Spring City's Top 4 Greatest Victories

On Sunday, January 16, 2022, something happened that, I must admit, I was never expecting to happen. On Sunday, January 16, 2022, a Stony Brook quiz team, consisting of 5 "sophomore quizzers" (quizzers in their second year) scored 155 points in their first 2 matches of the 2022 quizzing year. OK, I must confess that the Lord told me in a dream that the quiz team would score over 100 points in a quizmatch, but I simply dismissed that dream as wishful thinking, not prophetic. Even if I did believe the dream came from God as prophetic, I would have expected 1 quizmatch with exactly 100 points or just over 100 points, not 2 quizmatches of over 150 points. Not don't get me wrong, my disbelief did not come from a lack of faith in the Stony Brook quizzers. All 5 of them got the hang of quizzing by the end of their rookie year, and going into their sophomore year with clear expectations, they came prepared and ready. It's just that scoring over 150 points in a single quizmatch is a big deal for any team, regardless of how many years experience each quizzer has. As a matter of fact, in my 3 years quizzing with Ark Bible, I cannot recall at any point in time scoring over 150 points (I think I would have remembered that because it would have had an impact on me, as you will see), and in my 5 years quizzing with Spring City, only 4 quizmatches exceeded the 150 point mark. Therefore, in this post, I would like to reminisce over Spring City's greatest victories. Now I know a quizmatch called a "great victory" should be a quizmatch that has something like a close win, a comeback win or overcoming a strong and hard opponent, but those are all subjective. Thus, the most objective way to measure a "great victory" would be by the number of points, like a high score. Therefore, the primary determining factor for a "great victory" will be the total number of points scored in the quizmatch because season standings go by points (with that being said, tournament matches will not count, due to the fact tournaments go by wins, and most teams, including Spring City, practice a "mercy rule" by stopping after clinching the win). As a secondary determining factor to figure out any ties, the tiebreaker will go point differential to what the other team scored. And for the fun of it, to build up hype and suspension, let's countdown from 4th greatest victory to 1st greatest victory.

4) 2007 Season Week 3: Spring City - 155, Hopewell 1 - 10.

Spring City had not quizzed against Hopewell 1 since the 2006 season, and in that quizmatch, Spring City lost. In this quizmatch, Spring City would make up for it and then some. On February 4, 2007, on the third week of the quizzing season, Spring City would sit across from Hopewell 1 in Conestoga's sanctuary. I quizzed out on question 6. Tim quizzed out on question 10. Mike quizzed out on question 12. Sometime between my quiz out and Tim's quiz out, Christine got a buzzed in and answer correctly, giving up team bonus. After Mike's quiz out, Chelsea got a question right for another 10 points. Following that, Hopewell 1 throws another bonus in Spring City's direction, and since Mike remains in his seat, he gets the bonus correct. With 4 errors on Hopewell's side, Hopewell 1 was on the brink of either being shut out or losing with a negative score due to 1 more error. Fortunately for Hopewell 1, they did 1 question right, and they kept their errors to no more than 4, avoiding both possible worst case scenarios. Spring City won, 155-10. While the win had a big impact on Spring City, the loss had an even bigger impact on Hopewell 1. When Spring City had a rematch versus Hopewell 1 during the Invitational tournament, when Hopewell 1 entered the room, Hopewell 1's top quizzer, Bryant Burkhart asked, "So, is this the execution room?" It was. We won that match, too, 130-30.

3) 2007 Season Week 1: Spring City - 155, Blainsport - 0.

Blainsport had become quite the formidable foe for Spring City. Spring City had quizzed against Blainsport once in each of the past 2 seasons. Not only did Blainsport win both of those quizmatches by scoring over 100 points, the last match-up had Blainsport winning by a score differential of 100 points. Seriously, Blainsport had become quite the formidable opponent for Spring City. This 2007 Blainsport quiz team, however, looked quite different from the Blainsport team of the past 2 years. The quiz team only had 4 quizzers, 1 of which was a veteran and 3 of which were rookies. This did not necessarily mean automatic win for Spring City. Before quizzing Spring City, Blainsport had a quizmatch versus Paradise 3, which ended in a tie of 75 points each, and Blainsport was 1 away from team bonus. That may have been more of a reflection on Paradise 3 and less of a reflection on Blainsport. During the Spring City vs. Blainsport quizmatch, I quizzed out first, Tim quizzed out second, and Mike quizzed out third. After the three of us quizzed out, Christine got a buzz-in correct, giving Spring City team bonus. After the team bonus, rookie Chelsea, who is at her first quizmeet of her life, who is in her second quizmatch of her career, buzzes in and answer right for another 10 points. Chelsea would also get a bonus sent her way, but she didn't get it because she said houses instead of homes (I now found this ironic because that didn't fly in 2007, but I could see it working in 2022). Christine, after giving team bonus, would also get another question right. By the end of 15 questions, Spring City shut out Blainsport. That was my first time that my team scored over 150 points (at least to my recollection). As we shook hands, I felt weird. I didn't know what to say to them. I almost wanted to apologize. As the week went on, however, my feelings shifted. I had compared the 2005 & 2006 Spring City vs. Blainsport match-ups with the 2007 Spring City vs. Blainsport match-up, and an interesting stat emerged. If you add the scores of the 2005, 2006 and 2007 match-up, Spring City and Blainsport are tied at 240 points a piece! That is because, for each quizmatch individually, the winner has always scored over 100 points, and loser has always scored no more than 55 points. That tie of points would never be broken because, as far as I can remember, Spring City would never again quiz a quiz match versus Blainsport, in either the season, local tournament or Invitational tournament. Blainsport would have a bit of a slump for the next few years, even completely absent for the 2010 quizzing year, but they would bounce back by 2011 with 6th place finish in their league during the season, and then another bounce back in 2012, culminating in 2nd place finish in the Invitational tournament.

2) 2009 Season Week 4: Spring City - 170, Weaverland 1 - 10

Spring City did not start out the 2009 season as they did the past 2 years. In the past 2 years, Spring City would start out in 1st place, and they would spend the rest of their season hanging on, trying their best not to slide down in the standings too low, which usually resulted in a top 5 finish in their respective league. The 2009 season started out quite the opposite. In the 1st week, Spring City only scored 135 points, averaging 67.5 points per match, placing them 17th in the league. To put that in perspective, in the past 2 years, Spring City would score 135 in their first match alone! Then, to make matters worse, by the end of the 2nd week, the quiz team had 325 points, averaging 65 points per match, dropping the team to 21st league. Quarter-way through the season, out of the 5 quizmatches, only 1 exceeded over 100 points, and barely with 105 points. It may have been easy for Spring City and its fans to think the quiz team was past its prime, but Spring City would make up for those first 2 quizmeets in a single quizmatch, during week 4 of the season, versus Weaverland 1. Tim, Mike, Robert and I took the starting lineup. I quizzed out first. Tim quizzed out second, on literally the next question after I quizzed out. Mike quizzed out third. Robert quizzed out fourth. Yes, we had 4 quiz outs, with Robert being that 4th quiz out. It was his second quiz out of his career, and the first one of that year. Of course, for all 4 quiz outs, at least question was a correct buzz-in, so we naturally got team bonus for an additional 20 points. Since Chelsea and Alyssa weren't doing too hot, once Mike and Robert quizzed out, they got the opportunity to sit back, relax and watch the rest of the quizmatch play out. Robert looked really confused when the Weaverland 1 quizzer sitting across from him errored, and the quizmaster gave the bonus to him. While the bonus does not go towards his individual score, he did give the team another 10 points. Spring City won the quizmatch 170-10, due to 4 quiz outs, team bonus, and Robert giving the team an extra 10 points on a bonus. Thanks hugely to this giant win, Spring City would shoot up in the standings, which would eventually result in finishing the season 4th place in their respective league and 10th place overall in ACC.

