Norwalk Wins "Nail-biter"
Advances to Firelands Challenge Championship
Sandusky, Ohio. February 29, 2024
Just as with the regular season matches, the Firelands Challenge Play-off Match was competitive to the very end. The team from Norwalk High School came out on top, but faced determined efforts by Margaretta and Willard.
Willard jumped out to an early lead of six points over Norwalk and eight points over Margaretta after the first quarter of the match. It correctly answered all of its questions and picked up two bonus points from Margaretta.
Margaretta took over the lead at the mid-point of the match. It had the answers to four of the Lightning Round questions to pull ahead of Norwalk and Willard by two points.
The third quarter of the match proved to be a crucial one for Norwalk. Margaretta was leading by six points over Norwalk as Team Choice category came up.
Norwalk chose a question in the sports category and answered it correctly. Margaretta chose a question in the Shakespeare category. It answered incorrectly and Norwalk buzzed in for a bonus attempt.
The question was “At the beginning of Act Two (of Much Ado About Nothing), Beatrice is with Leonato and Antonio after supper. Beatrice makes the following comments about someone they were discussing: ‘How tartly that gentleman looks! I never can see him but I am heartburned an hour after.’ Who was Beatrice referring to with these comments?”
Norwalk answered with “Don John” and earned three bonus points. By answering its own question and adding the bonus points, Norwalk took the lead by five points over Margaretta.
Margaretta came back to within three points going into the final Lightning Round. The subject of the Lightning Round was homophones – words with different meanings and spellings, but pronounced alike. Norwalk answered five of the questions correctly to secure its victory.
The final scores for the match were: Norwalk 49, Margaretta 43, and Willard 36.
In a post-match email, Hailee Smith and Emily Skeel, Norwalk’s team captains, stated, “Our main goal for the season was to make it to the playoffs, and we are very proud of how hard our team has worked to achieve that goal. Congratulations to the other teams that also made it this far.
We are excited to compete in the championship matches in the weeks to come. We greatly appreciate the support from our friends and family.”
William Muthig, the program coordinator, observed: “This was a great match. It was hard to tell which team would come out on top. All three teams represented their schools very well.”
With the win, Norwalk will move into the Championship Rounds against Edison and St. Mary Central Catholic. Edison is in search of its 12th straight championship.
The first Championship Match is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on March 13 at Norwalk High School. The other two matches are tentatively scheduled for March 20 at St. Mary’s and March 26 at Edison.