The Tilton Rams Edge Out the Portsmouth Clippers on Granite State Challenge

Durham, NH (April 11, 2025) - The Tilton Rams stayed alive with a late final-round comeback against the Portsmouth Clippers to win, 280-210 in the second quarterfinal game of GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE on New Hampshire PBS.

Playing for Portsmouth High was team captain and twelfth grader Nolan Peters along with twelfth grader Jack Hoium and eleventh graders Iliya Ramadanovic and Aadit Noble. Team alternates were twelfth grader Charlie Anderson and eleventh grader Anthony Smith. The team was coached by reading and writing specialist Hannah Dul. Portsmouth High enrolls around 1,087 students and serves the towns of Portsmouth, Rye, Greenland, Newington and Newcastle.

Playing for the Tilton School was team captain and twelfth grader Lex Condodemetraky along with twelfth grader Sebastian DeVeaux and eleventh graders Niko Condodemetraky and Jamie Scott. Team alternates were eleventh grader Turner Bottomley and tenth grader Nathaniel Colon. The team was coached by Spanish teacher Keelan Mackenzie and social media and content specialist Lauren Robinson. The Tilton School is a private boarding school that enrolls around 220 students.

ROUND ONE

Tilton’s Lex and Sebastian answered the first two questions about the start of World War II and the Potomac River correctly, but Portsmouth’s Nolan and Jack were able to pull their team ahead with correct answers about Greek and Norse gods, the Constitution and the metamorphic rock, slate.

Portsmouth picked up 10 points on a video question about the movie, Ghostbusters from Tom Bergeron, the first host of Granite State Challenge. Portsmouth also picked up 20 points on the Power Question correctly identifying Ralph Waldo Emerson as the American Transcendentalist leader who wrote “The law of nature is: Do the thing, and you shall have the power, but they who do not the thing have not the power. ”

The Portsmouth Clippers ended the round with a sizeable, but not insurmountable lead of 130-70.

ROUND TWO – THREE STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT

In the Three Strikes and You're Out Round, each team gets a 10-question category and each team member gets one 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. 

Portsmouth went first and they struck out earlier than they would have hoped. Tough questions stumped the Clippers and only Nolan was able to answer a question about Kevin Bacon correctly before the team exhausted their passes and strikes when they were unable to answer questions about the film Animal House, the musical Six and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn.

The Rams had a chance to make up some ground and picked up 40 points in the round on questions about boxer Rocky Balboa, rocky road ice cream, the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, and singer Elton John.

At the end of the round Portsmouth was in the lead by a score of 140-110.

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.

The Rams, still behind by 30 points, chose “All That Glitters” as their category. Each answer in the category included the word “gold.”

The Tilton Rams convened picked up 70 points in the round on questions about the Golden Girls, the movie Gold Finger, and Fool’ Gold.  

The Portsmouth Clippers chose the category “Timber.”  All the answers in the category were related to trees. Portsmouth picked up 50 points in the round and held on to a slim lead of 190-180.

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.

Portsmouth’s Jack answered the first question about the probability of rolling a five with a six-sided die. Taking the score to 200-180,  but lost 20 points on the next question about the tapir. With the score now tied, 180-180, Tilton’s Niko and Lex were able to secure the first lead of the game for Tilton on questions about James Earl Jones asked by New Hampshire author Rebecca Rule and a picture question about the albatross, bringing the score to 240-190.

Nolan drew the Clippers closer with a correct answer about the Ho Chi Min Trail, but, but Jamie and Lex added 40 points to Tilton’s score on questions about Emily Dickinson and table salt.

In the end, the Tilton Rams prevailed with a final-round comeback winning the game by a score of 280-210. They now move on to the semifinals where they will meet the team from Trinity High in a game airing on Thursday, May 1 at 8:30 p.m. on NHPBS.

“It was the same thing in our last game, we could have just given up. We didn’t, we just had our heads high,” said Tilton’s Lex Condodemetraky. “We kept answering questions, and we were right back in the game the entire time, so it was a ton of fun.”

“It was a hard-fought game and they deserve the win,” said Portsmouth’s Jack Hoium. “I was a little bit disappointed with our performance, but at the end of the day, we had fun, we still did well, and I'm happy to see what our juniors can do next year.”

“I think they did great. I think they’re really good when they get behind because they get that fire lit under their butt, and it makes them want to win even more,” said Tilton’s coach Robinson. “I’m really proud of them. They played great and we’re excited to come back.”

ConVal Regional High meets Merrimack High on the next game of GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE airing on Thursday, April 17 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: GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE is hosted by Bow High School teacher Jon Cannon.  Cannon has a long history with GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE. You might say he grew up with the game.  He was a member of the Belmont High team when he was in high school, was a member of the NHPBS GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE crew when he was in college at UNH and was the coach of the Bedford High GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE team.

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