1) 2008 Season Week  5: Spring City - 170, Emmanuel 2 - 0

At the beginning of every year, once I got the schedule, I had a habit of ranking all our opponents from hardest to easiest. When I got the scheduled in 2008, I thought that the quizmatch versus Emmanuel 2 would be the 2nd easiest (no, I don't remember who I picked to be the easiest). I believe I came to that conclusion because the Emmanuel 2 quiz team consisted of 4 rookie girls (they also carried a stuffed emu to fill in the seat if one of them quizzed out because the quiz team's full name was Emmanuel Mennonite Unworthy Servants, or E.M.U.S. for short). Turns out this quizmatch would become the easiest quizmatch of the year. First, I quizzed on on question 5. Second, Mike quizzed on question 7. Third, Tim quizzed out on question 10. Fourth, Bobby quizzed out following Tim. Yes, we had 4 quiz outs in this quizmatch. To make matters even sweeter, all 4 of those quiz outs were all on buzz ins, making it more impressive than the previously mentioned quizmatch versus Weaverland 1. Of course, that also gave Spring City team bonus. Speaking of which, on a related note, Spring City buzzed in on all 15 questions, also making it more impressive than the prior quizmatch versus Weaverland 1. For the remaining 3 questions that were not part of the 12 questions that went towards the 4 quiz outs, Chelsea got a buzz in correct, and Spring City committed 2 errors. Yes, Spring City errored twice, but Emmanuel 2 could not capitalize on it to take some points away from that quizmatch. They dropped both errors with incorrect bonuses. Therefore, Spring City won with a 170 point shutout due to 4 quiz outs, team bonus, and Chelsea giving 10 points extra. This humongous win would send Spring City up in the standings, which, by the end of the year, would result in Spring City finishing 4th in the league and 8th overall, making the 2008 Spring City team the best season performance that I have ever been part of.

Remembering and reminiscing over those quizmatches, I looked to see how Spring City did in those other quizmatches during the quizmeet. During the quizmeet with the Weaverland 1 quizmatch, Spring City also scored 145 points versus Maple Grove 2 the quizmatch after, but the quizmatch before, Spring City lost to Grace Point 1 55-75. Among those 3 quizmatches, Spring City averaged 123 points per match in that quizmeet. During the season opener of the 2007 season, before that quizmatch versus Blainsport, we scored 135 points versus Good Shepherd 2. Between 135 points versus Good Shepherd 2 and 155 points versus Blainsport, we averaged 145 points per match in that quizmeet, possibly and probably the highest quizmeet point average ever in my 5 years with Spring City and my 8 year quizzing career total. Still, looking back on these quizmeets, I never had a single quizmeet in which my quiz team scored over 150 points twice in the same quizmeet. While I admire Spring City's top 4 greatest victories, I also applaud Stony Brook for doing something the team I quizzed on while a quizzer could never do: score 150 or more points twice in a single quizmeet :)

This is the account of the 2022 Stony Brook quiz team

As I prepare to testify about the Stony Brook quiz team, the 2022 testimony does not feel as grand as the 2021 testimony. Despite feeling this way, the Holy Spirit reminded me a chapel speaker during my undergraduate college years, who preached "Big testimony or small testimony, if it glorifies God, it is a good testimony." Therefore, this testimony may not be as grand in quantity, but it is as grand in quality as it glorifies God.

While a majority of the thank-you cards I received in 2021 did say something along the lines of "I can't wait until next year!" I felt worried that the quizzers of last year would not want to reconvene to form the quiz team in 2022. I worried that I would hear something along the lines of "Quizzing was a great distraction from the coronavirus pandemic, but now that the COVID-19 pandemic has died down, my favorite co-curricular and extra-curricular activities have returned, so I will return to doing them." Surprisingly, that did not happen at all. Now I was a good boy and waited until November to say something (well, ok, maybe we talked about it during the church camping weekend in August, but they brought it up to me, not vice versa). I remember it was after church at a fellowship meal. Caleb, Kate and Lauren had withdrawn to a classroom away from the adults. At that time, I approached them about quizzing 2022. All of sudden they are throwing questions at me like what the quizzing material is on, what's the quizzing material breakdown, what's the first week's material, when's the first practice, when's the first quizmeet, when they are getting their quizbooks, etc. I almost lost my train of thought in the questions! After the questions had died down, I got back on track and asked, "So is that a yes?" Pretty much, they all almost said unanimously, "Yeah, we're in." Boy, that went easier than I thought! Even more impressive, they all told me that they had already begun looking at the material! Even better! Once I got home, I immediately opened my laptop and sent an e-mail out to Kaylee and Olivia saying, "The quiz team is getting back together! You in?" Olivia affirmed by that evening, and Kaylee said yes the following Monday morning. Indeed, the quiz team was back together!

Now I will confess that I did not do the best recruiting during the month of November to look for rookie quizzers. I merely gave our veterans the opportunity to invite friends. At first, by that method alone, it looked like Stony Brook would have enough for 2 teams! By the end of November, however, all other interest had fallen through, and all Stony Brook would have is the same 5 returning quizzers. I was quite OK with that, though. For me personally, the last time I had a repeat of the same exact team, it was my last 2 years as a quizzer. While that team did not win any championships, it had done the best it had ever done, and the Lord taught us some powerful lessons, so I was excited to see what the Lord would do with this 2022 Stony Brook quiz team.

The Stony Brook quiz team was registered on December 1. That following Saturday, I went to the quizzing coordinator's house to drop off the registration fee and pick up the quizbooks. I texted the quiz team when I got back to my home to let them know their quizbooks were available to pick up the next day. The enthusiasm they had to pick up the quizbooks! Since Kaylee had to work, Kaylee sent her mom to pick up the quiz book after church. Olivia actually came all the way to my home in the afternoon to pick up hers. I just loved the enthusiasm they had to begin studying and practicing.

I know I already blogged about this in full detail back in January (and you can click here on this parenthetical phrase to read about it!), but I have to testify about it again. At our first practice on the first Thursday of the year, it felt like the Stony Brook quiz team had fallen back into bad habits. Quizzers waited too long to buzz in, half of those buzz-ins would result in errors, and half of those errors ended up as missed bonuses. That first practice, however, was merely Stony Brook warming up after 9 months off of quizzing. By the last practice before the first quizmeet on Sunday, the quiz team had cleaned up, so well that the last practice match had 14 of 15 buzz-ins correct, and the only error resulted in a right bonus. It showed at the quizmeet. In the Stony Brook quiz team's first 2 quizmatches, Stony Brook scored 155 points, thanks to Olivia, Kate and Kaylee quizzing out, with either Caleb or Lauren coming in for team bonus. By the end of the first quizmeet, Stony Brook was 1st place in their League and 3rd place of all teams!

From my personal experience as a quizzer, I knew how a quizzing season could start off easy and get harder, so I also knew it was very possible that our strong start might be the highlight of the year, and maintaining that high would be the hardest thing to do. The illustration I kept giving the quizzers was the motivational poster of the cat hanging by the rope saying, "Hang in there!", just encouraging the quizzers to do their best to just maintain their average. Indeed, it felt like every week that became harder to do. This year Bible quizzing quizzed on Job, Joshua, Nehemiah, Jonah and Zechariah. Job wasn't that bad as previously thought, as evident in how well the Stony Brook quiz team did. Most of it was narrative, and the part that wasn't gave good imagery of 2 creatures that one could imagine in the head. Joshua and Nehemiah, which one would have thought would have been easier, actually turned out harder, as much of those 2 books had longs lists. While Jonah gave a nice break with a simple story, Zechariah gave a challenging close to the year with abstract visions. On top of that, it also seemed like Stony Brook's opponents became more difficult as the season progressed. In all honest, in a way it felt unfair to the quiz team. The difficult material and the hard opponents resulted in low scores, and that low score didn't reflect how much effort the team put into studying and practicing. Nevertheless, the team trudged on each week with the heavy burden that they could not reach the heights of that first week. More importantly, though, the team had good conversations about what they read for quizzing. At the end of every book, I, as their coach, would ask them, "What's the moral of the story?" and this team came up with some pretty good answers. Those answers clearly demonstrated that they comprehended the material, more than any quizzing question or score could display.

