Ranking the First 30 ApologetiX Albums

They say that the music people listen at the age of 13 and 14 becomes "their music." Well, it just so happens that at the age 13, I was introduced to a band called the ApologetiX. The time could not have been any more perfect. See, I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was in 6th grade at the age of 12. By the time I had turned 13, I had very much hit the age in my spiritual journey where I took the command "You are to be holy as I am holy" very seriously. I rejected anything in my life that was not explicitly Christian. That included all aspects of culture, including music. I even remember telling a classmate in my Sunday school class that "The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round" had no redeeming value because it did not explicitly praise and worship Jesus. Still, in the back of my mind, I think I knew deep down that secular music had the better instrumentals. That's where the ApologetiX stepped in. They had the awesome instrumentals that the secular music had, but they had God-honoring lyrics that made the songs more redeemable in my eyes. My youth group leaders, Mike & Michele Cronrath introduced them to me at youth group with their Spoofernatural CD, and it just so happened that the following spring, they would perform at my Christian school's auction fundraiser.

Since then, I have attended at least 10 concerts: in Souderton (3 times), Lansdale, Bensalem, Quakertown, Boyertown, Shippensburg, Mount Joy and York. I would have to say my favorite one is the one in Boyertown. At the beginning of the concert, then lead guitarist Karl Messner asked everybody in the ApologetiX fan club to stand. I stood alone. Karl then asked for my name and deemed the Boyertown branch of the ApologetiX club "the Graham club" (I'm not sure how official that was, but when I asked the lead singer J. Jackson about that years later, he remembered!). My second favorite concert would be the Shippensburg once because that was the one and only concert I took my then-girlfriend, now-wife Carrie to see. I always told Carrie that she doesn't have to like the exact same things as me, but she has to experience them at least once, so when I talk about them, she knows what I'm talking about. It ended up not being Carrie's thing, but she helped me by taking photos and video. To round it off, to a nice top 3, my 3rd favorite concert would be the one in York, but that's in hindsight. That concert would turn out to be one of the last concerts (sixth-to-last, if I counted correctly), and it's just awesome to know I was there for one of the last concerts. Also, fun fact, that was their one and only concert in York, PA ever.

Since, I then I have owned every album up to Braggadocious. Honestly, though, that statistic has fallen under recent times. Just a few years ago, the collect only consisted of the albums from Jesus Christ Morning Star to You Can’t Say Euphrates Without the 80s, which including the director’s cut of Isn’t Wasn’t Ain’t, but did not include Chosen Ones. Since I  became a fan between Keep the Change and Grace Period was I was a teen, my album collection started from there (my first album was Keep the Change) and spread out both forward and backward. By the time I decided I wanted to purchase Radical History Tour and Ticked!, ApologetiX had already sold out copies both in the online store and the after concert store. I really hoped that the band would one day re-release both Radical History Tour and Ticked! like they did for Isn’t Wasn’t Ain’t (I jumped on that when they did re-release it), but they never did. My collect felt incomplete without them. Therefore, I turned to the internet for them. Of course, I could only find them on eBay. I needed to go to 2 different retailers to find each CD, brand-new and factory-sealed. After taxes and shipping, the grand total came to $49.54. I went ahead and purchased them, but something did not feel right. It did not feel right that I paid these eBay retailers close to $50 when I knew the band found themselves in financial struggles. I knew deep down that if they did have these CDs available in their online store, I would bought them directly from them, not from another retail, so they could receive the full payment for themselves. I really wanted them to get the full payment for these CDs, so I decided to donate another $50 directly to them, so they may receive full payment for their work. I asked for not goods or services in return because my $50 donation is really me just paying them for these 2 CDs. Well, the band appreciate my donation so much, they completed my collection for me, sending every album I did not, all the way up to their lastest album, which, at the time, was Braggadocious. I thanked them with another $15 donation (so it's at least $5 per CD they sent me), and I promised that I would do my best to keep up with my CD collection, so I don't lose the chance to add my collection again. Unfortunately, sadly, life happens, and I could not keep my promise. To this day, I have added only 1 new CD to my collection.

Although I joined their fanbase in 2003, when they had been around for 11 years at that point, I feel like I have been around with them much longer, almost since the beginning. I feel like I have been there through thick and thin, through the good times and the bad times. I think it's because the band (the band itself, not the band members) is around the same age as me. In a way, I have grown up with them. And now, as I am about to have my 34th birthday in July, the ApologetiX just a couple of days ago (March 27) had their 30th birthday of their first concert. I wanted to do something for them. Of course, I could only donate so much, and there is nothing I could really do more than that. Then I got an idea. In the ApologetiX newsletter, I saw a bunch of fans submit their top 10 favorite ApologetiX songs. I thought I could submit my own list, but then I realized I could never pick only 10 songs out of the 575 songs I have on my ApologetiX playlist! Then a better idea hit me. The ApologetiX have close to 30 albums (not counting the compilation albums), and it is their 30th birthday (at least since their first concert). How about I give a countdown of 30 ApologetiX albums! It's just so fitting, since J. Jackson is telling all the newsletter subscribers about his influential albums that I share my influential albums, even if they are all ApologetiX albums.

Now let me put in some rules/guidelines-

 First, I will only be counting the first 30 albums. This is not a statement for or against the newer albums. It's just that I have been listening to the older albums longer, so I am more familiar with them. To be honest though, in a way, it's not fair to compare the older albums to the new albums. Since 2014, the ApologetiX have shift from selling albums to selling singles, and then when they have enough singles, they put them together on an album for the fans who still prefer a physical medium over a digital medium. Yes, J. explained very well when they started doing this that this was the new trend with music (both in the secular and the sacred realm), due to the growth of digital outlets, like iTunes. With some albums, this has worked out well, as all the singles have concurrent theme, whether that be a musical genre, a musical decade or a theological theme. With other albums, this has not worked out well, as they do feel like a bunch of singles thrown onto an album, like somebody's mix tape. Call me old fashion, but I miss the traditional way of doing things. I miss the old way of getting a new album once a year. It wasn't over-saturated, and it gave something to look forward to as a fan. There's also a number game behind it, too. On average, the ApologetiX release 36 singles/songs within a given year. They choose to put them on 3 albums, with 12 songs each. Before they did this method, the average ApologetiX album had an average of 18 songs per album. Do the math. The ApologetiX should release 2 albums per year, with 18 songs on each of them. Yes, I know the ApolgetiX did this to increase their income, and my heart goes out to them for their financial struggles, but the buyers should feel like they are getting their money's worth for being fans. Trust me, the true fans will gladly donate more if they feel like they are getting more out of their donation. Sorry if I went off on a rant there, and it really does not change my love for the ApologetiX, but for this reason, the main focus will be on the older albums and not on the newer albums.

Second, the first 30 albums will not include the compilation albums known as ApologetiX Classics because that's exactly what they are: albums compiling classic ApologetiX songs ("classic" here defined as any parody composed before 2010), based either of musical year or musical genre. I recognize this is a great way to get a new fan involved into the ApologetiX, especially if that new fan only likes music from a certain decade or a certain genre. On the flip side, however, these albums add nothing new for the old fan, who already has these songs on the original album. If anything, the old fan, by purchasing these albums, will merely have duplicates of songs they already have, again adding nothing new (live version, remastered version, etc.) Besides, compiling songs based off music decade or music genre just doesn't have that same charm as the original mix on the albums. This list will also not include the "compilation albums" (if one can call them that) Rare Not Well Done ApologetiX Rarities. These rarities consist of songs off the ApologetiX cassette tapes before Isn't Wasn't Ain't, which the band itself does not consider part of its discography, so neither will I. Besides, a lot of those songs appear as remastered tracks on their newer albums, so those songs might get attention there. This list will also not include the EPs, such as Orchard Avenue, Transformed Soul or any of the Churchigo EPs because, again, they were never released as albums. This list will include, however, New and Used Hits and all the live albums because they either have brand new songs on them or they revamp the old songs in some way, shape or form (new lyrics, new instrumentals, audience participation, etc.)

Third, these album reviews will be different your standard album review. After all, how do you review an album which is a combination of greatest hits, even if those greatest hits are parodies? Therefore, I will (try to) construct these review in 4 parts. To start, I will try to give some background information about this album. Following that, I will give some comments on that title, as I typically am impressed with the creative album titles, which work so well for a Christian parody band.  Next, I will give the strengths and weaknesses of the album. Then, I will name my personal favorite song on this album. The criteria for favorite song will usually include how faithful the instrumentals stick to the original, the creativity of the lyrics, the orthodoxy of the theology and how much it redeems the original song. Finally, I will conclude with why I put the album so high or low (or in the middle) of the list.

And if you don't like any of these rules/guidelines, you can make up your own list :)

One last thing before I close this introduction. For the first few albums, I will sound incredibly harsh on them. It's not that I hate them. It's not even that I dislike them. I love all the ApologetiX albums. I have at least 1 song from every album on my ApologetiX playlist. I just need to justify why one album ranks so high, and another album ranks so low. The harsh judging justifies the low ranking. As the ranking goes up, there will be less negative criticism and more positive criticism.

