Seasoned Champs Merrimack High Beat Young Team from Bedford High on Granite State Challenge

Durham, NH (Friday, May 9, 2025) - Merrimack put its foot on the gas and did not let up to advance to its fifth Granite State Challenge final with a chance to secure an unprecedented GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE championship three-peat, beating the young Bedford Bulldogs 440-290 in the final semifinal game.

Team captain and 9th grader Matthew Ruggiero, 10th graders Tabitha Arp and  Alina Chausovsky, 9th grader Sumedh Godavarthy, and team alternates 10th grader Samantha Arp and 9th grader Tristan Albano, played for Bedford High. Their coaches were  Kelly Chausovsky, a Destination Imagination coordinator, and Sherry Arp, a parent. Bedford High School enrolls 1,492 students.

The Merrimack High School team was captained by 12th grader Erin Murray accompanied by 12th grader Liam MacIsaac, 12th grader Maeve LaRock and 11th grader Avis Clever. The team’s alternates were 12th grader Hikari McDowell and 11th graders Bridget Clark and Lauren Murby. The team was coached by chemistry teacher, Dr. Sara Campbell and physics teacher, Liz Dumais. Bedford High enrolls 1,087 students.

ROUND ONE
This round went back and forth between both teams as they both answered a wide variety of questions.

Merrimack’s Erin and Liam combined for the team’s first 50 points, while Bedford’s Alina got her team started with a biochemistry answer.

Matthew and Alina slowly caught up to the Tomahawks with a three-right answer run with answers related to U.S. Politics and other categories.

Merrimack’s Maeve and Liam heated up alongside Captain Erin to finish the round very strong, answering two video questions and a math question, to finish the round ahead, 150-40.

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. 

Bedford went first in round two and was extremely challenged by some tough questions. The team struck out after using two passes and did not gain any points.

Merrimack had a bit more luck and answered three of their first four questions correctly. However, they then had to use two passes and faltered twice, ending their round after Avis answered a second question right, but Erin answered incorrectly on the next.

The second round ended with Merrimack widening its lead to 180-50.

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.

Bedford chose a category first and needed a solid round to stay in the game before Merrimack ran away with it. The Bulldogs chose “Around the World,” where each answer was the name of a New Hampshire town that was also a city or country around the globe.

Using their New Hampshire geography knowledge to answer with “Berlin,” “Lebanon,” and “Bethlehem,” the Bulldogs correctly answered eight of the 10 questions in this category.

The chose the category “Take a Bow.” The answers in this category all included the word “Bow” or “b-o-w” in order.

The Tomahawks quickly answered the first question with “David Bowie,” and proceeded to get seven more to equal the Bulldogs’ score for the round.

The round ended with the same difference as round two, with Merrimack ahead, 260-130.

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.

With such a sizeable lead, most teams would lay off the buzzer and wait for questions with answers they were certain of. But Merrimack’s quick buzzer speed and wealth of knowledge did not stop. All four contestants for the Tomahawks answered at least one question right to take an even bigger lead, extending it to 400-150.

 Bedford’s Matthew and Tabitha buzzed in but were often beaten by Merrimack to the question. Merrimack eventually let up on the buzzer, allowing Bedford’s Sumedh and Alina to get one each, and allowing Matthew to go on a 40-point streak, but the Bulldogs could not catch up.

They ultimately fell, 440-290. The Merrimack Tomahawks now move on to the championship match where they will meet a tough Tilton School squad to defend their title.

“I think it's a testament to all the hard work we put in as a team. I'm proud of us,” said Merrimack’s Liam MacIsaac. “That was a really good team we faced, we were very wary of the damage they could do to us, so to put that gap ahead of them, we knew that that was setting us up for greatness.”

“Even more valuable than whatever our point value was, we got to talk to Merrimack, who’s been doing this a long time, and get their tips and tricks. I think that's going to be really helpful for practicing next year, they were really nice to us,” said Bedford’s Alina Chausovsky.

“Bedford played great, they’re a young team, so they’re just going to go on and do even more amazing things,” said Merrimack’s coach Campbell. “But it was really nice for my kids, they were definitely more relaxed this time than they had been in previous rounds, and it showed.”

Merrimack High takes on Tilton School in the final game of GRANITE STATE SUPERCHALLENGE airing on Thursday, May 15 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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