ConVal Regional High Cougars Beat the Nashua High South Purple Panthers on Granite State Challenge

Durham, NH (March 7, 2025) - The ConVal Regional High Cougars had a game-winning, buzzer-beating correct answer in the fourth round to beat the very competitive Nashua High South Purple Panthers on Granite State Challenge in Round One, 330-310.

Playing for the Cougars team was team captain 11th grader Lukas Baker along with 11th graders Ben Michaud, Remy Kekuewa-Colon and Brian Alonso. The team was led by coaches and social studies teachers  Eric Bowman and Chris Heider. ConVal Regional High is located in Peterborough and enrolls 737 students from the towns of Antrim, Bennington, Dublin, Francestown, Greenfield, Hancock, Peterborough, Sharon and Temple.

The Nashua High School South Purple Panthers captain was 12th grader Calvin Song. He was joined by 11th graders Henry Long, Eric Picanco and Thanasi Miris. The team was led by social studies teacher Lex Duval and English teacher Kelli Thornhill-Telerski. Nashua High South alternates were 11th grader Caroline Kelly and 9th grader Samarth Sharma. Nashua South enrolls 1,790 students.

ROUND ONE
The first round set the pace for a great duel of the minds in rounds to come. ConVal’s Ben Michaud answered the first question of the match correctly with “Sputnik,” then Nashua High South's Henry, Calvin and Eric answered the next three questions correctly putting 60 points on the board. 

ConVal’s Remy and Lukas game back with three correct answers to two geography and one history questions.

The round continued, neck and neck, as players answered questions about pop culture, science and literature. Each of the Purple Panthers answered a question correctly in round one as Thanasi correctly answered the last question of the round, a picture question asking to name the animal (Prairie Dog). The round ended in a 110-110 tie.

ROUND TWO – THREE STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT
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 round two, ConVal went first and correctly answered four questions. Team captain Lukas answered both of his correctly, but the team was stumped on a few and struck out despite only using one pass.

This gave Nashua High South the opportunity to take the lead and they got a slight edge after answering five questions correctly and using two passes before striking out on three consecutive questions. All four Panthers stayed strong in this round too as they each answered at least one question right, and they took a 10-point lead into the second half of the match.

ROUND THREE – 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.

Since ConVal was behind, it had first choice at the category as the alternates joined the team.  The Cougars chose “Mega Words,” a category that could have been dangerously challenging, but all answers in the category were words that included “mega” within them. The Cougars successfully answered eight questions, including ones about Megan Thee Stallion, megalodons and megaphones and picked up 80 points in the round.

The Panthers chose the category called “State Songs,” where each answer was a song title that included the name of a U.S. State. Iconic songs such as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” and Eagles’ “Hotel California” were two of the Panthers’ correct answers out of the seven they got. This meant that after round three, the Cougars and Panthers were tied, 230-230, going into the final round.

“I was excited going into the last round, because I knew that there were a lot of points to be had, and it was just really fun to be part of such a closely competitive game,” said ConVal coach Eric Bowman.

FINAL ROUND – TOSS-UP
In the final round of the game, 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. Round four was extremely competitive, with both teams remaining tied after four questions as Calvin got two right for Nashua, and Lukas and Ben got one each for ConVal.

The Unitil Power Question, which is worth double points, asked for the author of “1984” and Calvin correctly answered “George Orwell” to gain the Panthers a 40-point lead. However, after that Lukas and Remy from ConVal answered a question each to tie the game 310-310. With less than 10 seconds, host Jon Cannon had just enough time for one last question about a New York Airport and ConVal’s Ben buzzed in and correctly answered “JFK” to win the game.

“I think we did great work,” said the ConVal’s captain, Lukas Baker. “We definitely improved in the categories. We probably are going to work on passing strategically, before we play in the quarterfinals, but I think all in all we're going to take home another win.”

“I think the way they played in the three strikes round really just says everything about their camaraderie, and how they work as a team,” said Nashua High South coach Lex Duval. “Of course, it's not the outcome you want, but when I look back and I think about how they really worked as a team.”

English teacher and Nashua High South coach Kelli Thornhill-Telersky chimed in and said, “They left congratulating the other team wishing them well and at the end of the day we care more about the sportsmanship than anything else, so really proud of how they behaved and how they acted and how they performed.”

The ConVal Cougars will play the winner of the Merrimack High School and Winnisquam High School GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE in a quarterfinal game airing on Thursday, April 17 at 8:30 p.m. on NHPBS.

Catch the next game of GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE when defending champs Merrimack High takes on Winnisquam High on Thursday, March 13, 2025 at 8:30 p.m. on NHPBS. You can also stream it on the PBS App, the NHPBS YouTube channel, or online at nhpbs.org/gsc.

Test your knowledge with GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE online quizzes, and more at the GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE web page, or try your hands at daily brain teasers on the GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE Facebook page.

GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE is funded by lead sponsor Unitil with additional funding from Bangor Savings Bank, Safety Insurance, NEA New Hampshire and Aroma Joe’s.

About Host Jon Cannon: 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.

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