New Hampshire high school trivia teams are up to the Granite State Challenge
We've all been there, right? Your opponent correctly spells the word 'broccoli' and now, it's up to you.
You have one second to say the name of the beloved TV series and movie 'M*A*S*H' to force sudden-death overtime.
All those hours of cramming and drilling have come down to the other 'three Rs' — recognition, recollection and reflexes. And the poise to treat triumph and disaster just the same.
You're also a teenager. On television. On your birthday of all days. And your whole school is watching.
Desmond Lee, the senior captain of Trinity High School's Granite State Challenge team, was seemingly destined to be in that spot. With his Pioneers behind, Lee answered three questions correctly in the final round, including buzzing in right as time expired to force a tiebreaker. Then Lee got a break and knew it when host Jon Cannon was about halfway through asking the question.
'In which Jane Austen novel will you find Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham?' Lee was the first to buzz in, answering with exuberance: 'Pride and Prejudice.'
The Pioneers were now onto the semifinals, where they'll face Tilton on NHPBS on May 1.
Granite State Challenge, NHPBS's high school quiz show, is now in its 41st year, having premiered on Jan. 30, 1984. Since then, more than 6,700 students have participated, and 136,000 questions have been asked by the likes of original host Tom Bergeron and cameo questioners Ken Burns and Stephen Colbert.
Londonderry was the first of 21 New Hampshire high schools to win the championship. Merrimack has won three of the last four titles, and five other teams have won three titles each: Salem, Plymouth, Hanover, Alvirne and Winnisquam.
Remaining bracket
With the Trinity-Tilton semifinals already set, four other teams are still alive and vying for the last two spots in the semifinals. Perennial powerhouse Merrimack's quarterfinal match against ConVal will air April 17. Profile of Bethlehem will take on Bedford in the remaining quarterfinal match April 24. The winner of those two matches will face off May 8 in the semis.
The championship will air May 15. All broadcasts start at 8:30 p.m. and are on New Hampshire PBS. For more details, visit nhpbs.org/gsc.
All of the matches were prerecorded in January. The teams, their families and their schools have been sworn to secrecy.
Trinity's wild ride
The Pioneers are vying for the school's first championship after two previous trips to the finals in 2001 and 2004.
Lee, who joined the team as an alternate his sophomore season, said this year has been special, especially the way the match against Plymouth ended.
Four-year veteran Tyler Welch said he and his teammates have a few special ways to guess on the off chance they don't know an answer. For instance, if you're going to guess a name, just say, 'Williams.'
'This one time, we said, 'Williams' and they said, 'Correct.' So, we just lost it,' Welch said.
Welch said he's had a few moments like that when he's buzzed in and drawn a blank for a second, only to offer seemingly random answers and be right.
'I had nothing going on and then all of a sudden, I just said an answer because saying something is better than saying nothing. I was just like, 'Bunny,' and he said, 'Correct.' Another time I said, 'Johnny Cash' and was correct,' Welch said.
Meet the Pioneers: The Trinity team also features Long Nguyen and Teagan Hilliard, as well as alternate Madeleine Souza. Andrew Lavoie and Louis Sievers are the coaches.
Tiltin' toward Tilton?
Lex Condodemetraky, team captain for the Tilton Rams, created his small private school's Granite State Challenge team as part of his senior legacy project — a way for graduating students to leave something behind.
Tilton on Granite State Challenge
Tilton School will face off in the semifinals of Granite State Challenge on May 1. Front row, from left to right are Nathaniel Colon, Lex Condodemetraky and Niko Condodemetraky. In the back row, from left to right, are Sebastian DeVeaux, Jamie Scott and Turner Bottomley.
'I just got a couple of my friends and some people who were interested and put together a team of six people to go down and take the test,' Condodemetraky said of the qualifying test each team took to earn a spot in the 16-team televised field. 'We scored 81 out of 100, which was pretty great. When we found out we were going to be on TV, I mean, we were in awe. We were ecstatic.'
He hopes that Tilton, with an enrollment of around 200, will continue to battle the big schools. Sure, being from a private school might give his team a perceived advantage, but school size evens the playing field, he said.
'We have 190 kids to get a team of five or six from. This week, we went up against Portsmouth, a school with more than 1,000,' Condodemetraky said.
Tilton defeated Portsmouth on Thursday night to advance to play Trinity.
Meet the Rams: Sebastian DeVeaux, Niko Condodemetraky, and Jamie Scott round out the roster with alternates Turner Bottomley and Nathaniel Colon. Keelan Mackenzie and Lauren Robinson coach Tilton.
'Mack is back
Merrimack has won four out of the last five tournaments, losing to Portsmouth in the 2022 championship, and is looking for the only three-peat in Challenge history. The Tomahawks hold the record for most championships (four) and appearances (24).
Merrimack on Granite State Challenge
Maeve LaRock, second from left, turns to teammate Avis Clever as Merrimack High School competes in this year's Granite State Challenge. Liam MacIsaac is in the background. The Tomahawks have won four out of the last five championships for New Hampshire PBS's quiz show and are going for an unprecedented three-peat.