Because of the faithful study of the Word, even when the quiz team didn't perform too hot in the quizmatches, God rewarded the Stony Brook quiz team with a strong close to the season. While the results were not as spectacular as the first week, Stony Brook had their first quizmatch since the first week score in the triple digits, with 110 points. Because of that 110 point match, plus another 80 point match, Stony Brook went up in the standings, the first time they went up all year.

After 8 quizmeets and 21 quizmatches, Stony Brook finished with a record 8-12-1, or a .404 win percentage. Compared to last year (which is hard to do because last year's abbreviated year), in which Stony Brook finished with a .292 win percentage, this is a big improvement. Furthermore, this year, Stony Brook scored a total of 1460 points, which averaged 70 points per match. Compared to last year (which is hard to do because last year's abbreviated year), this too is a huge improvement, as Stony Brook averaged 61 points per match last year. In fact, last year, 70 point average was the highest Stony Brook was ever last year, and that was only for 1 week! Stony Brook's 1460 points finished Stony Brook 12th of 25 teams in League A and 24th of 49 teams overall. Another giant improvement from last year's 19th of 26 teams in League A and 37th of 51 teams overall.

While this was everybody's 2nd year in Bible quizzing (their sophomore year, if you will), this was also everyone's 1st year with tournaments (their rookie year, if you will). I have already blogged about both tournaments in full detail (and I would encourage you to read them if you haven't already), but let me quickly summarize them to refresh.

In regard to the local AMEC Tournament, the Stony Brook quiz team went in with only 3 quizzers: Olivia, Kaylee and Caleb. Stony Brook had a rough start, starting with a 2-match losing streak. The quiz team quickly bounced back with a 2-match winning streak. With a 2-2 record, the Stony Brook quiz team could make it to the playoffs with a win in the quizmatch versus Metzler, who also just so happened to be down to 3 quizzers. As long as Metzler didn't win, Stony Brook made it to the playoffs. In that quizmatch versus Metzler, Stony Brook took the lead and held the lead for most of the match. After 13 of the 15 questions, Stony Brook had the lead with just 2 questions remaining. As long as Metzler didn't get those last 2 questions correct, Stony Brook would win and qualify for the playoffs. The only thing that could not happen was for Metzler to get both question right. Unfortunately, it just so happen that Metzler would get those last 2 questions right, putting Metzler in the playoffs and putting Stony Brook out of the playoffs. Despite not making the playoffs, the quiz team nevertheless did very well for their first tournament. Their record of 2-3 is a win percentage of 0.400, which is roughly on par for how they did in the season, which is still better than last year's season. And remember, they did it with only 3 quizzers!

Regarding the Invitational Tournament, hosted by AMEC Quizzing, it felt like quite the opposite. The Stony Brook quiz team started out strong with a 3-match winning streak. That 3-match winning streak was followed by a 3-match losing streak, but that was kind of expected, due to quizzing 3 excellent quiz teams almost back-to-back-to-back. Stony Brook bounced back with a win versus Hopewell, which put the quiz team in good running for the championship playoffs. If Stony Brook won their last match against Blainsport 3, they qualified for the championship playoffs. The only thing that couldn't happen is for Blainsport 3 to win. The quizmatch between Stony Brook and Blainsport 3 bounced back and forth, and by the last question, Stony Brook was only losing by 5. As long as Stony Brook got the last question, either a buzz-in or bonus, Stony Brook won and entered the championship playoffs. The only thing that couldn't happen was for Blainsport 3 to get that last question. Unfortunately, it just so happened Blainsport 3 did get that last question. While Stony Brook fell out of the championship playoff bracket, the quiz team did fall into a consolation bracket. For their first quizmatch in the consolation bracket, versus Weaverland 3, Stony Brook took a strong lead in the quizmatch, but Weaverland 3 caught up quickly. After 13 questions, with 2 questions left, Weaverland 3 could only win with 2 separate quizzers each getting a buzz-in correct for team bonus. As long as Stony Brook got just 1 question right, or even if a question went by unanswered or wrong on both sides, Stony Brook won. The only thing that could not happen was for Weaverland 3 to have 2 different quizzers buzz in and answer correctly. Unfortunately, it just so happened a brand new Weaverland 3 quizzer buzzed in and answered correctly on question 14, and another brand new quizzer buzzed in and answered question 15 right, giving Weaverland 3 the team bonus and the win, knocking Stony Brook out of the tournament. Nevertheless, the Stony Brook quiz team didn't do too bad for their first Invitational tournament. Not including the playoff loss, in the round robin, Stony Brook finished 4-4, or a .500 win percentage, which was better than their .404 win percentage of the season or their .400 win percentage of the AMEC Tournament. Honestly, I kind of feel bad for the team because their finish in the tournament did not really reflect how well they did.

During one of our low points of the season, it became too easy for the quizzers to look down on themselves. It got so bad, at one point, I had to stop everything to remind the quizzers, "Your value to this team is not measured by the points on the standings. Some of you are good at encouraging, while others of you are good at motivating, and you all bring so much more than that." Now I would like to testify about how the quizzers contributed to the quiz team.

CALEB METZLER: As their quiz coach, as the closest thing the Stony Brook youth have to a youth leader, I tried to get to know the quizzers outside quizzing. Doing so, I learned a lot about the quizzers outside quizzing. I learned that Caleb is an excellent singer. Now I know Caleb's family and friends knew that, but I did not know that. I knew Caleb as that guy who plays cello, bass and the occasional drums, not as a singer. I got the opportunity to see Caleb sing at his high school production of Godspell, and boy, the boy can sing! Caleb did an excellent job playing John the Baptist in Godspell, which makes his quizzing even more impressive. Honestly, I thought Caleb would be the hardest to recruit to the team this year with all he had involved in life. I even had a whole "Caleb, a Stony Brook quiz team is not the same without you" speech prepared for him, so you can imagine I was pleasantly surprised when Caleb was one of them to say, "Yeah, I'm in." Caleb did have to miss a few practices and a couple quizmeets to make it work, and Caleb made it work. Caleb scored 80 points during the season. Now I have been on teams with quizzers who had less going on in their lives than Caleb, and they only score 10, 20, 30 or 40 points by the end of the quizzer year. Caleb had all those curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities on his plate, and he still managed to score 80 points by the end of the quizzing season. Furthermore, of those 8 correct questions, 3 of them contributed to to team bonus. Yes, 3/4 of our team bonuses came about because Caleb was there to contribute for team bonus. To make things ever sweeter, during the invitational tournament, Caleb finally got a quiz out on the year. Caleb, on behalf of the Holy Spirit, I want to thank for making time for the Word of God, for your church, and for the quiz team, despite your busy schedule. It has pleased God, and you made me happy, too. Caleb, thank you for being a part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