Let the countdown commence! :)

The Invitational Tournament, hosted by AMEC Quizzing

 The last invitational tournament took place in 2019. The last invitational almost took place in 2020, but once the CDC and WHO deemed the coronavirus a pandemic, the Bible quizzing coordinators decided cancelling the invitational tournament made the most sense. Ironically, that 2020 invitational would have taken place at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA. It would only seem fitting that that when the invitational tournament began once again, it would take place at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA. While taking place at the same location, the host quizzing conference would technically change, even if only in name. If a 2020 invitational happened, it would have been hosted by ACC Quizzing. Now in 2022, it would be hosted by AMEC Quizzing. Anyway, it felt good to return to the invitational tournament.

Since this Stony Brook quiz team started quizzing last year, this Stony Brook quiz team would experience the invitational for the first time. Well, 4/5 of the quiz team would. Kaylee had her band trip to Tennessee, so her quizzing year ended with the AMEC Tournament (local tournament). The Sunday before invitational weekend, the Stony Brook quiz coach Graham Holcomb gave the quiz team a crash course on what he knew and could confirm about the invitational tournament. When Thursday practice came around, and the AMEC Quizzing website had posted the invitational packet, Graham could give the remaining 4 quizzers a better idea of how the invitational would go. All 69 quiz teams participating in the invitational tournament were put in 8 groups, labeled Group A to Group H. Stony Brook ended up in Group B. Each team would quiz every team in the group, so Stony Brook, in a group with 8 other teams, would quiz 8 quizmatches in a round robin format. Once the round robin wrapped up, the top 4 teams of each group would participate in the championship bracket, called the Joshua bracket. Teams that placed 5th, 6th and 7th would end up in the consolation bracket, called the Jonah bracket. Teams that placed 8th and 9th get eliminated from the tournament. The championship bracket, called the Joshua bracket, was a double elimination bracket, and in a way, a triple elimination bracket because the teams that did not place in the top 7 places of the invitational bracket got to compete in the single elimination Nehemiah bracket, a consolation bracket for the championship bracket, virtually to determine 8th place. Graham recalls the layout for the cancelled invitational tournament to be similar, expect that both the championship bracket and consolation bracket were to be single elimination. Since Stony Brook was new to the invitational, a reasonable goal would be to simply qualify for a bracket, but Stony Brook, both quizzers and quiz coach alike, felt like they could make a run for the championship bracket.

In order to make it to the invitational tournament on time, the Stony Brook quiz team had to meet up in the church parking lot at 7 in the morning! Olivia almost slept through her father waking her up, thinking her father mistook Saturday for a school day. She did eventually make it there, 15 minutes late, but it didn't matter because Stony Brook made it to Lancaster Bible College in about a half hour, leaving a quarter hour for the team to find a good seat in the chapel for morning announcements. Once the announcements finished, the quiz team went right to the building where their first match would take place, which positioned itself at the complete opposite end of campus, so Graham could point out buildings to Kate and Lauren, who were not present for the AMEC Tournament at LBC. Since Stony Brook did not quiz until the 2nd round of the round robin, they took the opportunity to watch a quizmatch. More specifically, they watched the match between Blainsport 3 and Pettisville 2 (NorthWest Ohio) because they would quiz Pettisville 2 in round 2. The match started out slow, but eventually, Blainsport 3 would take the lead and take the win. Stony Brook felt confident that they could do the same.

Stony Brook vs. Pettisville 2 (NortWest Ohio)

Finally, 9 o'clock rolled around, and finally, it came time for Stony Brook's first quizmatch of the tournament. The quizmatch began with a correct buzz-in from Cooper, a Pettisville 2 quizzer. On question 2, Olivia buzzed in, but a Pettisville 2 quizzer began speaking! Once everybody realized what had happened, Olivia answered correctly, causing Stony Brook to gain 10 points and Pettisville 2 to lose 5 points, resulting in a Stony Brook 5 point lead. Olivia would buzz in on the next 2 questions and answer them both right, thus quizzing out by question 4. The Stony Brook quiz coach called a time out and asked the rest of the team for the opinion to keep Olivia in or pull Olivia out of the quizmatch. At first, they felt hesitant to pull Olivia out, but after talking it over, they agreed the best course of action would involve Olivia coming out, so Olivia sat down on the bench. On question 5, Pettisville 2 quizzer Brianna errored, but Caleb could not get the bonus. On question 6, Pettisville 2's David buzzed in and answer correctly, closing his team's deficit to 20 points. On question 7, Caleb would be the one to error and Brianna would be the one unable to get the bonus. Stony Brook took back control of the match on question 8. It started with a right buzz in from Kate on question 9. On question 9, Brianna would commit her second error, which this time Caleb answered correctly. Caleb would repeat his success on question 10 with his own right buzz in on question 10. Kate would then answer 2 back-to-back questions (1 buzz in, 1 bonus) correct for her own quiz out. Again the quiz coach called a timeout. By the point, the score was 90-15 in Stony Brook's favor, so in no way could Pettisville 2 come back and win this. Normally, Graham would tell the Stony Brook quizzers to hold back to allow the Pettisville 2 quizzers to make the match look close on paper, however, Caleb stood 1 question away from his first quizout of the year. Therefore, Graham pulled Kate out of the match and spaced Caleb and Lauren so each would receive double the bonuses. It worked. On question 13, Joselyn from Pettisville errored, sending a bonus to Caleb. Caleb got the bonus right, earning himself his first quiz out for the year! For the fun of it, Graham called timeout, pulled Caleb out, leaving Lauren up there alone. Graham assured here that she didn't have to do anything because Stony Brook already had the win. On question 14, Nautica of Pettisville 2 buzzed in and errored, accumulating the 5th error for Pettisville 1, causing them to lose another 5 points. The bonus went to Lauren, as the only quizzer available on Stony Brook, but Lauren did not know the answer, so Stony Brook did not add any more points. On the last question, Nautica redeemed herself with a correct buzz-in, earning 10 points for Pettisville 2 in place of the 10 points they loss for errors and fouls. Stony Brook won the quizmatch 105-20! As the team was shaking hands, Graham "apologized" to the Pettisville quiz coaches, explaining that Caleb earned his 1st quizout of the year, and his coach was merely trying to help him. They understood.

Lauren is the only one left after 3 quiz outs!

The Stony Brook quiz team had no time to celebrate their victory, as they had back-to-back matches! Fortunately, they did not have to go too far, just merely going downstairs for their match versus Mennonite Christian Assembly 1 (MCA 1, for short), a Wayne County team. The match started by Ian from MCA 1 buzzing in, but he errored, and Olivia picked up the bonus for 10 points. On the next question, Kate buzzed in and answered correctly for another 10 points. 2 questions in, and Stony Brook was up by 20 points! Ian of MCA 1 would bounce back, buzzing in and answering question 3 and 5 right, tying up the score. Then more of MCA 1 get involved. Gavin got a bonus correct on question 6, and Mya got a buzz in right on question 7. Now MCA 1 had the 20-point lead! Olivia would attempt to close that lead on question 8 with her correct bonus, but MCA 1 quizzer Adleline with her own right buzz in, keeping MCA 1's 20-point lead and putting MCA 1 a single question away from team bonus. Things could quickly get out of hand for Stony Brook, but the tide would turn in Stony Brook's favor instead. On question 10, Kate buzzed in and answered correctly, closing MCA 1's lead to a mere 10 points. On question 11, Olivia buzzed in and answered right, quizzing out. This quiz out gave Stony Brook a 5 point lead. Just as before, the Stony Brook quiz coach called time out to pull Olivia out, giving Kate an opportunity to receive twice as many bonuses. It would pay off on the next question. On question 12, Ian, who was at "full count" (2 correct + 2 errors) buzzed in. He was either quizzing out or erroring out. Unfortunately for him, it was the latter. Fortunately for Kate, she quizzed out on Ian's error out (ironically, that's not the first time that's happened to Kate this year). Again, Stony Brook called time out, and their quiz coach, just like before, pulled out Kate and rearranged the seats so both Caleb and Lauren could receive twice as many bonuses. Caleb didn't need it though. On question 13, Caleb buzzed in and answered correctly. Now Stony Brook was also 1 question away from team bonus. Graham called time out one last time. With Stony Brook in the lead 80-50, he reminded the team that MCA 1 was just 1 question away from team bonus, which could tie the score, but Stony Brook was also 1 away from team bonus, which would seal the win. Graham encouraged Caleb and Lauren to just own the last 2 questions, and then they didn't have to worry about team bonus. On question 14, something interesting happened. MCA 1's Ian either didn't know or forgot he errored out, for he buzzed in! He answered so fast the staff didn't haven't enough time to react. It happened so fast that quizmaster BJ Snyder did not know how to react. After consulting with his staff, the quizmaster gave Ian both an error and foul. Lauren would get the bonus, which she could come up with the answer, but it didn't matter, for that 5-point foul would put them out of contention for the win. On the last question, Gavin did try to buzz in for team bonus, but he got an error instead. The bonus went to Caleb, which Caleb converted into points. Stony Brook won over MCA 1, 90-45! Ston Brook was now 2-0 in Group B!

