It was different to close at LBC

Usually, the season begins at LMH, the halfway or 2nd half beginning at LMH, and the season end at LMH. From what I heard, LMH was already rented out for the day. So we'd have the season closer at Lancaster Bible College. It felt kind of weird. Every time we quizzed there was for the ACC Tourament and once the Invitational. So I had tournament fever when I got there. I was ready for tournaments, but I had to focus on this week and trying to get in 4th. To do so, we needed to score 130 points, averaging 100 for the year. We also needed a little help. Petra 5 could score no more than 75 points. Good Shepherd 1 couldn't scored past 95 points. It seemed possible. The hardest part would be scoring 130 points. But with the way our rookie Chelsea did in practice, it gave even more hope.

We got there early because the coaches had to go to meeting. Spring City went into practice. We used keyword questions. Mike hadn't received the keywords because he was down in Florida. It showed in practice. He wasn't help to do as well. Tim focused on getting Michael to par. I worked with Christine and the rookies. It was spotless, but it would have to do. We had to get out their and do our best. We worshiped, heard announcements, heard Merv's joke (which I predicted the right punch line as the one in the previous post). Then we were off.

I watched in the first round Zion 1 vs. Bowmansville 2. It was closer than I thought it would be. In the end Zion 1 lost. I felt bad for Jeremiah beecause he couldn't quiz out for that last time. Hannah did. Jason got pulled one question, and then put back in because he had to sub. The next match I watched was Petra 5 vs. Rivercorner 1. I wanted to scout out the competition and at the same time root for my next competition to help prevent Petra 5 from reaching more than 75 points. It started out closer. Their number 1 quizzer, Josh Lehmen, quizzed out. But then Petra 5 took off. They got team bonus. Even after losing 5 points because of 5 errors, they were unstoppable. Petra 5 won with 90 points.

Our match was the last round before the playoffs. We sat Tim, Mike, Christine, me. I quizzed out by question 9, giving me 14 quizouts for the year. Tim got 1 buzz in right, but errored out. Michael wasn't too hot either. He did get a correct buzz in, but errored twice. We lost 5 points because of errors. Typical Spring City. Christine could only pick up a bonus situation question. It was up to Chelsea, our rookie who was on fire. At the end of question 14, we had 80 points. Question 15 started and Chelsea buzzed in. She didn't know it, but knowing what we taught her, went with default answer and said "Jesus's". It was right! She got us team bonus in the last moment possible, giving us a win with 110 points.

Then the playoffs began. It was officially announced. It didn't change from what it was the last week. The two semifinal rounds were Slate Hill 1 vs. Rockville and Petra 1 vs. Paradise 4. I had previously promised my friends on Slate Hill I would go watch them and root for them.

My team was split. Christine and I were rooting for Slate Hill 1 and Mike (Schwager) and Tim were for Rockville. It was hard to be louder than Mike and Tim. But apparently my cheering was the best in the end since Slate Hill 1 won. They got a team bonus and two quiz outs. Mike Good was the one dependant for team bonus. They only had 4, and he still had to give his. It was kind of funny watching him go around the material for the answer, but he was very good in the answer, not missing a spot, allowing no room for a bad ruling or a contest. It started out a close match, but then Slate Hill 1 took their lead, and held it. They won 110 to 65.

I left the room quickly because I wanted to see the end of the previous match. I then caught the tale end of the semifinal match with Petra 1. I saw the score was only a win of 75 to 70! I was quickly rethinking my prediction. If a team averaging 138 only got 75 in a semifinal, what would they do in a final match? But I had been right so far, so I went with Petra 1. But I had friends on Slate Hill 1. So my cheering becaming flip-flopping. I would cheer for the team who got the last question right. For example, one question Petra errored and Slate Hill 1 picked up the bonus and got it right. My cheer sounded something like this: "It's okay Petra. Nice try. Don't give up. Good job, Slate Hill 1. Way to pick up the bonus. Keep at it." Petra 1's quizzer for team bonus errored twice and was unable to give them team bonus. Andrew Weiler quizzed out, of course, and that was the highlight of Petra 1. Slate Hill 1 was the victorious team, winning 85 to 65. Therefore, Slate Hill 1 became the 2007 ACC Bible Quizzing Champions.

Yes, I was caught by suprise when Petra 1, averaging 138, lost to Slate Hill 1, who averaged 113. It was ironic to me that last year Slate Hill 1 had the highest point average, and lost in the final to a team that could have finished 3rd. This year, the team with the highest average (probably the highest finishing average in a long time), who also was no lower than 2nd (which was for the first two weeks, and we were first ) lost to a team that dropped as low as 4th at one time. But I was glad in the sense that I would have hated to see Slate Hill 1 lose two finals consecutively. But that did happen to Petra 2 in 2004 and 2005, both times to Maple Grove 1. Well, that's the way it can go. When playoffs come, unpredictable things can happen. That's perfect timing for the upcoming tournaments.

So let's go back to us. Spring City scored 110 points in the last match. We finish the year with a total of 1680, averaging 98.82, rounding up to 99. It is kind of upsetting we couldn't finish at 100 point average. There are so many times where we could look back and point out where we could have gotten the points. Two less erors, two less missed bonuses, 1 more team bonus. But those who choose to linger in the house of failure will never leave it. We got to look ahead to the future, by which I mean tounraments. As for the team's final placing, the final standings haven't been posted, so we don't know. I'm hoping that even though Petra 4 did fine, maybe Good Shepherd 1 didn't, allowing us to sneak into 5th place, the top 5. It would be the highest I ever finished with a team. But's 6th is cool also, a tie.

As for the team individually, we did good. Not awesome, but good. For every quizzer on last year's Spring City who is on this year: last year was their best, this year was second best. Mike finished top 60 last year, but this will only be top 100, which he couldn't get before 2006. Christine got 110 points. She scored 155 points last year, but the years before that Christine never scored more than 40. Last year I got 585 points. This year, I only got 530. Even though we had less matches, I could have still gotten up there to 585. I am also measuring this on the fact I was 12th last year. There is no way I can get 12th again. I'm thinking somewhere between 15th and 20th. But it is still better than 34th place with 515 points, which I got two years ago in 2005. The most impressive was the quiz outs. I couldn't beat my record of 15. I came up one short of tying it. Why I am so happy with 14 quizouts? I may have 14 quizouts, but Tim only got 12 quizouts. Therefore, in the occurance that Tim and I are the same team:

In the "Graham vs. Moss quizzers":
Graham vs. Tim Moss
Graham leads series 1-0

Yes, another Moss down! Since we are on the same team, this was determined by the one to quiz out the most by the end of the year, which was me. If we meet again on the same team, it will pick up from where we left off: me winning 14-12. If we are on opposite teams, this series will be null-and-void if we oppose each other. So don't worry Tim, you still have time to redeem yourself. But I don't think he cares too much that I am better than him, or that I finish the best quizzer on the team. Tim finished the best year he did in his quizzing career. With his score, he will finish probably somewhere between 20th and 30th.

So after 8 weeks of a weekly breakdown, we have now arrived at a point where all 17 chapters of quizzing merge as 1 giant lump. It is called the Tournaments. The tournaments are the last 2 weeks of quizzing. So what is the fate of Spring City? Tune in to find out! I will give you the schedule of the ACC Tourament once I get it.

Quizzing Question of the Post:
Who are the 11 who were present in the upstairs room?