LAUREN KEENY: As last year (2021 Mark) concluded, I asked all the quizzers how their first year of quizzing felt. I will never forget Lauren remarking, "Now that the year is over, I finally feel like I know what I doing. I'll be ready for next year." Sure enough, Lauren kept to her word. From the very first practice, Laurent seemed ready. She scored her first points of the year at the first quizmatch of the year, and in the second quizmatch of the year, she contributed a correct buzz-in for team bonus! By the end of the year, Lauren scored 100 points, more than double what she scored last year! In fact, Lauren surpassed her previous year's record of 40 points by the second week of the season, so it wasn't merely due to a longer season that Lauren surpassed her personal record. Lauren came prepared, and it showed. My favorite memory of Lauren does not come from the season, however, but it comes from the invitational tournament, during a round robin match versus Hinkletown 2. 13 questions in, Stony Brook was winning. Unfortuntaely, Hinkletown 2 was 1 away from team bonus. Fortunately, Stony Brook was also 1 away from team bonus, and that 1 away was Lauren. Stony Brook did not need that team bonus, as long as Hinkletown 2 did not get team bonus. The only thing that could not happen was for Hinkletown 2 to get team bonus. On question 14, Hinkletown 2 got their team bonus. Now up to this point, you've heard me "as long as" and "the only thing that could not happen" enough to know where this is going, but thanks to Lauren, it didn't go that way. "Lauren" is all I had to say for her, and Lauren knew what that meant. On question 15, the quizmaster 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, keeping up Stony Brook's win streak. Of course, like I said above, every quizzer has a bigger role than just points.  More important than comprehending the knowledge of the Bible is being able apply what the Bible teaches. At the conclusion of every book, I would ask the quizzers, "What's the moral of the story of the book?" I will never forget Lauren's answer for the book of Job. I asked the quizzers, "What's the moral of the book of Job?" and Lauren said something along the lines of, "The book of Job taught me that our suffering may be only temporarily, and we can trust God to turn it around." Now that answer is worth more than any quizzing answer! As an introvert, I always appreciated the extroversion Lauren brings to the group, whether that be asking questions to keep the small talk going or telling stories to get the whole group laughing. Lauren, thank you for being a part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

KAYLEE SNYDER: Something I learned about Kaylee this year is that Kaylee is the quietest saxophone player ever. Apparently, she doesn't want to play too loud in fear of drawing too much attention to her. Sometimes I felt like she approached quizzing the same way. I could tell the gears were turning in Kaylee's mind, yet she refrained from buzzing in or answering in fear it would bring too much attention to her, for better or for worse. I'm glad Kaylee did not hold back for the first quizmeet of the year. For the first two quizmatches of the year, Kaylee quizzed out on both of them, including a correct buzz-in, thus contributing for team bonus. I'm glad Kaylee did not hold back for the second quizmeet of the year. By the quarter-way point of the season, Kaylee would surpass her personal record of 85 points. Now at this point I started to notice that the more reserved quizzing from Kaylee. At the beginning of the year, through the achievement points system I created for the quizzers (I gave them 6 accomplishments, in which they got a blue star for doing it once, a silver star for doing it twice and a gold star for doing it three times), I encouraged each quizzer to quiz out 3 times during a season quizmatch. Kaylee got her first 2 quiz outs during the first 2 quizmatches of the year; she just needed 1 more quiz out for her last gold star. I kept telling Kaylee that I believe that 3rd quiz out was in her, and I believed she could get it by the end of the season. She didn't believe it so easily. Her favorite saying to me was "That's all I got." I didn't believe it, but she did. Fortunately, I was right, and Kaylee was wrong. At the last quizmeet of the season, during the second-to-last quizmatch, Kaylee did that last quiz out of the season. In fact, she was the first one to quiz out that quizmatch. By the end of season, Kaylee scored 235 points, more than double what she scored last year. Again, this cannot be due to a mere longer season because Kaylee broke her personal record by the second quizmeet. 105 points of the 235 points were due her 3 quiz outs, triple the number of quiz outs she got last year. When all was said in done, Kaylee earned all 6 of her gold stars. All this is possible because Kaylee spoke up and answered those those questions. Therefore, Kaylee, I encourage you to speak up and be heard. Don't feel like you have to be the quietest and in the background. Actually, you have a lot to contribute to the world, as long as you speak up, let your voice be heard and tell the world. Kaylee, thank you for being part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

KATE METZLER: Kate has quite the talent for quizzing, in more than one way. Kate could tell you if the answer is on the left-hand-side of the quizbook page or the right-hand-side of the quizbook page, and she could tell you if the answer was on the top, middle or bottom of the page, even if she didn't know what the answer was! Kate also had the knack of remembering the first letter of the correct answer, but she sometimes could not recall the full right answer. For example, one time she said, "Job's sorrows" instead of "Job's suffering." As another example, she said that the Lord was in "contract" with Israel instead of God being in "covenant" with Israel. I also learned about Kate that Kate is quite the perfectionist. During the quizzing season, Kate buzzed in 17 times, and of those 17 times, she answered correctly 16 times. Yes, Kate only got 1 error the whole season, and go figure that 1 error came during the last quizmatch of the season. Ultimately, Kate's perfectionism paid off for Kate. By the end of the season, Kate scored 335 points, more than double of what she scored the previous year. Again, no one can say it was merely due to a longer season, as Kate surpassed her personal record by the fourth week of the season. Rougly half those points came from Kate's 5 quiz outs, another personal record. When all was said and done, Kate also earned all 6 of her gold stars. Kate's perfectionism was her best strength and worst weakness. On one hand, when Kate buzzed in, you knew Kate would get it correct. On the other hand, Kate wouldn't buzz in unless she absolutely knew the right answer, which could have deterred her. Sometimes in order to succeed in quizzing you have to take chances. Sometimes a quizzer has to buzz in when they think it's a good place to buzz in. Hopefully the quizzer can get the correct answer in 30 seconds, and if not, oh well. That's what separates the average quizzers from the above average quizzers. Kate, I can see you making that move from average quizzer to above average quizzer, but you have to take those risks. In fact, I believe that advice applies to all of life. Kate, sometimes life requires risks to reap the benefits. Of course, make sure those risks are legal, moral and safe, but if they are indeed legal, moral and safe, they are probably backed by God, and it's God way to bless you. If you're obedient to God's call, even if it may seem risky to you, God will bless you. Kate, thank you for being part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

OLIVIA FARAG: Something I learned about Olivia this year is that Olivia does not like gym class, but when Olivia's gym class plays a sport, Olivia becomes very competitive. Sometimes I could see Olivia brought that competitive nature to quizzing. Watching Olivia quiz, it sometimes became apparent that not quizzing out was not an option. The stats speak for themselves. Of the 21 quizmatches of the quizzing season, Olivia quizzed out 15 times, almost triple the amount of quiz outs she got last year. Of the 6 quizmatches Olivia did not quiz out, Olivia got 2 questions correct for 20 points in 5 of those quizmatches. That 1 quizmatch, Olivia still managed to get 1 question right for 10 points, and that was the quizmatch versus Slate Hill, the top team in our league. Thank you, Olivia, for making sure we got points out of that quizmatch. If you did the math, Olivia scored a grand total of 635 points, more than double what she scored last year. Again, no can claim it was due merely to a longer season, as Olivia broke her own personal record by week 4 of the season. Olivia's 635 points placed her 22nd place in the individual standings out of over 250 quizzers, and AMEC Bible Quizzing recognized Olivia as one of the Top 65 Bible Quizzers. When I was my team's top quizzer, my coaches described me as both an anchor or pillar to the team. I would use the same words to describe Olivia. Whenever any of the other quizzers on the team felt like they could not do it, Olivia proved it could be done by doing it herself. That alone is encouraging and motivating. Olivia, thank you for being part of this quiz team. You were truly a blessing to the team. It would not have been the same without you.