Stony Brook vs. MCA 1 (Wayne County)

The Stony Brook quiz team did have a 2-round break before their next match at 10:20 a.m. versus Hinkletowne 2. This was an interesting quizmatch because both teams had a Kate and a Lauren (so try not to get lost!). The quizmatch began with a correct buzz in from Stony Brook Kate. On question 2, Paige from Hinkletown 2 buzzed in and errored, and Caleb picked up the bonus for 10 points. Just 2 questions into the quizmatch, and Stony Brook already had a 20-point lead. Hinkletown 2 attempted to close in the point deficit with their Kate buzzing in and answering correctly, but Caleb would follow up with his own right buzz in, maintaining that 20-point lead. Hinkletown 2 Kate would again try to help her team close the point gap with another correct buzz in, but this time Olivia would follow up with her own right buzz in, again returning Stony Brook to its 20-point lead. The middle of the quizmatch slowed down greatly. Stony Brook gave up 2 errors, and Hinkletown 2 gave up 1 error, but neither team could pick up the bonus.  The last third of the match became very interesting. After committing 2 errors, Paige finally got her first buzz in correct, once again shrinking the point difference, but once again, Olivia would reply with her own right buzz-in, bringing Stony Brook back up 20 points. Then, on question 12, Hinkletown 2 Lauren buzzed in and answered correctly, but this time, when Kate attempted to bring the lead back up by buzzing in, but she caused an error instead. Fortunately, for Stony Brook, Paige could not get the bonus. With 2 questions left, the Stony Brook quiz coach called a timeout. The good news was that Stony Brook was winning 50-40, but the bad news was that Hinkletown 2 was one quizzer's correct buzz in for team bonus, but the good news was that Stony Brook was 1 Lauren buzzing in and answering right for team bonus. The quiz coach simply encouraged the quiz team to maintain and extend the lead, and anybody can do it, but he reminded the team that if Hinkletown 2 got team bonus, then Stony Brook would need team bonus. Sure enough, on question 14, Lana for Hinkletown buzzed in and answered correctly, giving Hinkletown 2 a 70-50 lead, their first lead the whole quizmatch. Before the quizmaster could announce question 15, Graham simply said, "Lauren," and Lauren knew what that meant. On question 15, quizmaster Kyle Hertzler asked, "Who did not sin and charge..." and Lauren buzzed in! She thought about the answer for bit and said, "Job." She was right! That was team bonus, and that was the win! Stony Brook won 80-70, and their 3-match winning streak put them at 3-0 in Group B. In hindsight, Stony Brook benefited from Hinkletown 2 earning team bonus on question 14, for even if Stony Brook got any points from Caleb, Kate or Olivia on question 14, Hinkletown 2 would have won with team bonus on question 15.

Stony Brook vs. Petra 2

After having a break round, the Stony Brook quiz team had their next match at 11:00 a.m. versus Petra 2 in the Good Shepherd chapel. Petra 2 had finished 4th place in AMEC Quizzing League B (at least after week 7), so Stony Brook expected a rough quizmatch. Indeed, it was a tough one. Of the 15 questions of the quizmatch, Petra 2 buzzed in on 2/3 of them. As a matter of fact, half of those were in the first third of the quizmatch, and they were all correct. Yes, Stony Brook had to start the match 55 points behind (the extra 5 is because Petra 2's perfect quizzer Abbie quizzed out on question 3) before they could get their first points. Stony Brook did try valiantly. Kate got 2 buzz ins correct, and Lauren got a bonus right, but when Petra 2 got a quiz out on question 12 and team bonus on question 13, the quizmatch practically finished. Petra 2 kindly let up so Stony Brook could make the quizmatch look closer on paper. Olivia took advantage of that by getting 2 correct buzz-ins on the last 2 questions. Stony Brook lost 55-110. They were now 3-1 in Group B.

Stony Brook vs. Logansville 1 (West Liberty)

The Stony Brook quiz team had no time to grieve their loss, as they had to hurry upstairs to their next match versus Logansville 1, a West Liberty team. Now Logansville 1 was the season champion of West Liberty, making this a rough match. To make matters worse, this match would be the first time Stony Brook had an Ohio staff, making things even tougher. Once Stony Brook got acclimated with Ohio buzzers and Ohio staff, the quizmtach began. Logansville 1 started off strong with 3 correct buzz-ins in a row, putting Stony Brook 30 points behind from the start. Olivia interrupted them with her own right buzz in on question 4, but then Logansville 1 quizzer Ezra buzzed in and answered correctly, giving Logansville 1 their first quizout of the quizmatch. Then, for the next 5 questions, Logansville 1's Ben buzzed in on every single question. He did bring himself to "full count" (2 right + 2 errors), which Olivia used the bonuses to quiz out, but Ben himself quizzed out on question 10, getting Logansville 1 their second quizout of the quizmatch. For the final third of the match, Logansville 1 continued to dominate, buzzing in on all those questions. If keeping track, then yes, Logansville 1 buzzed in on 14 of 15 questions. Now Logansville 1 only got 3 of the last 5 right, and Caleb even got a bonus of 1 of the wrong ones, but through their dominance of the last third of the match, they got team bonus and a third quiz out, sealing the quizmatch. Stony Brook lost 45-135. They were now 3-2 in Group B.

After losing 2 quizmatches 2 rounds in a row, the Stony Brook quiz team much needed a break. Fortunately, the cafeteria had just opened for lunch. Stony Brook headed down to the cafeteria and got in line. The quiz team enjoyed a lunch of barbecue sandwiches, applesauce and brownies (except Olivia, who had a vegan beans and rice mix, potato chips and a vegan chocolate chip cookie). Since the forecasted cloudy and rainy day ended up becoming quite a sunny day, the team ate their lunch outdoors on the patio. When the team had wrapped up lunch, they quickly gave up their seats so other teams could have a seat. Since the lunch intermission was still going on, the quizzers went to the open gym to enjoy some volleyball, while the quiz coach found a comfy seat in the business office to watch NCAA March Madness on his smartphone. 

Once the lunch intermission had ended, the Stony Brook quiz team had a quizmatch versus Maple Grove 1. Now Stony Brook had quizzed Maple Grove 1 during the season, and it resulted in Stony Brok losing 30-130 to them. Sadly, this rematch would only be slightly better for Stony Brook, but ultimately, not really. Stony Brook did begin strong. They answered 3 questions correctly in a row on questions 2, 3 and 4. Yes, 4 question in, and Stony Brook led 30-10. Unfortunately, question 4 would be the last time Stony Brook scored. Maple Grove 1 buzzed in on the remaining 11 questions. Since Maple Grove buzz in for 3 of the first 4, that meant Maple Grove 1 buzzed in 14 of 15 questions. Now Maple Grove 1 did not get all their last 11 buzz ins right. In fact, 3 of them became errors, but Stony Brook could not turn a single bonus into points. Due to 8 of the 11 buzz ins being correct, Maple Grove 1 got a quiz out on question 10, team bonus on question 13 and another quiz out on question 14. Stony Brook lost 30-115. Stony Brook had gone from a 3-match winning streak to a 3-match losing streak, and now found themselves 3-3 in Group B. Honestly, Stony Brook kind of expected these results. Everybody on the team knew that the matches versus Petra 2, Logansville 1 and Maple Grove 1 would be hard. Everyone was just glad Stony Brook got that 3-match winning streak to balance out the 3-match losing streak. And by no means was Stony Brook out of the running for the championship bracket.

Stony Brook vs Hopewell

Again, the Stony Brook quiz team had no time to mourn their loss, for they had a consecutive match, this time versus Hopewell. Now the Stony Brook quizzers had watched Hopewell quiz a match in this tournament earlier. They watched Hopewell quiz Pettisville 2, the same Pettisville 2 Stony Brook quizzed earlier that morning. It was quite an interesting quizmatch. In that quizmatch between Hopewell and Pettisville 2, 11 of 15 buzz ins resulted in. Yes, both teams lost points from their errors. The 4 correct buzz ins were all from Pettisville 2, and as a matter of fact, they were from 4 different Pettisville quizzers. Yes, despite 11 errors in that quizmatch, Pettisville 2 got team bouns, which credited them with the win. Stony Brook felt like they could dominate this quizmatch. Indeed, the time came for Stony Brook to dominate. For the first 10 questions, Stony Brook buzzed in on 9 of them, and that 1 Stony Brook did not buzz in on, neither did Hopewell. Not that doesn't mean Stony Brook got them all correct. In fact, Stony Brook got 3 incorrect, but Hopewell couldn't get the bonus either. 2/3 the way through the match, Stony Brook led 65-0. Hopewell took control in the last third of the quizmatch. They buzzed in on 4 of the last 5 questions. They only got half of them right, but for the ones they got wrong, so did Stony Brook with the bonuses. Once the quizmatch had concluded, Stony Brook had won 65-20. It wasn't one of Stony Brook's strong wins, but it was a win nonetheless, and it put Stony Brook up to 4-3 in Group B.

