 20 points to Laconia's score on a question about tiramisu, and the score was now 240-210 with Laconia in the lead.

Hopkinton's Colton Murphy narrowed the score to 240-230 on a question about George H.W. Bush. Brody Rollins knew that the epitaph "I had a lover's quarrel with the world" is found on the grave of Robert Frost and took Laconia out to a lead of  260-230. Hopkinton's Jackson Kovar narrowed the score to 260-250 on a question about Jim Thorpe.

With just under 30 seconds left in the game, Hopkinton's Adam Richter picked up 20 points on a question about James Brown. Laconia's James Horan came right back on a question about the Iberian peninsula, and Laconia was now in the lead by a score of 280-270 with just 10 seconds left in the game. Unfazed, Hopkinton's Adam Richter answered the last two questions in the games correctly, and Hopkinton won a well-fought game by a final score of 310-280. Hopkinton High now moves on to the semifinal round where they will face Plymouth High in a game airing on Thursday, May 9 at 7:30 pm on NHPBS.

The first semifinal game pits defending champion Merrimack High against Trinity High and airs on Thursday, May 2 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