In closing, I would like to some people. Thank you to all secret sponsors. One of the highlights of every quizzing Sunday was "Look at what my secret sponsor got me! What did your secret sponsor get you?" Secret sponsors made quizzers happy, made me happy, and most importantly, made Jesus happy. Thank you to all who provided dinner for the quizzers on quizzing Sundays, whether you hosted, sponsored or donated. The quiz team found all those meals very delicious. Thank you to Jon & Ann Metzler and Shawn & Dawn Keeny for help transporting quizzers to and from the season quizmeets and the tournaments. Every year I forget to calculate transportation, and you have always made sure every quizzer got to and from the season quizmeets and tournaments safely. Since I just mentioned two pairs of the quizzers' parents, let me say thank you to all the quizzers' parents. Thank you for everything you did for your quizzing teen, from keeping them accountable to study to coming to cheer them on at the season quizmeets and tournaments. Speaking of coming to quizmeets, thank you to everybody in the congregation to came to the quizmeets to cheer on the quiz team as cheering fans. While the quizzers did appreciate their parents cheering them on, they did also appreciate more than just their parents cheering for them. Thank you to all the preachers of Stony Brook (Brenden, Jeff and Jim) for preaching on the material corresponding with the week on which we quizzed on that material. Not only did it prevent the quizzers from avoiding the temptation to read their quizbook instead of listening to the sermon, but your sermons also made the quizzing material relevant and applicable. Thank you to everyone who prayed for the quiz team. We always need those prayers, and we always appreciated these prayers. Most importantly, I would like to thank and praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for a fun, safe and successful quizzing year. As far I know, there were no coronavirus outbreaks in quizzing. Praise Jesus for health. Although quizzing almost crossed some icy and snowy Sunday nights, we made it back and forth from each quizmeet in one piece. I remember one day specifically: the Saturday of the invitational tournament. Meteorologists forecasted a cold and rainy Saturday, but it ended up being a warm and sunny Saturday, perfect for walking between buildings on a college campus. Praise Jesus for good weather! Finally, of course, Jesus gets the praise for every right answer, every quiz out, every team bonus, every point. In the words of Job, the Lord gave, the Lord took away; blessed be the name of the Lord!

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!

The Testimony of the 2021 Stony Brook Quiz Team

The testimony of the 2021 Stony Brook quiz team begins early in the fall, about late September or early October. The worship team takes the stage, and Jon Metzler gives the call of worship. At some point, Jon uses one of the big words in his vocabulary, which causes his daughter Kate Metzler to give him a confused look. Jon eventually notices, and he says, “I guess that word isn’t in your 7^th grade vocabulary.” At that point, Graham Holcomb almost jumped out seat and yelled, “Wait, Kate is in 7^th grade? That means she’s eligible to quiz!” See, in previous years, Graham had made quizzing known and an available option to Stony Brook’s 2 adolescents Caleb Metzler and Lauren Keeney, but with only 2 eligible teenagers, it never went anywhere. Now with 3 eligible youth, the tides may turn.

Around mid to late October, Graham approached Caleb, Kate and Lauren. He said, “If 2020 doesn’t ruin 2021, Bible quizzing will start up again this upcoming January. Would you be interesting in starting up a Bible quiz team at Stony Brook?” At this point, Graham got a probable, a questionable and a doubtful. Graham replied, “Well, I usually have to tell the quizzing coordinator around the last week of October or the first week of November my availability for staff. Take a couple weeks to think and pray about it, and I will do the same way for you.” The 3 teenagers agreed to pray about, and Graham kept his end and also prayed.

Indeed, Graham prayed, and Graham prayed hard, not only for the 3 youth of Stony Brook, but also for quizzing in general. The whole month of October passed, and Graham had not heard anything from the Bible quizzing coordinator. He feared that quizzing had also fallen victim to the coronavirus. Graham prayed to God, “Don’t give me hope.” As Graham prayed harder, the Holy Spirit reminded Graham of Philippians 1:6- “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Graham tone changed, as he now prayed, “Lord, I know that I have asked to coach a quiz team for the past 10 years, and every time you have said no, you have made your answer clear by shutting it down from the onset. Now this is the best answer I gotten in the past 10 years, and I know you would not give me a false sense. Now I pray that this good work you have begun you will bring to completion.”

In the beginning of November, Graham did hear from Bible quizzing through the quizzing website with 2021 Bible quizzing schedule. It looked like quizzing would proceed as normal. Around mid-November, Graham approached the Caleb, Kate and Lauren again. He even threw in, “Listen, I know Stony Brook does not have a youth group. Not having a stable youth group myself, I would not make a good youth group leader. I do have Bible quizzing experience, so I do make a good quiz coach. Think of a Bible quiz team as our youth. I will make it feel as much as youth group as possible. If you promise me at quiz practice to read through the material at least once and to have 3 practice matches, I promise you that the rest of quiz practice will feel like youth group, whether that be eating a snack or playing a game.” The probable, the questionable and the doubtful became a yes, yes and yes. Stony Brook had the beginnings of a quiz team!

Graham then followed up with the 3 youth, “Alright, 3 quizzers can technically work, but 4 is good, 5 is better, and 6 is best. Who can we ask to join our quiz team? What about Bridge Kids? Who can we ask from Bridge Kids to join our quiz team?” They gave the reassuring answer, “We were pretty much Bridge Kids.” That was not reassuring at all! After asking Jim Heindel and Jon Metzler for the Bridge Kids rosters, they suggested contacting Lindsey Steiner. That made Graham a bit nervous. Graham knew Lindsey was on an online fast. What if she never replied? The Holy Spirit reminded Graham of Philippians 1:6, and he prayed again, “Lord, the good work you have begun, please let it come to completion.” Then Graham proceeded to e-mail and Facebook message. A day later, Lindsey acknowledged she received my message and would look for the rosters, and a week later, she gave me a list of Bridge Kids who might be interested in Bible quizzing.

Ok, first on the list: Olivia Farag. Graham called up her father Shawkat Farag. He was very excited to hear from Stony Brook! Graham set up a time when he could meet with Shawkat and Olivia over Zoom to present the possibility of joining the quiz team. On a later date, Graham made his presentation on Zoom, after it, he asked Olivia what he thought about joining quizzing. Her father Shawkat volunteered immediately with an enthusiastic, “She will join!” Graham had to ask Olivia directly what she thought. Olivia’s answer went from “I guess” to “Yeah I guess” to “Yeah.” Stony Brook now had 4 quizzers, enough for a full starting lineup!

Next on the list: Kaylee Snyder. Graham called and texted Kaylee’s mother Cynthia Snyder, and Graham eventually got ahold of her via text. They set up a time where Graham, Cynthia and Kaylee could meet to discuss potential of joining the quiz team. On a later date, Graham made his presentation on Zoom, after it, he asked Kaylee what he thought about joining quizzing. Kaylee didn’t know at first, but her mom chirped in and said, “She’s shy at first. I bet she’s excited to join.” Kaylee nodded in agreement. Just as they were about to disconnect, Kaylee spoke up again, “I look forward to joining the quiz team.” Now Stony Brook had 5 quizzers, enough for a starting lineup and a sub!

Now Graham did contact another family for 6^th and even possibly a 7^th quizzer, but after 2 calls, 2 texts and 2 Facebook messages, he never got a response. While a little disheartening, the Holy Spirit reminded Graham of Philippians 1:6. These 5 youth were the quizzers the Lord had chosen for the Stony Brook quiz team, so now the quiz team was at full completion. As the year would go on, it would become so apparent that 5 quizzers worked best for the Stony Brook quiz team. The Holcomb home had exactly 5 seats for the quizzers (just ask the quizzers about the Blue Chair and Pink Chair). Only in 1 match did Stony have 2 quiz outs, resulting in an empty seat (technically, Stony Brook had 2 matches with 2 quiz outs, but on of those quiz matches, the second quiz out came on the last question, so in a way, that doesn’t count). Indeed, 5 seemed like the perfect number, so Stony Brook had its complete quiz team by the end of November.