The Stony Brook quiz team had an hour break before their last match in the round robin. The Stony Brook quizzers went back to the gym to play some more volleyball, but the Stony Brook quiz coach watched more Group B quizmatches to see where Stony Brook would fall and what they needed to do to finish a favorable seeding. It was a good thing the Stony Brook quiz coach did watch, for Stony Brook fell in a peculiar position. Stony Brook would either finish 3rd or 5th in their group, and it mostly depended on how Stony Brook did in their final round robin match versus Blainsport 3. If Stony Brook won versus Blainsport 3, they would be tied with Blainsport 3 for 3rd place, and the tiebreaker would favor Stony Brook because of the head-to-head win. If Stony Brook lost, and Maple Grove 1 won their quizmatch versus MCA 1, Blainsport would finish 3rd and Maple Grove 1 would surpass Stony Brook for 4th pleace, leaving Stony Brook in 5th place. Even if both Stony Brook and Maple Grove 1 lost, both Stony Brook and Maple Grove 1 would end up tied for 4th place, and the tiebreaker favored Maple Grove 1 due to the head-to-head win. The top 4 teams of each group got to participate in the championship bracket, so if Stony Brook wanted to participate in the championship bracket, they needed to win versus Blainsport 3. Now Stony Brook had quizzed Blainsport 3 during the season, and it was close match, with Blainsport 3 winning by 10 points on the second-to-last question. Whether close or a blow-out, this time, Stony Brook had to come out the winner.

Before Stony Brook knew it, their hour break had ended, and time had to come to face off versus Blainsport 3. Just like in the season quizmatch, this Invitational quizmatch started out strong for Blainsport 3 with their quizzer Cole buzzing in on the first 4 questions. Now Cole did miss one, and Olivia did pick up that bonus, but by question 4, Cole had quizzed out, giving his team a 25-point lead over Stony Brook. Stony Brook took charge by buzzing in and answering correctly the next 2 questions: one from Olivia and 1 from Lauren (who did a wonderful job naming Job's 3 friends!). Blainsport 3 quizzer Ty interrupted Stony Brook's streak with his own correct buzz in, but Olivia followed up with her own right buzz in, quizzing out and tying up the score at 45 on question 8. Now Ty would follow his teammate Cole's example by dominating on the buzzer for the next 3 questions. Now he did give up an error, which Caleb picked up, but Cole had quizzed out by 11. Now Blainsport 3 had a solid lead of 70-55. On question 12, Kate attempted to catch Stony Brook but, but she could not. Fortunately, Blainsport 3 did not get the bonus points, either, so at least Blainsport did not extend their score even more. Question 13 went by with nobody buzzing and nobody answering. Kate tried again on question 14, and this time, her buzz in was correct. Blainsport 3 was still winning, but now, it was just a matter of 5 points. As long as Stony Brook got question 15 right, whether a buzz in or bonus, Stony Brook won. Stony Brook did not need a quiz out or team bonus, so any of the 3 Stony Brook quizzers could get the last question correct. Stony Brook just had to get the last question correct. On question 15, the quizmaster asked the question, and Blainsport 3's Alli buzzed in confidently, so confidently she clearly knew the answer. Sure enough, she answered the question right. Blainsport 3 won the quizmatch 80-65. Ironically, during the season match, it was also Alli who broke the tie and gave Blainsport 3 the win.

After their loss versus Blainsport 3, Stony Brook finished the round robin 4-4, which placed them in 5th place, as mentioned earlier. While 5th place disqualified Stony Brook from the championship bracket, 5th place did not disqualify them from the tournament. Teams that finished 5th, 6th and 7th in their group ended up in a single-elimination consolation bracket, called the Jonah bracket. More specifically, the 5th place team got a first-round bye, while the 6th place and 7th place teams duked it out. The 5th place teams would play the winners of those matches. Since Stony Brook finished 5th place, it ended up in the single-elimination consolation bracket, named the Jonah bracket. More specifically, Stony Brook earned a bye, meaning they had a break before their next quizmatch. Graham and Caleb went to watch the quizmatch that would determine Stony Brook's opponent, while the girls took a mental break. Graham and Caleb watched Weaverland 3 vs. Good Shepherd 1, for the winner would quiz Stony Brook. Good Shepherd 1 began strong with their top quizzer quizzing out, but the team didn't do much after that. Weaverland 3 easily caught up, and then they sealed the deal with team bonus near the end. Weaverland 3 won, and they would become Stony Brook's opponent.

A few rooms down would host the quizmatch between Stony Brook and Weaverland 3. The quizmatch started with Kaitlin from Weaverland 3 buzzing in, but she did not answer correctly. Unfortunately, Olivia answered the bonus incorrectly, too, keeping the score tied at 0. Olivia redeemed herself on the next 2 questions, buzzing in and answering questions 2 and 3 right. Her streak was only interrupted by her own teammate Kate buzzing in and answering correctly. Stony Brook took the lead 30-0. Kiana of Weaverland 3 helped her team catch up a bit with 2 consecutive buzz ins right, bringing the score to 30-20 in Stony Brook's favor. Stony Brook would extend the lead even more with Olivia quizzing out on question 7 and Kate quizzing out on question 9. After 9 questions, Stony Brook lead 70-20. At this point, Kaitlin got back into the quizmatch, and she buzzed in and answered right 2 questions in a row. She attempted to make it 3 in a row and quiz out on question 12, but she errored instead, an error which Caleb could not pick up the points. Caleb redeemed himself on question 13 with his own correct buzz-in, bringing the score to 75-40. At this point, the Stony Brook quiz coach called a timeout. He pointed out that the only way Weaverland 3 could win was with team bonus, but since they only had 2 in for team bonus, one Weaverland 3 quizzer would have to buzz in and answer correctly on question 14 and another Weaverland 3 quizzer would have to buzz in and answer right on question 15. While Stony Brook was 1 Lauren away from team bonus, but the quiz coach pointed out that team bonus was not necessary. Either Caleb or Lauren (because Kate and Olivia quizzed out) could extend the lead and seal the deal. On question 14, Weaverland 3 quizzer Montanna buzzed in and answered correctly. Despite a closer score, Stony Brook still lead by 25 points. As long as Weaverland 3's Trista did not buzz in and answer right, Stony Brook would win. On question 15, Weaverland 3's Trista buzzed in and answered right, giving Weaverland 3 team bonus. Stony Brook lost 75-85. Now Stony Brook was eliminated from the Invitational tournament.

Stony Brook vs. Weaverland 3

Since the dining hall opened for dinner right as Stony Brook got eliminated, and since the church already paid for dinner, the Stony Brook quiz team stayed for dinner. The team enjoyed ham, chicken legs/thighs, green beans, potatoes, rolls and cupcakes (except for Olivia, who got the vegan option of a mushroom stuffed with risotto and a salad). Since the clouds did not produce their rain just yet, the team returned to their table outside to enjoy their dinner. Since each quizzer's respective parent(s) had arrived by that time, the Stony Brook quizzers decided they had enough excitement for one day and decided to go home. The Stony Brook quiz coach decided to stay and watch the rest the quizmatches until the Saturday quizzing had concluded.

On Sunday morning, Graham met Kate and Lauren (and Lauren's father Shawn) to go down to Lancaster Bible College to watch the final matches and the closing ceremonies. AMEC Quizzing coordinator Fred Hertzler wanted to make it clear and obvious that quizzing was an act of worship, so he intermingled worship singing and quizzing matches by placing worship songs between every match. First, Strasburg 2 beat Calvary Monument 1, placing Calvary Monument 1 3rd place in the Invitational tournament and placing Strasburg 2 in final match. Second, Smithville (from Wayne County) defeated Maple Grove 3, making Smithville the Jonah bracket champions (as I jokingly kidded with the quiz team, that mean Smithville was the most average team of the tournament). Third, King's Cross 3 (a NorthWest Ohio team) came out victorius over Petra 2, making King's Cross 3 the champion of the Nehemiah bracket (in a way, that made King's Cross 3 8th place in the tournament and Petra 2 9th place in the tournament). Finally, Strasburg 1 won over Strasburg 2, thus winning the Invitational championship. At the quizmatches and some more praise and worship songs, pastor and AMEC president Jesse Johnson gave a great sermon entitled "Don't follow your dreams; follow God," which tied together all the messages of the 5 books the quizzers studied this year. The tournament ended as it always did: by annoucing the invitational location and material for next. Jonas Dienner, the coordinator of NorthWest Ohio invited everybody to NorthWest Ohio next year to quiz on Exodus! Yes, after 9 years in the vault, Exodus will return. The closing prayer happened at 11:00 a.m., and Graham, Kate and Lauren (and Shawn) returned to the church by 11:30 a.m.

