Bellevue Wins Firelands Challenge Play-off...
...Will face Edison and St. Paul for Championship
Bellevue’s Firelands Challenge team scored a big win in Tuesday’s Play-off match by defeating teams from Willard and Perkins. By doing so it earned the right to compete against Edison, the current champion and St. Paul which finished in second-place after the preliminary rounds.
This victory is a major achievement for the Bellevue team. It marks the team’s first appearance in the Championship Rounds in the forty-year history of the academic competition.
The three Play-off teams were separated by only five points in the cumulative scores going into the Play-off so it was expected that this match would be close and it was. Only four points separated the three teams at the mid-point of the match. Bellevue had 18, Willard 17, and Perkins 14.
Bellevue moved ahead of the other teams by answering questions in the Great Books, Physical Science, and American History categories. It got a big boost by selecting and correctly answering a question in the Spanish Team Choice category to go up by 7 points over Willard and 9 points over Perkins.
Perkins and Willard tried to catch up in the closing Lightning Round but both teams missed questions and could not gain enough points. The match ended with Bellevue at 36 points, Willard with 28, and Perkins with 27.
“I am so proud of the effort and time the team put in. They made it a goal last year to do better, so I am so excited they reached their goal,” said Jennifer Mercer, Bellevue’s advisor, after the match.
Dakota Zerman, who serves as Bellevue’s team captain, observed, “We have overcome tons of nerves and grown as a team. Championships, were coming for you!”
The Bellevue team has a big challenge ahead as it goes up against the St. Paul team that held onto second place in the second and third rounds. It will also have to overcome Edison which is going for its ninth consecutive championship.
The Championship matches are scheduled for March 8, 16 and 18. All of the matches will be at the Milestone Event Center in Norwalk. There are no audiences for these matches due to the pandemic. However the matches can be viewed on the televised and online services of Buckeye Broadband.