Then at the beginning of December, Graham received a text message from the quizzing coordinator stating “Please look out for an e-mail regarding Bible Quizzing 2021.” Graham’s heart sank. Besides that preliminary quizzing schedule posted on the quizzing website, Graham had not heard directly from the quizzing coordinator all since March. Had that preliminary schedule gone up in error? Once again, Graham prayed Philippians 1:6 harder. A couple days later, the quizzing coordinator announced that quizzing would happen, albeit an alternative, modified quizzing. Quizzing would have 6 biweekly quizmeets instead of 8 weekly quiz meets, 0 tournaments instead of 2 tournaments and the Gospel of Mark instead of 5 Old Testament excerpts. Graham felt so relieved, almost the point of tears! The good work God had begun he did bring to full completion.

The Stony Brook quiz team had a “quizzing meeting” on Sunday, January 3 to learn the quizzing rules and go over the study methods. On Friday, January 8, the quiz team had their first real practice. From there, it is history. Remember how Graham promised a quiz team/youth group hybrid, with games and snack in exchange for 1 reading and 3 practice matches. While the quizzers kept their end of the agreement, Graham never had to keep his end of the promise. Every quiz practice, these 5 quizzers wanted to practice quizzing until the time was up for quizzing practice. They always wanted that 4^th optional set that I made. Don’t get it wrong, though. Graham did still keep his end of the agreement. The Stony Brook quiz team always had snack time at the end of every practice (in which everything was individually wrapped to stop the spread of COVID-19), and the Stony Brook quiz team got to try some of Graham’s video games during the break between Sunday quiz practice and Sunday dinner, like Ring Fit Adventure, Nintendoland and RockBand 3, as well as Lightning Reaction Xtreme.

After 12 quizmatches over 6 biweely quizmeets, Stony Brook finished with a record 2 wins, 7 losses and 3 ties (that’s the most ties Graham’s team ever had in a season). Stony Brook accumulated  730 points, averaging 61 points per match. That placed Stony Brook 19^th of 26 teams in League A, and 37^th of 51 teams overall. This is very impressive for a brand new quiz team, made of brand new quizzers, who had no previous experience with quizzing.

With this testimony in mind, each and every quizzer individually for joining and contributing to the quiz team this year.

LAUREN KEENY: Lauren scored 40 points answering 4 questions correctly this year, which is quite impressive for her rookie year. Last time Graham coached, he had a quizzer did not score any point at all during the season. In Graham’s 8 years as a quizzer, he had teammates that would only answer 1, 2 or 3 questions right all season, and they had an 18 or 19 quizmatches over an 8-week season! Lauren scored 40 points answering 4 questions correct in 12 quizmatches over 6 biweekly quizmeets. Unfortunately, the final individual standings do not reflect how important those points were to the quizmatches in which she scored. Lauren answered her first question correctly as the 4^th quizzers on our team to buzz in and answer right, thus giving Stony Brook team bonus for the 1^st time. For Lauren’s 2^nd question right, while she didn’t technically contribute to team bonus, her correct bonus on question 1 made the team bonus tie the match after 15 questions. If it wasn’t for Lauren answering the bonus correctly on question 1, Stony Brook would have lost the match, despite team bonus. Lauren’s 3^rd correct answer came in the match against Calvary Monument 2, which, as the 2^nd place team in Stony Brook’s league, became Stony Brook’s 2^nd hardest match. A lot of the team felt hopeless going into the match, thinking Stony Brook could only get in on the last 3 question once all 4 Calvary Monument 2 quizzers quizzed out on question 12. Yet when Lauren got bonus sent her way because the quizmaster asked a hard question, Lauren still pulled out the right answer. More importantly, though, Lauren contributed to the team more than just points. Lauren was definitely the extrovert of the team, and she always made sure to keep the fellowship going. She would keep the conversation going at quiz practice snack time and during the meals on quizzing Sundays. She would always share the fun antics at Red Lion High School. Lauren is also great encourager. Whenever the quiz team had a tough quizmeet after facing 2 tough teams in 2 tough quizmatches, Lauren was the first one to text everybody to congratulate everybody on a good quizmeet well done. It was very uplifting. Lauren, thank you for being a part of the quiz team. It would not have been the same without you.

KATE METZLER: Kate was probably the most excited to join the quiz team (she would later on reveal her excitement was due to having an opportunity to fellowship with peers). Kate’s excitement showed in her readiness to quiz. Everybody came prepared to every practice, but Kate always seemed the readiest. While no practice statistics were kept, Kate was a consistent top performer at practice, regularly quizzing out on both Friday and Sunday practices. Her readiness in practice reflected her performance. At the end of the quizzing season, Stony Brook scored 145 points, which included 1 quiz out. Indeed, Kate knew the quizzing material. By the end of the quizzing season, Kate got 9 bonuses, and she answered every single one correct. Yes, she never dropped a single bonus. Without a doubt, Kate new the material. Kate also brought a huge dose of encouragement to the team. Whenever somebody answered a question correctly, either in practice quizmatch or a real quizmatch, Kate was always the first one to congratulate that someone with a hearty “Good job!” or “Way to go!” or “Nice!” That encouragement alone encouraged other quizzers on the team to buzz in more and answered more. Kate, thank you for being a part of the quiz team. It would not have been the same without you.

CALEB METZLER: Caleb is a very talented young man, enough to make one jealous. Let’s be honest: he has musical coming out of the wazoo. As a very talented young man, he is also a very busy young man. From choir and the church worship team to cross country and disc golf, Caleb has a lot on his plate. Both Caleb and Graham knew this, but Graham felt like it would not be a true Stony Brook quiz team without Caleb on it. So when Graham asked Caleb to join the quiz team, he simply said, “Caleb, all I am asking and expecting that you simply try, and your best.” Not only did Caleb try his best, he did his best. After the quizzing season finished, Caleb scored 155 points, which included 1 quiz out. Yes, to cause some sibling rivalry, Caleb scored 10 more points and got 1 more right answer than his sister Kate. More worth appreciating is what Caleb brought spiritually to this team. Whether it was because Caleb was the oldest or Caleb was the only male of the group, Caleb became a spiritual leader among the quizzers. He was the first one to volunteer to pray for practice, first one to volunteer to pray for the Sunday meal and the first one to pray for the quizmatch. Caleb leading by taking the initiative demonstrated anyone could prayer, and everybody would follow suit. Anyone could see that spiritual leadership continue to grow when Caleb shared a testimony at church on Palm Sunday. Yes, Caleb probably would have shared whether on the quiz team or not, but either way, it was great to see Caleb spiritual grow this year, including during quizzing. No matter what Caleb’s future family looks like, Caleb will make a great spiritual leader as the head of the household. Caleb, thank you for being a part of the quiz team. It would not have been the same without you.

KAYLEE SNYDER: Stony Brook’s 2^nd quizmatch of its 1^st quizmeet ended up as Stony Brook’s worst loss, losing to Strasburg 25-145. After the quizmatch ended and the quiz team got back together, Kaylee said, “Oh, so that’s what we’re striving for?” to which her quiz coach affirmed, “Yeah, that’s what striving for.” From that day on, Kaylee truly did live that out. She did truly strive for that. Every time she came to practice, she proved she studied hard. Kaylee was sharp and on point every time she came to practice. Although no practice statistics were kept, Kaylee seemed to answer more practice questions right than wrong. When Kaylee did answer incorrectly, most of the time, it was a simple mistake, like buzzing in too fast or confusing two very similar passages. The few and rare times she answered wrong because she did not know the answer, she was always the first one to look in her quizbook and to mark what she got wrong, so she could study it more. Her study methods are worth copying. Again, Kaylee’s striving to study better paid off in the real quizmatches. Kaylee scored 85 points, which included 1 quiz, and she contributed to both our team bonuses. All 4 times she buzzed in, she answered the question correctly. When Kaylee buzzed in, she knew the answer. Kaylee got sharper as the year progressed, almost to perfection. The last question she answered correctly was perfect. The quizmaster asked the question, “The high priest tore…” Kaylee buzzed in a “tore” because she knew “tore” was a keyword (meaning it only appears once in the material), she answered the direct text answer “his robe” and then she went back to specify the pronoun as “the high priest’s robe,” which got her marked as correct. It was – mwah (chef’s kiss) – perfect! It is sad that the quizzing season was a modified, shortened season, because if Kaylee had a full 8-week season with 18 or 19 quizmatches a year, Kaylee would have gotten better, almost to perfection, on those last 2 weeks. Again, Kaylee set a good example to the team on how to study, how to practice and how to quiz. Kaylee, thank you for being a part of the quiz team. It would not be the same without you.