Congratulations to Strasburg 1 for such an amazing Invitational tournament! Strasburg 1 never lost a quizmatch the whole weekend, neither in the round robin nor in the double-elimination playoff tree. On top of finishing 1st place in the season and 3rd place in the AMEC Tournament, Strasburg 1 had a very successful year, making themselves one of the more successful quiz teams in the past 22 years. Congratulations to Strasburg 2 for a strong 2nd place in the Invitational tournament. Strasburg 2 only lost once in the round robin, and their 2 losses in the double-elimination playoff tree were both to Strasburg 1. While Strasburg 2 may have felt like "always the bridesmaid, never the bride" due to their 2nd place in both the season and the Invitational, they did something that some teams can barely do once, and they did it twice! Congratulations to Calvary Monument 1 for their 3rd place! On top of finishing 3rd place in the season and 2nd place in the AMEC Tournament, they also had a successful year. Congratulations to Blainsport 1 for their 4th place in tournament! Their 4th place finish is a nice additional to the AMEC Tournament championship. More pertinent to this blog spot, congratulations to Stony Brook for a job well done for their first Invitational tournament. For the first tournament covering the whole material while quizzing versus both Pennsylvania and Ohio teams, they didn't do too bad. In the round robin, they finished 4-4, or .500. Compared to the season, which they finished 8-12-1, or .405, or the AMEC tournament, which they finished 2-5, or .400, Stony Brook had the best win-lost percentage all year. While the end may have felt disappointing, especially considering the one thing that couldn't happen happening all the time, Stony Brook's placing did not really feel like it represented how it did. Stony Brook did so well, it should have belonged in the championship bracket, for they played like a championship caliber team. Good job on an Invitational well done and a year well done!

The AMEC Tournament

The local tournament had always been known as the ACC Tournament, but when Graham Holcomb, the Stony Brook quiz coach, started quizzed, it had the nickname the "Pequea Tournament" because the round robin took place at Pequea High School (the playoffs happened at Ridgeview Mennonite Church). When the tournament moved to Lancaster Bible College, people wondered if it would become known as the "LBC Tournament." It did not, and it just stuck with the official name of ACC Tournament. Even when Lancaster Mennonite School hosted for a few years, it never picked up the nickname of "LMS Tournament"; it stuck with the name official name of ACC Tournament. Now with AMEC sponsoring Bible quizzing, the local tournament did have an official name change of AMEC Tournament, but it was still the same local tournament (although some people, out of habit, may have let "ACC Tournament" slip out of their lips).

The Stony Brook quiz team would be the most short-handed all year for this tournament. Kate had a choir recital, and Lauren had FFA in Harrisburg, so the team came consisted of Olivia, Kaylee and Caleb. Kate and Lauren kindly graced the rest of the team with their presence at practice during the Sunday school hour. Indeed, iron sharpened iron, as they all chipped in to help each other improve. Besides, Kate and Lauren got a head start practicing for the Invitational tournament the following week. The Stony Brook quiz coach tried his best to throw them off, with a quizmatch of all list questions and a quizmatch of all situation questions, but the quiz team stayed on top of it. They were ready as they would ever be! Kate and Lauren also kindly stayed for lunch for fellowship purposes and so Graham could give them a rough introduction to the Invitational tournament. At noon, Kate left for her choir recital, Lauren left for FFA and the rest of them left for Lancaster Bible College for the AMEC Tournament.

The Stony Brook quiz team made it in good time to Lancaster Bible College, arriving around half past noon. Taking advantage of arriving early, Graham, the quiz coach and an alumnus of Lancaster Bible College, took the quiz team on a tour of the campus, so they knew the locations of their quizmatches. Kaylee and Olivia decided to stay in the building of their first quizmatch and just wait it out, while Graham and Caleb decided to watch the other teams in their group. For round 1, Graham and Caleb watched Petra 3 vs. Metzler. There they learned Metzler only had 3 quizzers. Metzler quizzed sloppy, only answering 3 questions correctly, but causing 5 errors. They lost to Petra 3, only scoring 25 points, losing 5 points due to the 5 errors. For round 2, they watched Petra 3 vs. Calvary Monument 4. This quizmatch wasn't as sloppy, but it was still low scoring, with Petra 3 coming out the winner. In his first tournament experience, Caleb already learned that the team didn't need to score as high as a season match. They just needed to score more than their opponent. That was doable, even with just 3 quizzers.

Finally, round 3 came along, and finally, Stony Brook had their first quizmatch of the AMEC Tournament, versus Calvary Monument 4. Calvary Monument 4 controlled the first third of the match. For the first 5 questions, they buzzed in on every single question. They did give up an error in the middle of that, but Stony Brook could not pick up the bonus. Olivia broke Calvary Monument 4's buzzing streak with a correct buzz-in on question 6. She tried it again on question 7, but this buzz-in would end up incorrect. The bonus would go to Ellie from Calvary Monument 4, and she would use that bonus to quiz out. Logan of Calvary Monument 4 would get his own buzz-in right for question 8, putting Calvary Monument 4 a single question away from team bonus. Calvary Monument 4 quizzer Nathan tried to buzz in for his own quiz out, but he rendered a bonus, which Olivia answered for another 10 points under her name. She would later quiz out on question 12, thanks to another bonus from Calvary Monument 4's Nathan, who he himself was trying to quiz out. In order to win, Stony Brook needed to answer the last 3 questions correctly. That dream would go out the door right on question 13 when Calvary Monument 4's Braydon got a question right. During one last timeout, Graham reminded Caleb and Kaylee that they can still honor God by scoring as many points as they can. Caleb took that to heart. On question 14, it looked like it would go unanswered, but Caleb buzzed in at the last second and answer correctly! On question 15, Calvary Monument 4 quizzers Nathan finally got that quiz out he desired. Stony Brook lost to Calvary Monument 4 45-85 (this would be Calvary Monument 4's only win for the tournament). The quiz team was now 0-1 in Group E.

Stony Brook vs. Strasburg 1

The Stony Brook quiz team had no time to grieve their loss, as the team had to run to another building for their round 4 quizmatch versus Strasburg 1, the season champions. Now Stony Brook had a season quizmatch vs. Strasburg 1, in which they lost 35-135, with the only points being Olivia's quiz out. Well, the results for this quizmatch were very similar. For 2/3 of the questions, Strasburg 1 buzzed in and answered correctly. As a result, naturally, Strasburg 1 got team bonus, 3 of their quizzers quizzed out, and a 4th quizzer scored 20 points. Strasburg would win, scoring 145 points. Stony Brook did not go away empty-handed, though. Caleb, Kaylee and Olivia each got a buzz in right, contributing 30 points to Stony Brook's side of the scoreboard. While a rough loss, the quiz team took it light-heartedly. They even joked that, in their hearts and their mind, they got team bonus because everybody on the team got a buzz in right (but technically it's not team bonus because you need 4 quizzers for team bonus, which Stony Brook did not have on this day). The quiz team was now 0-2 in Group E.

Stony Brook vs. Petra 3

The Stony Brook quiz team had no time to mourn their loss, as their had the 3rd of the back-to-back-to-back match in round 5, versus Petra 3. Now Petra 3, up to this point, was 2-0 in Group E. A 2-0 team versus a 0-2 team did not look good. It sure did not look good 2 questions in, as Petra 3 quizzer Josiah, who was a perfect quizzer on the year (quizzed out every season match) buzzed in and answered them both correctly. On question 3, Petra 3's Brenen buzzed in, attempting to bring his team up 30 points, but he errored. The bonus went to Kaylee, and she got it right, giving Stony Brook its first points. That was the turn in the tide Stony Brook needed. Olivia got the next 2 questions correct: 1 buzz in and 1 bonus. Petra dominated the buzzing for the middle third of the match, buzzing in on the next 7 questions. Fortunately for Stony Brook, Petra 3 only got a simple majority, not all, of them correct. Unfortunately, Stony Brook could only get 10 points out of the 3 bonuses. After 11 questions, Petra 3 was up 65-40. On question 12, Kaylee errored, but Samantha from Petra 3 could not pick up the bonus for points. On question 13, Samantha errored, but Caleb could pick up the bonus, bringing the score closer, yet still in Petra 3's favor. Then on question 14, Olivia buzzed in and answered right, thus quizzing out. Question 15 went by with nobody buzzing in and no one answering. Graham and Caleb thought the match ended in a tie and was going into overtime questions, but upon a further review with the scorekeeper, the scorekeeper revealed that Petra 5 had 5 errors, which mean they lost 5 points! Stony Brook won, 65-60, due to Petra 3 losing 5 points due to 5 errors! Stony Brook may have wone by a technicality, but that technicality put Stony Brook 1-2 in Group E. More importantly, though, when the standings updated, the quiz team discovered that they were in a 4-way tie for 3rd place because all the teams in Group B, besides Strasburg 1 and Petra 3, all were 1-2!

