Edison Wins Opening Round
Firelands Challenge Results
The first Championship Round of Firelands Challenge was held at Norwalk High School on Wednesday. The team from Edison made a statement that it is not ready to relinquish the title of “Champion”.
Edison opened a two-point lead over St. Mary Central Catholic and a six-point lead over Norwalk after the Current Events question category and never looked back. By the end of the first four question categories, Edison was in the lead with 22 points over St. Mary and Norwalk with 8 points apiece.
Edison earned six bonus points in the opening segment of the match. It took three points from each of the other teams.By the mid-point of the match Edison had 31 points, St. Mary 17 and Norwalk 14. St. Mary and Norwalk were not giving up however.
All three teams answered their Great Books and Team Choice questions correctly. Then came the Physical Science category and Edison was the only team that answered those questions. At that point Edison, with 50 points, once again had a 22 point lead over the other two teams that were tied with 28 points.
In the final segment of the match, Edison earned 7 points to finish with 57 points. St. Mary earned 10 points to finish with 38 and Norwalk earned 6 points to finish with 34 points.
Edison led the teams in answering seven of its own team questions. St. Mary answered the two Toss-up questions and Norwalk performed best on the first Lightning Round questions.
The final Lightning Round stymied the three teams. None of them could answer questions about notable people who died in 2023.
For example: What is the last name of the person Frank Sinatra called “the best singer in the business” and The New York Times called the “Jazzy Crooner of the American songbook”? Answer: (Tony) Bennett.
The Firelands Challenge Championship is determined by the cumulative scores of the teams at the end of three matches. The next match will be on March 20 at St. Mary Central Catholic High School. The final match will be on March 26 at Edison.
If Edison wins this season’s championship, it will mark its twelfth successive championship in the program. Edison’s co-captains, Nadia Cantelli and Noah Proctor, noted that while proud of their performance, with a short turnaround before the next match, “we are focused on maintaining a high caliber of play.”