OLIVIA FARAG: Statistically speaking, Olivia was Stony Brook’s top performing quizzer. Once the quizzing season had come to and end, Olivia scored 270 points. 210 of those points were due to Olivia’s 6 quiz outs. Yes, Olivia quizzed out half Stony Brook’s quizmatches. Furthermore, on the last week of quizzing, Olivia had the perfect week. She quizzed out both quiz matches, the first week she did that all year. Just like Kaylee, it’s disappointing that the quizzing season was cut short this year because Olivia could have easily had perfect weeks for her 7^th and 8^th week of the season. Due to Olivia’s 270 points, Olivia finished 66^th place out of over 250 quizzers. She was 6 places and 30 points short of the Top 60 Bible Quizzers List. In hindsight, her quiz coach feels bad not starting her that one match or pulling out early a couple matches, fearing he may have prevented her from finishing in that top 60. Olivia probably doesn’t feel that way. What the final individual standings do not reflect is the humility Olivia brought to the quiz team. Olivia demonstrated humility in practice when she said “I don’t know” 7 times after buzzing in, only to give the direct answer on the 27^th second. Olivia also displayed her humility in her willingness to substitute in quizmatch. Yes, Olivia felt bad she was starting every match, and she let her quiz coach know she was willing to sit out and sub. Graham tried explaining to Olivia, “Olivia, you proved you deserve to start every quizmatch,” but she insisted that she sit out to sub. Her quiz coach did appreciate it. The Stony Brook quiz coach would always tell the quizzers, “I believe each one of you can quiz out and participate in team bonus.” Sometimes the quizzers must have rolled their eyes, thinking “Coach is just saying that because it’s the right thing to say.” Olivia did believe that and lived that out. She willingly sat out because she knew her teammates could quiz out, thus letting her come into the quizmatch. That humility was the support the quiz team needed. Olivia, thank you for being a part of the quiz team. It would not be the same without you.

A big thank you goes to Stony Brook Mennonite Church. When I announced that Stony Brook would have a quiz team at the beginning of the year, I told the church “They say it takes a village to raise a child, but I say it takes a church to raise a quiz team.” Stony Brook Mennonite Church lived up to that challenge. So many congregation members read along with the quizzers the quizzing materials, and so many congregants prayer for the quizzers on a regularly basis. Between Graham’s 8 years of quizzing as a quizzer and the last time Graham coached, Graham never remembers the church getting behind the quiz team like that. On a similar note, thank you to all the preachers of Stony Brook who preached from Mark, so the quizzers won’t feel the temptation to study quizzing instead of listening to the sermon. Thank you for all the secret sponsors who volunteered to pray for the quizzer, send words of encouragement to their quizzers and give gifts for the quizzers. The secret sponsors did a good job in their secret sponsoring, as all the quizzers appreciated the thought put into their notes and gifts. Thank you to those who volunteered to either host, donate or sponsor the quizzers’ dinner on quizmeet Sundays. The quizzers found all the meals delicious. Thank you to the parents of the quizzers for coming to the quizmeets to watch the quizmatches. If quizzing was open to the public, Stony Brook’s fans would easily double, if not tripe, but due to the closed, private nature of quizzing this year, the parents made sure we had enough fans. Thank you to the Metzlers and Keenys for providing help transporting quizzers. The one thing Graham miscalculated was not having enough seats for his car to transport quizzers. Between the Metzlers and Keenys, everybody got to the quizmeets. A special thank you to Jon & Ann Metzler, who would drive the whole quiz team, including quiz coach Graham, in their van, so Graham could ask quizzers questions. Most importantly, a huge thank you to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He made sure that there was no coronavirus outbreak at Bible Quizzing this year, especially for the Stony Brook team. Indeed, in the words of Philippians 1:6, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Opening the 2nd half of the season at Petra

 Now quizzing was back to normal for this year. The quizzers had a whole 2 weeks to study and practice the rest of chapter 9, chapter 10 and chapter 11. The quiz team needed it. While the first opponent of the upcoming quizmeet, Maple Grove 3, was (about) equal in strength in the Stony Brook quiz team, the second opponent, Petra 3, fell among the top 5 teams in their league. After doing some research and math, their quiz coach realized that Petra 3 fell in the top 5 due to consistent team bonus. Therefore, the quiz team made it their goal to get team bonus in practice by having all 5 quizzers buzz in and answer a question correctly in each practice. Every Friday practice, it would be a slow start, but by the end of the night, the team would get that team bonus.

The Metzlers hosted the Sunday afternoon practice. Caleb had to miss the first quarter of practice due to choir practice, so the 4 quizzers had 2 practice quiz matches which required to 4 questions to quiz out. In the 1st practice match, Lauren and Kate quizzed out with 4 questions, and on the 2nd practice match, Olivia and Kate quizzed out on 4 questions. Caleb rejoined the team two-thirds through the second quiz match, so the practices matches went back to quizzing out on 3 questions. Now that all 5 quizzers practiced together, they all went back to buzzing in and answering correctly 1 question every match. Without a doubt, Stony Brook knew they could get team bonus. After a vegan dinner of koshari and some free time, the quiz team departed once again for Petra Church to open the second half of the season!

On the ride up, the quiz coach went over the questions Caleb missed with Caleb, and if he answered incorrectly, the bonus went to another random quizzer.  After that, the quiz team did rounds of questions until the quiz coach felt like the quiz team got it. Even upon arriving at Petra, the quiz team found an area to go over distinguishing between similar questions. When the time came, the quiz team filed into the sanctuary for a time of worship. When worship concluded, the quiz team decided to stay in the sanctuary to watch a quizmatch. Once that quizmatch finished, the time came for Stony Brook to quiz.

The Stony Brook quiz team went to room 303 to face off with Maple Grove 3, quizmastered by Phil Sauder. Kate, Caleb, Lauren and Kaylee took the starting lineup, with Olivia as the first substitute. The quizmatch began with with correct buzz in from Dana on Maple Grove 3. On question 2, Dana buzzed in again, but she errored. The bonus went to Caleb, and he got it right, listing off 4 of 6 of what no has left. Caleb followed up by buzzing in and answering correctly on question 3, temporarily giving Stony Brook the lead 20-10. Maple Grove 3 quizzer Cy then buzzed in and answered correctly, tying up the quizmatch. On question 5, Caleb buzzed in, looking to quiz out, but he could not, for he errored. Caleb got another chance on question 7 when he got a bonus to name the 6 commandments that the man with great possessions claim he kept from his youth. Unfortunately, Caleb could only name 5, missing the opportunity to quiz out again. Soon the quizmatch would go downhill. The top 2 quizzers from Maple Grove 3 quizzed out  consecutively. It went back and forth between the two teams, but Maple Grove 3 was reaching the point where it was out of Stony Brook's control. Still, Stony Brook was 2 questions away from team bonus, thanks to Kate's correct buzz in on question 10. The Stony Brook quiz coach pulled out Kate and put in Olivia to increase the chance for team bonus. It looked hopeful when Olivia, on her first question in for the quizmatch, buzzed in and answered correctly. It look like Stony Brook would get team bonus on question 15 again, but unfortunately, Lauren picked the wrong soil. It was not meant to be. Stony Brook lost to 50 to 90. Nevertheless, Stony Brook managed to get 50 points out of the match, thanks to 20 points from Caleb and 10 points from Kate, Kaylee and Olivia.