Stony Brook vs. Grace & Truth 2

After having 3 back-to-back-to-back quizmatches, the Stony Brook quiz team had a break for 1 hour 20 minutes. An hour and a third later, Stony Brook had their 4th quiz match of the tournament, versus Grace & Truth 2. Stony Brook had quizzed Grace & Truth 2 during the season, in which Grace & Truth 2 won 100-40. This may have given Grace & Truth some inflated pride, as Caleb heard them talking about how they could easily take Stony Brook. As Graham's quiz coach always taught him, pride is death to the spirit (based off of Proverbs 16:18), and Grace & Truth 2's pride would be their downfall in the quizmatch. In this quizmatch, Michael from Grace & Truth 2 would quiz out on all buzz-ins, and that would be their highlight of the quizmatch. Kyle of Grace & Truth 2 would error out, even getting a bonus wrong before erroring out. The only other contribution from Grace & Truth 2 was Tabitha, but that too was an error. Meanwhile, on the Stony Brook side, Kaylee would quiz out on 3 questions, Olivia would quiz out on 4 questions (Olivia would get an extra bonus after quizzing out due to Tabitha's error) and even Caleb got a buzz in correct. Stony Brook won the quizmatch 90-35. Now they had a record of 2-2 in Group E.

When the standings update, the Stony Brook quiz team found themselves in an interesting predicament. They went from a 4-way tie for 3rd place to a 3-way tie for 2nd place with Metzler and Petra 3! There were 2 rounds of the round robin left. For the penultimate round, the only Group E match was Strasburg 1 vs. Calvary Monument 4, and the only thing that would do would be clinch 1st place for Strasburg 1 and eliminate Calvary Monument 4 (and it did). For the last round, Stony Brook would quiz Metzler and Petra 3 would quiz Grace & Truth 2. If Stony Brook could win versus Metzler, they would place 2nd place in Group B (even if Petra 3 won, Stony Brook would win the tiebreaker because they won the head-to-head match-up), qualifying them for the playoffs.  If Stony Brook lost, but Petra 3 also lost to Grace & Truth 2, Metzler would take 2nd place, but Stony Brook, Petra 3 and Grace & Truth 2 would be in a 3-way tie for 3rd place, and Stony Brook would most likely win the tiebreaker (If head-to-head-to-head tiebreaker, Stony Brook would win because Stony Brook won their matches versus Petra 3 and Grace & Truth 2. If errors broke the tie, Stony Brook only had 8 errors, and Stony Brook personally witnessed Grace & Truth get 4 errors and Petra 3 get 5 errors in a single match.) to clinch 3rd place in Group E, also qualifying to the playoffs. If Stony Brook lost to Metzler, and Petra 3 won versus Grace & Truth 2, Stony Brook would finish 4th place in Groub E, eliminating them from playoff contention. Ultimately, Stony Brook was in control of their own destiny. A win and they were in. Just as important, however, Stony Brook could also get in the playoffs with a Petra 3 loss. The only thing that couldn't happen wasn't Stony Brook losing and Petra 3 winning. [Cue ominous foreshadowing music.]

Stony Brook vs. Metzler

Finally, 4:40 p.m. arrived, and with it, the final round of the round robin, and with that, Stony Brook's quizmatch versus Metzler. Stony Brook had quizzed Metzler during the season, in which Stony Brook won 85-80 due to Kate giving Stony Brook team bonus on question 15. Without Kate the quiz team felt uneasy without Kate to get them team bonus, but the quiz coach reminded them that Metzler could not get team bonus either. Metzler was down 1 quizzer and Stony Brook was down 2 quizzers, so this became a 3 v. 3 quizmatch, with nobody able to get team bonus. Olivia would begin the match by buzzing, in, but she could not get it correct. No harm, no foul, as Laina from Metzler could not get it right either. The quizmatch remained tied at 0. Annalee of Metzler would give Metzler a 20-point lead, buzzing in and answering correctly questions 2 and 3. Laina attempted to increase the Metzler lead by 30 on question 4, but she errored instead, a bonus which Olivia would get right. It was just the fire Olivia needed, as she would buzz in and answer the next 2 questions right, quizzing out on question 6. Annalee would follow up with her own buzz-in correct and her own quiz out on question 7. Halfway through the match, it was tied at 35, and it had become a 2 v. 2 quizmatch. On question 8, Kaylee buzzed in and answered right, giving Stony Brook the lead 45-35. Kaylee buzzed in again to try to extend the lead again, but she errored instead. Again, no harm, no foul, as Metzler's Hadassah could not get it correct either. On question 10, Laina buzzed in with the right answer, tying the match again, this time 45 points apiece. 2/3 through the quizmatch, and it felt like a brand-new match. Caleb would give Stony Brook the lead back again with his own correct buzz-in. On question 12, Metzler quizzer Laina would attempt to tie the score again, but rather, she errored. Unfortunately, Kaylee could not extend Stony Brook's lead, dropping the bonus. On question 13, Caleb buzzed in. He said "oh" and then stopped speaking because he thought he spoke when it wasn't his light. When nobody spoke up, Caleb realized it was his light, and tried his best to answer. Unfortunately, Caleb only said "rams horns trumpets" without the number 7, and therefore, he got it wrong. Fortunately, Hadasseh didn't realize what Caleb did wrong, and so she didn't get the points either. Up to this point, Stony Brook's saving grace was that Metzler could not take advantage of Stony Brook's errors (Metzler missed 3 bonuses to be exact). After question 13, Graham called a timeout. He reminded the quiz team that they were in the lead, and all they had to do was maintain that lead. If Stony Brook got the last 2 questions, Stony Brook won. If Stony Brook got 1 and Metzler got 1, Stony Brook won. If Stony Brook got 0 but Metzler also got 0, Stony Brook won. If Stony Brook got 0 and Metzler got 1, the match would tie, and it would go into overtime, which Stony Brook could take the win. The only thing that couldn't happen was that Metzler got both of the last 2 questions. [Cue ominous foreshadowing music.] On both questions 14 and 15, Laina buzzed in so confidently that it was clear she knew the correct answer. Sure enough, after taking some time to make sure she had the right answer, Laina answered correctly, quizzing out. She didn't need the quiz out; Metzler just needed the 20 point to win, and it just so happened that those 20 points were from a Metzler quizzer who already had 10 points. Stony Brook lost 55-70 to Metzler. With this loss, Stony Brook finished 2-3 in Group E. When the standings updated, it revealed Petra 3 won versus Grace & Truth 2. That means Stony Brook placed in 4th place in the group, thus eliminating them from the tournament's playoffs.

By the time the round robin had ended, it was dinner time. The Stony Brook quiz team went to Chipotle for dinner because it was the friendliest to Olvia's vegan Lenten fast. Once done dinner, the quiz team went back to Lancaster Bible College for the quizzing video and the individual season awards. Besides the Stony Brook team photo, the only other time Stony Brook appeared in the quizzing video was a glimpse of Kate coming down from all quizzers photo. The quizzing video transitions into the individual awards. The individual quizzer awards revealed that Olivia finished in 22th place with a sore of 635 points! Way to go, Olivia!

At this point, the Stony Brook quizzers decided they had enough quizzing for the day, so they departed with their respective parents. The Stony Brook quiz coach Graham decided to stay to see how it played out in the playoffs. At first, he considered watching how either Petra 3 or Metzler would do, but he decided against it, in fear he would constantly be comparing how Stony Brook would have done (the playoff tree would later on reveal both teams each won their first and lost their second, which means Stony Brook would have probably done the same). Instead, he watched in-church "grudge matches" (matches between 2 teams of the same church), including Weaverland 1 vs. Weaverland 2 and Strasburg 1 vs. Strasburg 2. Both of those matches got "playfully fiesty," as both matches had at least 1 contest over petty, little things. In one match, the quizmaster even had to remind the team quizzing that, while a friendly rivalry from within a church, it was still a tournament playoff match, and such manners need to be shown. The most exciting "grudge match" was between Strasburg 1 and Strasburg 2, as it was a repeat of the season championship final. The same results happened. Next, he watched the match between Calvary Monument 1 and Slate Hill, the season championship final that could have been because both teams had the highest point average in the respective leagues at the end of the season. In a way, this match could be a way to considered who should be 3rd and who should be 4th for the season because they both lost their respective season semifinal playoff. If that's the case, then Calvary Monument 1 is 3rd and Slate Hill is 4th because Calvary Monument 1 came out the victor. For the semifinal match, Graham watched Strasburg 1 vs Calvary Monument 1, a rematch of a season semifinal playoff match. This time, Calvary Monument 1 would get the victory over Strasburg 1, winning 85-65. Graham got to the chapel just in enough time to see that Blainsport 1 came out victorious over Rockville, 100-35. After awarding Strasburg 1 and Rockville their semifinalist trophies, the AMEC Tournament championship finals between Calvary Monument 1 and Blainsport 1 commenced. After 15 questions, Blainsport 1 became the champion, winning 90-55.