Dr. Sara Campbell, one of the coaches, is married to her high school sweetheart and former GSC teammate, Bernie Campbell, who coaches their alma mater, Salem. Separately, they've built two of the best programs in the state.
But with success comes the pressure of repeating, and that's where the kids' hard work pays off in terms of confidence and the ability to beat back emotions to recall answers.
'I definitely think that poise plays into it a good deal. It's one of the reasons why we practice so much and practice with buzzers,' she said. 'I think there was definitely a lot of pressure, of expectations that they felt. Especially (senior Erin Murray) having done this before and coming back now as captain.'
Meet the Tomahawks: Liam MacIsaac, Maeve LaRock and Avis Clever round out the roster with alternates Hikari McDowell, Bridget Clark and Lauren Murby. Sara Campbell and Liz Dumais are the coaches.
ConVal catches up
The Peterborough-based Cougars have the unenviable task of taking on Merrimack in their bid to make the semifinals. ConVal advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Nashua South in March.
ConVal on Granite State Challenge
Ben Michaud, center, gestures while talking to Granite State Challenge host Jon Cannon, far right, as ConVal teammates Remy Kekuewa-Colon and Lukas Baker look on. ConVal will take on two-time defending champion Merrimack April 17 in the semifinals.
Led by junior captain Lukas Baker, ConVal came from 40 points behind to beat the Purple Panthers, 330-310, in the final seconds. With less than 10 seconds left, Ben Michaud buzzed in with the winning answer to send the Cougars to the next round.
Meet the Cougars: Remy Kekuewa-Colon and Brian Alonso round out the roster. Eric Bowman and Chris Heider coach ConVal.
Bedford's young guns
Bedford has fielded a team of all sophomores and freshmen this season.
Coach Kelly Chausovsky said she wasn't sure what to expect from her inexperienced team. Bedford hadn't made the tournament since 2018.
Bedford on Granite State Challenge
From left to right, Tabitha Arp, Samantha Arp, Sumedh Godavarthy, Alina Chausovsky, Tristan Albano and Matthew Ruggiero of Bedford High School confer on a question during the taping of Granite State Challenge at New Hampshire PBS's studio in Durham. Bedford's team is made up entirely of sophomores and freshmen, who have led the Bulldogs to the quarterfinals.
'When this team pulled together this year, I think none of us knew enough to even have any expectations of how they would do,' she said. 'We just knew it was a really fantastic group of kids.'
She and Sherry Arp agreed to be the 'adults in the room,' but the kids have done all the heavy lifting.
'We just had no idea how to prepare. I didn't know anything about it. I left it all up to the kids to drive the club forward themselves. So, they came up with categories for each of them to take on,' she said. 'It's been a delightful, surprising journey.'
Meet the Bulldogs: Matthew Ruggiero, Tabitha Arp, Alina Chausovsky and Sumedh Godavarthy are on the roster along with alternates Samantha Arp and Tristan Albano. Kelly Chausovsky and Sherry Arp coach Bedford.
Profile powers ahead
After an early deficit, Profile defeated Bow, 380-130, to advance to the quarterfinals, where they will take on Bedford. With an enrollment of 141 and located in the White Mountains, Profile is the smallest school to make it this far in 2025.
Profile on Granite State Challenge
Profile teammates, Maddie Perkins, Moses Rolfe and Isaac Reeder share a fun moment while competing in the Granite State Challenge quiz show at New Hampshire PBS. Profile takes on Bedford in the semifinals on April 24.
Against Bow, captain Maddie Perkins and Raiden Valentine paced the Patriots, who piled up points in the final round to ground the formidable Falcons.
Meet the Patriots: Isaac Reeder and Moses Rolfe round out the roster with alternates Travis Locke and Marcus Hamilton. Jill Brewer coaches Profile.
Hosts with the most
Tom Bergeron, who went on to host 'Dancing with the Stars' and 'America's Funniest Home Videos,' among other national shows, started his game show hosting at NHPBS. He then handed off to Jim Jeannotte, who hosted from the mid-1980s until Jon Cannon took over in 2018.
Cannon, 46, started watching the show as a kid and played for Belmont High School before heading to the University of New Hampshire, where he worked at NHPBS and Granite State Challenge as a student for three years.
Jon Cannon of Granite State Challenge
Granite State Challenge host Jon Cannon, right, chats with Portsmouth's Nolan Peters, Jack Hoium, Aadit Noble and Iliya Ramadanovic during the taping of the quarterfinals in Durham.
He and a colleague started the GSC team at Bedford High School in 2010. Cannon now lives in Dunbarton and is a teacher at Bow High School.
'I feel like I've been part of Granite State Challenge in every capacity that you can be,' Cannon said.
Cannon said he loves hosting the show now because instead of being a nervous fan, or player, or coach, he gets to be in awe of the best of the best in his home state. For Cannon, it's all about the students' experience.
'We want the kids to be their best selves. I always say we hope you had fun and hope you're glad you did this, and we're glad we had you,' he said.
For the 16 teams that made it to the televised rounds, those experiences and episodes will live on in perpetuity and online at nhpbs.org/gsc.
dpierce@unionleader.com
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