Stony Brook vs Maple Grove 3

The Stony Brook quiz team had back-to-back matches, so they had to head up to the summit of Petra church to quiz the home team Petra 3, that top 5 team. Petra 3 took an early lead. After 7 questions, they were winning 55-10, thanks to their top quizzer Abby quizzing on 3 consecutive questions (all buzz ins, too!). Halfway through the match, though, Stony Brook took control. On question 11, Olivia quizzed out, her third of the year! Kate got 2 buzz ins correct and Caleb got a bonus correct, contributing to the quiz team's score. After 13 questions, the score was tied at 65. It looked like Stony Brook was heading towards another one of their famous ties! Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. This time, Petra 3 would get the team bonus on question 15, winning the quizmatch 95 to 65. After the quiz match, their quiz coach gathered the team together to remind them how well they did, even if the final score did not show it. Stony Brook impressively held their ground against a top 5 team. Equally impressive, Caleb made his first contest! Although he did not win the contest, he presented it in a logical and reasonable way, one that made his quiz coach proud!

Stony Brook vs. Petra 3

The Stony Brook quiz team now has a record of 1-4-3, with a total of 535 point and an average of 66.875 points per match. Furthermore, Caleb's 3 correct answers earned him 30 pointing, bring him to over 100 points for the year. Stony Brook now has 3 quizzers over 100 points for the year!

Valentine's Day Quizzing at Petra

 While the quizzing schedule was back on track, quizzing was far from back for normal...well, at least for this year. Because the postponed week landed on what was scheduled on an off week, the next quiz meet would be on the following Sunday. The quizzers would only have a week to prepare. While a single week to prepare is closer to a typical, traditional year for veteran quizzers, for rookie quizzers, who are use to quizmeets every other week a single week to prepare is a brand new experience. For Stony Brook, a team of rookie quizzers, it was a brand new experience for everybody. Furthermore, with quiz practice on Friday nights, the quizzers would only have a single day to fix what they needed to fix.

Of course, the Stony Brook quiz team came together on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. to practice. Caleb had to step out at 2:30 p.m. for choir practice, so we started with a practice match instead of our usual reading, just so Caleb could at least get a practice match in before leaving. That practice match did not go well. In the first third of match, there was 3 errors, and a 4th question absolutely nobody knew. At that point, I, as their coach, decided we needed to stop the practices matches and read. Caleb started off the reading, so he could do his part right before leaving. He read his part and exited. The rest of the quiz team wrapped up reading, and then they went back to practices matches. These practice matches went a whole lot better. Even moving quizzing out to 4 question quiz outs because Caleb was out, the rest of quizzers could still quiz out easily. They were ready. The quiz team wrapped up practice by going over lists, like the current week's longest list of the 13 evils that come from within and defile a man, and review lists like the 12 disciples. While the quiz team waited for dinner to cook, they took a break by playing Mario Chase, a minigame on the Wii U game Nintendo Land. Everybody got the opportunity to play as "it" on the Wii U game pad, running away from the players playing with the Wiimote. It was a lot of fun. Around 4:15 p.m., dinner was ready, and the quiz team sat down to eat some lasagna made by Karen Hershey. Caleb rejoined the team at 4:30 p.m. for dinner. Once everybody finished eating, the quizzers loaded into the Metzler van to leave. After a quick pit stop at Stony Brook Mennonite Church to take our team photo, we drove off to Petra Church for our quiz meet.

The Stony Brook team photo

The Stony Brook quiz team arrived at Petra Church, so the team went into their nook to do a few rounds of questions. As their coach, I did not want to overdo it, so the team headed into the sanctuary to wait for worship.  After a few worship songs and announcements, Stony Brook had to exit the sanctuary immediately, for the team had the first match of the first round.

Waiting for worship

For the first match, Stony Brook faced off against Petra 9, a team at the time last place in our league. Despite Petra 9 dominating buzzing in for every question the first half of match, they errored on a quarter on them, and Stony Brook got all the bonuses correct, keeping the match close. Stony Brook had a bit of a score when Petra 9 answered 3 questions correctly in a row, including one of their quizzers quizzing out, putting Petra 9 a solid 35 points in the lead. Stony Brook would answer with their own streak of 3 correct answers, helping the team catch up, yet they still fell short 5 points due to the Petra 9 quizzer quizzing out back on question 7. It didn't help when a Petra 9 quizzers buizzed in and answered correctly on question 13, putting Petra 9 ahead 15 points. On question 14, Petra 9 buzzed in and errored, but Stony Brook could not pick up the bonus and answered it incorrectly. On question 15, Olivia buzzed in, answered correctly and quizzed out, tying the match! Yes, the final score was 75-75. The highlight of the match was Olivia getting her second quiz out of the year.

After an hour of wait time, Stony Brook had their second match of the night, this time facing off against Hinkletown 4, the 3rd Hinkletown team for the year. Now Hinkletown 4 had Rebekah Showalter and Hannah Martin, 2 perfect quizzers, meaning they had quizzed out every match this year so far. At the same time, however, I noticed how the rest of the quizzers on Hinkletown 4 hadn't done much. Before the quizmatch started, I, as their quiz coach, reminded the quizzers that the beginning of the quiz match may become the Hannah and Rebekah show, but Stony Brook could sweep in at the end and take the match. Man, I hate it when I'm right. For the first 9 questions, Rebekah and Hannah buzzed in on 8 of them, answering three-quarters correctly and erroring on the other quarter, which Stony Brook picked up all the bonuses correctly. Then, after both Hannah and Rebekah quizzed out, a 3rd Hinkletown 4 quizzer by the name of Elisabeth buzzed in and answered correctly, extending their lead even further. Two-thirds the way through the match, and Hinkletown 4 had the lead 80-30. During a timeout, I, their quiz coach, reminded the quizzers that Rebekah and Hannah quizzed out, and now Stony Brook could take control of the match. Stony Brook definitely did try. On question 11, Kate buzzed in and errored. Fortunately, Elisabeth could not answer the bonus correctly. On question 12, Olivia buzzed in and answered correctly, her first action of the quizmatch. Unfortunately, she followed up on question 13 with and error, but fortunately, Elisabeth got the bonus incorrect again. With 2 questions left, Stony Brook was behind 40-80. As their quiz coach, I was unsure if I should leave in the 4 quizzers of the starting lineup, who each had 1 question correct, so they had the opportunity to quiz out, or to pull a quizzer out for our substitute Caleb to increase our chance for team bonus. As their coach, I was indecisive on what to do. Then Hinkletown 4 called their final timeout. I took it as a sign. Since Kaylee and Olivia already had a buzz in, I made a coach's decision to pull Olivia and put in Caleb. Now with Caleb, Kate and Lauren all in, if 2 of the 3 of them buzzed in and answered correctly, Stony Brook would get team bonus! On question 14, Caleb buzzed in and answered correctly. Now it came down to either Kate or Lauren buzzing in and answering correctly for team bonus. On question 15, Kate buzzed in and answered correctly, giving Stony Brook team bonus! If you're keeping score, yes, Stony Brook tied again, this time with a score of 80-80.

At the halfway point of the quizzing season, Stony Brook has a record of 1-2-3. Yes, Stony Brook has 1 win, 2 losses and 3 ties! More importantly, since standings go by points, Stony Brook now has a grand total of 420 points, bumping their point average up to 70 points/match. Hopefully, the increase in total points and point average will result in the team moving up the rankings.