Congratulations to Blainsport 1 for becoming the AMEC Tournament champions! This is Blainsport's first time since 2017 taking the local tournament championship (and only the 2nd time all century). Congratulations to Calvary Monument 1 for 2nd place in the AMEC Tournament! This is the 6th time in the past 8 local tournament that a Calvary Monument team has made the local tournament final match. Congratulations to Strasburg 1 and Rockville for becoming AMEC Tournament semifinalists! Just as importantly, congratulations Stony Brook for a successful first local tournament. The Stony Brook quiz team had a lot of firsts that came with their first local tournament. It was their first time quizzing over the whole quizzing material. It was their first time quizzing 5 matches in a single day. Not only did they do it, they did it well, winning 2 matches. They were always in control of their own destiny, and they always held their own ground. They just simply lost control at the end, due to the only thing that could not happen happening. And it did it all with just 3 quizzers!

On that day of Stony Brook quizzing

During the Thursday evening practice, the Stony Brook quiz coach Graham Holcomb asked the Stony Brook quiz team if they missed last week's quizzing material in comparison to this week's quizzing material. To his surprise, they answered no! The Stony Brook quiz coach thought last week's material would be easier due to the visual nature of the visions, but instead, the Stony Brook quizzers found the shorter material easier to remember. For some practices, nobody could tell the material felt easier, for these practice matches were full of errors and missed bonuses. For other practice matches, no one could doubt that the material was easier, for those practice matches were full of correct buzz-ins and quiz outs. Even when quizzers would stumble and fall, they definitely displayed that they could improve.

Improved indeed. By the time the Sunday afternoon practice rolled around, the practice matches looked better. The correct buzz-ins and the right bonuses outnumbered the incorrect buzz-ins and wrong bonuses. Even more to the point, the quizzers knew the answers faster, so fast that they could pretty much answer right after buzzing and saying their audible/intelligible word. Because the 4 practice matches went so fast, this gave the quiz team the opportunity to have 2 practices matches of review questions, which they definitely needed due to the fact this quizmeet would have the last 5 questions as review questions. The first practice match of review questions was round and tough, as wrong buzz-ins outnumbered right buzz-ins (only 5 rightbuzz-ins), and incorrect bonuses outnumbered correct bonuses (only 3 correct bonuses). The second review practice match, however, was not too shabby. Only 4 errors for that practice match. Thanks to the 2 review practice matches, the quiz team felt better about review. After a vegan dinner of beans, rice, flatbread and salad, the quiz team head off to Petra Church for the last quizmeet of the quizzing season.

Stony Brook had to wait around for the 3rd round for quizzing to begin for them. For the first round, the team, as a whole, decided to stay in the sanctuary and watch Stony Brook's sister church, Slate Hill, versus Petra 1. On paper, it looked like a good match. Slate Hill was 1st place in League A, and Petra 1 was 4th place in League A. Surely this would be a good match. It may have been good for Slate Hill, but it was not a good match for Petra 1. Facing Slate Hill, Petra 1 did not look like a 4th place team. Slate Hill would always beat them in, and when Petra 1 could get it, they would error. Slate Hill easily got a win out of that and easily scored in the triple digits. For the second round, Graham and Caleb decided to scout out Hinkletown 4 in their match versus Calvary Monument 2. It seemed like Hinkletown 4's top 2 quizzers got as many points as they got errors. Calvary Monument 2 took advantage of this, taking hold of a win.

Stony Brook vs. Hinkletown 4

Finally, the 3rd round came around, and finally came Stony Brook's match versus Hinkletown 4. Hinkletown 4 began the match with 2 correct buzz-ins: one from Trevor and then one from Jaiden. Jaiden tried to make it 2 in a row, but his 2nd buzz-in would result in an error. This error would turn the match around for Stony Brook. Not only would Kaylee get the bonus correct, she would also get the next 2 right, quizzing out by answering 3 questions right in a row! To make matters even better, Olivia would add in her own correct buzz, bringing Stony Brook up to a 25 point lead. She would attempt her own consecutive correct answer, but she would get an error instead. Fortunately for Stony Brook, Hinkletown 4 could not get the bonus. Stony bounced right back with Kate contributing her own right buzz-in, further bringing up Stony Brook's lead upon Hinkletown 4 by 35 points. Even better, because Kaylee, Olivia and Kate all had correct buzz-ins, if either Caleb or Lauren could buzz in and answer right, Stony Brook could get team bonus. The match would turn, however, in Hinkletown 4's favor. At this point, Hinkletown 4 would take control, buzzing in on 5 of the next 6 questions, answering them all correctly. The only interruption was when Olivia had her own right buzz-in right in the middle. The match went from Stony Brook leading by 35 points to Hinkletown 4 winning by 15 points. Olivia could tie with a quiz out, but Lauren or Caleb could win it with team bonus. On question 15, Oliva buzzed in and quizzed out, earning the team 15 more points. The match ended in a tie, 80 points a piece. 

Stony Brook had no time to celebrate their close call, as they had to hurry to their next quizmatch, this time versus Petra 7. This time Stony Brook would start off the quiz match with a correct buzz-in from Kaylee. Dirk from Petra 7 tried to earn Petra 7 their first correct buzz in for their first points. He would instead error. Unfortunately, Lauren could not get that bonus. On question 3, the reverse would happen. Kate would buzz in, error, give a bonus to Owen of Petra 7, and he would not get that bonus. After those 2 rough questions, Olivia world get Stony Brook back on track with a right buzz-in. Petra 7 would again try to get on the board with their own Caleb buzzing in on question 5, but he too errored. The bonus would go to Kate, and Kate would take off in the quizmatch. Not only would Kate get the bonus correct, she would also get the next 2 right, quizzing out by answering 3 questions right in a row! Almost halfway through the quizmatch, and Stony Brook was shutting out Petra 7 with a 55 point lead. On question 8, Carlos from Petra 7 would finally put points on the board for Petra 7, but Olivia would respond with her own correct buzz-in, to which Carolos would again buzz in and answer right. 2/3 the way through the match, and Stony Brook was winning 65-20. Question 11 rendered a funny moment. The quizmaster Ryan King asked the question, "Debir was king of what?" All the Stony Brook quizzers heard "The beer was king of what?" (Apparently the Stony Brook fans heard the same thing.) Olivia had the funniest face of confusion! Kaylee buzzed in and tried her best, answering the "cupbearer" (because maybe the cupbearer tested the king's beer as well as the king's wine?), but of course, she got it incorrect. Fortunately for Petra 7 quizzer Seth, he knew what the quizmaster was asking for, and he gave the correct answer of "Eglon." On question 12, Petra 7 quizzer would again attempt to his first point for the match, but again, he could not. Once again, Lauren could not pull through for the bonus. On question 13, Carlos would get his 3rd buzz-in right, thus quizzing out and bringing his team's score to 45 points. Now Stony Brook had only a 20-point lead. At this time, Graham called a time out to remind the team that Olivia's quiz out would be good, and either Caleb or Lauren getting in for team bonus was better, but Stony Brook could merely get the win by just staying ahead, which could include Kaylee. On question 14, the quizmaster read out the whole question. It looked like it would go unanswered, but Olivia buzzed in, guessed "Money?" and got it right, thus quizzing out! At the point, the Stony Brook quiz coach reminded his team, "And that is why you always try with a guess!" On question 15, it looked like this question would read until the end, too, but once Stony Brook's very own Caleb heard "devoted to what" he buzzed in, answered "destruction," getting it right and getting team bonus! Stony Brook won 110-45!

Stony Brook vs. Petra 7

After a quick celebration, Stony Brook headed back to the sanctuary to see who would make the season playoffs. It turned out that Slate Hill and Strasburg 1 had tied for 1st place in League A! Before the season playoffs could commence, a quick 9-question quizmatch had to take place to break the tie between Slate Hill and Strasburg 1. Slate Hill would take an early lead, and Strasburg 1 would do a good job catching up, but Slate Hill would win over Strasburg 1 with a score of 55-40. (This may be a conspiracy theory, but I think maybe Strasburg 1 let them win, so Strasburg 1 could avoid quizzing Strasburg 2 in the semifinals, in the hopes of quizzing them in the finals.) With the tiebreaker match in the books, the season playoffs were set. League A 1st place Slate Hill would quiz League B 2nd place Strasburg 2, League B 1st place Calvary Monument 1 would quiz League A 2nd place Strasburg 1, and the winners would quiz each other for the championship. Stony Brook watched Slate Hill vs. Strasburg 2 to cheer for our sister church Slate Hill. Unfortunately, all Stony Brook cheering could not help Slate Hill. They really missed Isaiah. Strasburg 2 would take the win. During the match, Strasburg 1 came in to watch the remainder of the match. Clearly, from their positive reaction, they had won, too. Sure enough, the season championship would come down to Strasburg 1 versus Strasburg 2. Strasburg 2 would have a strong start with Ashton quizzing out early, but Strasburg 1 would take the lead and eventually the victory. Strasburg 1 would win the final match over Strasburg 2, with the score 90-70. Congratulations to Strasburg Mennonite Church for the having 2 teams make the final, but especially to Strasburg 1 for winning the season championship!

Quizmeet at Weaverland

 The Stony Brook quiz team quiz coach Graham Holcomb saw room for improvement. Some quizzers were not buzzing in on questions with keywords, while other quizzers would take too long to buzz in after the key word came out of the quizmaster's mouth, and yet others would buzz in on the key word but then forget why it's key (i.e. the correct answer). Some of them were afraid to take risks, which meant the other team would buzz in faster or miss the opportunity for points by allowing questions to go unanswered. Some would have good buzz ins and good answers in practice, yet when the exact same question (or something similar) would come in a real quiz match, they would not buzz in at all, and when they did, they got it incorrect. The Stony Brook quiz coach went into the Sunday afternoon quiz practice with the intent of solving these problems. Of the 4 practice sets Graham wrote, 3 of them had brand-new questions, exposing the quiz team to more material. Those 3 sets of brand-new questions each had a situation question and a footnote question, so the quizzers would get use to both. The last set consisted of questions from verses missed on the Thursday practice, either completely missing both buzz in and bonus or missing just the buzz in but getting the bonus right. For this set, however, he reworded the question, so the quizzers could hear it in another way. With all 4 sets, the quiz coach put the keyword as early as possible in the quizzer (even the post where the questions sounded like Yoda wrote them!) to get the quizzer use to buzzing in early on the question. After the 4 practice sets concluded, and since the quiz team had a little time before the quiz team practiced some "buzzer drills." The quiz coach would read the material, and the quizzer would buzz in when they heard a key word and would say the key word to affirm the correct word. By golly, it worked! The delay between keyword and buzz seemed to shorten with every chapter read. The quiz team had to stop just short of the last chapter of keywords, for dinner was ready. Judy Heindel prepared for the quiz team barbecue sandwiches, bacon ranch French fries and peanut butter chocolate cake. Soon after finishing dinner, the time came to depart for Weaverland for the quizmeet. Stony Brook arrived with a little time to spare, so their quiz coach went down the list of keywords to see how much the quizzer could recall from around it. After a very folk-y worship with a little country twang (the worship team played both banjo and harmonica!), the quiz matches began.

The Stony Brook quiz team's first match of the night came in round 2 versus Calvary Monument 2. Elizabeth from Calvary Monument 2 began the match with a correct buzz-in. Olivia would match Elizabeth on the next question with her own correct buzz-in, tying the score up at 10. Then Elizabeth of Calvary Monument 2 would buzz-in again, but this time, it resulted in an error. Unfortunately, Lauren could not follow though with the bonus. On question 4, this time Calvary Monument 2's Chloe would buzz-in and answer right. Again, Olivia would come through for Stony Brook, following up with her own-right buzz-in, typing the score up again, this time at 20 points apiece. From this point, Calvary Monument 2 would take off. The next 4 questions consisted of buzz-ins from the Calvary Monument 2 side. Questions 6 & 7 came from Chloe, which gave Chloe a quiz out. Question 8 came from Aliya. Aliya did attempt to get two consecutive correct answers. Fortunately for Stony Brook, she did not, but unfortunately for Stony Brook, Kaylee could not pick up the bonus for points. Olivia, who had not gotten in for 4 questions, must have felt frustrated, for she buzzed in on question 10. Sadly, it rendered an error, and Calvary Monument 2 got the points off of a bonus. Then, on question 11, Tori from Calvary Monument 2 buzzed in and got team bonus, guaranteeing them the win. Stony Brook knew the standings went by points, however, so they kept trying for points. Kate got points on question 12. The quizmaster asked, "Who have become a byword of cursing..." and Kate buzzed in at the right time because both "byword" and "cursing" were key words, as mentioned at practice!" Kate immediately remembered "the house of judah..." but she needed some time to think "house of Israel" and get it right. Question 13 almost went unanswered, due to the question word getting lost in the question, but Kaylee tried. Kaylee may have gotten it wrong, but the bonus went to a Calvary Monument 2 quizzers who couldn't figure out what the question asked either. On question 15, Aliya of Calvary Monument 2 buzzed in, and she answered incorrectly. The bonus went to Olivia, and she got it right, giving herself a quiz out on the last question! Stony Brook may have lost 45-105, but the team at least felt relieved that Olivia could earn her 12th quiz of the year before the match ended.

Stony Brook vs. Calvary Monument 2

Stony had back-to-back matches, this time versus Church of the brethren (they are the only Church of the brethren, so they can call themselves just that). The match started off slow. Jason from Church of the brethren had the first buzz in, but he got incorrect, and then the bonus went to Kaylee, who also got it wrong. Kate gave Stony Brook an early lead on question 2 with her own buzz in right. Then what happened the Stony Brook quiz coach Graham calls "the Nolan show" because Nolan of Church of the brethren buzzed in and answered 3 questions in a row correctly for a quiz out. Just like that, Church of the brethren had the lead, 35 to 10, a third the way through the match. During the timeout between questions 5 and 6, the Stony Brook quiz coach reminded the quiz team that the Nolan show was now over, and it was Stony Brook's time to swoop in and take over the match. Swoop in and take over is exactly what the team did! On question 6, Kate buzzed in on "Who solemnly assured..." (because she knew both "solemnly" and "assured" were key words) and answered correctly "the angel of the Lord." On question 7, Lauren buzzed in on "The pleasant land..." (because she knew "pleasant" was key) and gave the right answer of "was made desolate." While Jason from Church of the brethren would break Stony Brook's streak with his own correct buzz-in, Olivia, who had been oddly absent for the first half of the quizmatch, buzzed in and answered right on question 9. On question 10, the quizmaster asked, "The third chariot..." and answered "white horses" for 10 points , giving Stony Brook the lead once again. (Quick pause right here: Lauren got asked both questions on the Thursday practice, got both of them right for Thursday's practice, and now she recalled it for the Sunday quizmeet!) Olivia would get another buzz in right on question 11, bringing up Stony Brook's lead to now 60 to 45. At this point, however, Church of the brethren would do some catching up of their own. They would get the next 2 questions, scoring both times. With 2 questions left, Church of the brethren narrowly lead 65 to 60. At the time out, Graham did point out that Kaylee could get team bonus, but Lauren, Olivia and Kate could each get a quiz out, and all those options were good, so everybody should try to get it. On question 14, Nate from Church of the brethren buzzed it, and he answered incorrectly. The bonus went to Kaylee, and she got it wrong. On question 15, Jason of Church of the brethren buzzed in, and he got it wrong. Olivia gets the bonus, and she answers correctly. Yes, Olivia quizzed out again question 15 (and she now has a baker's dozen of quiz outs for the year)! Just as important, that right answer also gave Stony Brook the win. The final score was: Stony Brook - 75, Church of the brethren - 65.

Stony Brook vs. Slate Hill

The quiz team's last match of the night was versus Slate Hill. This quizmatch is not worth going into detail. Slate Hill is number 1 in League A, averaging 122 points per match. It showed in this quizmatch. Slate Hill literally buzzed in on all 15 questions. 4/5 of those questions they answered correctly. From those correct answers, they got 4 quiz outs plus team bonus for a total of 160 points. Of the 1/5 of that match that Slate Hill did error, Stony Brook only picked up one of the bonuses, thanks to Olivia. As a matter of fact, up to this point, of the 18 quizmatches prior to this quizmatch, Olivia quizzed out 13 of them, and the 5 she did not quiz out, she scored at least 20 points. This match was her first match scoring under 20 points. As sad of a note that is to end this match on, it is somewhat a relief that Olivia walked away with 10 points instead of 0 points.

After 7 quizmeets and 19 quizmatches, Stony Brook has a win-loss record of 7-12, scored a total of  1,270 points, averaging 67 points per match. Despite our first and last match of the quizmeet not going the way the quiz team would have liked, the improvement the quiz coach wanted to see from the quiz team actually happened. Kate remembered why words were key and gave both good buzzes and good answers. Kaylee was not afraid to buzz in and take a guess at the end of the question. Lauren recalled what she heard in practiced and remembered it in the quizmatch for actual points (speaking of Lauren, congratulations to Lauren scoring the triple digits this year!). Olivia's delay in buzzing cut down with every passsing quiz match. Graham asked the quiz team to improve in those exact areas, and as their quiz coach, he could not ask for more. As a matter of fact, he looks forward to what more they can do as they continue improving, and so should you.