The LMS Tournament

I've been quizzing in the ACC Tournament for 8 years, so let me give you a little history listen. This year, the ACC Tournament was moved to Lancaster Mennonite School. I myself can't exactly say why, but I can guess that it has to do something between LBC becoming too expensive the LMS actually becoming big enough to host a tournament. Anyway, in my quizzer career, this is now the third location the ACC Tournament has been in. As you know from my previous blogs on the event, it use to be held at Lancaster Bible College (my college!), but that was only from 2004 to 2008. Before then, it use to be at Pequea Valley High School. Since it was, it was sometimes called the Pequea Tournament, named after the host building. Now after we stopped going to Pequea, it went back to mainly being called the ACC Tournament. (I never heard it be called the LBC Tournament.) But now we are at LMS. Hence, this blogs title. But enough of explaining about the title. Let me explain what happened at the tournament.

We have to go back to Saturday night. That's where it all starts. The Deitricks thought it was best that we have practice both Thursday night and Saturday night. Since Tim had work and Mike had a birthday party, it was just Alyssa, Bobby, Chelsea, and me. Since the Deitricks wrote 18 question sets, and there was only 4 of us, quiz outs were 5 questions. Still, some of us had problems quizzing out. We had more fun filling our columns with happy faces, mad faces, stars and tar pits than points. lol. We had our good matches, we had our bad matches. After practice and snack, we watch the Power of Ten, a short movie. And as Robert had asked me, I brought my wii so we could play Super Smash Brawl. Robert liked it a lot, but not so much for Alyssa. She didn't know any buttons, so she was just trying her best to play. She won one, with my help ;). But the rest I won. Still, it look like Robert enjoyed himself. We went to bed at 11:30 like Mrs. Deitrick wanted, but Robert and I listened to the material as we fell asleep.

Sunday morning we practiced again during the Sunday School hour. Tim and Mike were as late as usual. Once again, practices became more of getting tar pits, smileys and stars, but we also got a lot of points, too. We generally seemed to know our material. We stayed for all of worship, then left. We had lunch in the van as Mr. Deitrick asked us questions. We got there about 10 minutes before the festivities began.

Spring City has a habit of quizzing in the first set, which happens exactly at 1:oo. With only 10 minutes before quizzing, Mrs. Deitrick quickly did rounds of questions until time for the match. So after the quizmaster made announcements, we started out match against Hinkletown 3. Spring City owned in buzzing, as most of the questions were Spring City buzzing in. Yet Hinkletown 3 got a couple. The match started slow for Spring City, but we quickly caught up to our normal performance. I quizzed out. Spring City won 115 to 40.

Our next match was at 2:00, so I had the chance to watch our oppoents twice. First I watched Ridgeview 2 vs. Akron 2. Dave came to watch with me. I kept the score. The match was close in the beginning, all the way up to the end, when Akron 2 took the lead and took the win. I was pretty sure Spring City could win against both of them, for both teams were slow at buzzing in. Spring City's fast buzzing alone gave us an edge. The next match I watched was Hinkletown 3 vs. Strasburg 1. It was a slow match, as bonuses came with errors. A contest and rebuddal came out, but no time outs. Strasburg 1 was in the lead when I left. I had to leave in the middle of the match to get to my match on time. How embarassing!

But I made my 2:00 match on time. It was Ridgeview 2 vs. Spring City. A few more fans showed up for the match. This time, Spring City made sure it wasn't as slow as it was last time. Mike took the first question by buzzing in and getting it right. By question 3, we had 30 points, and it was quite possible to have team bonus by question 4. Robert was a little too slow, so we had to get in. Later on, we did get team bonus, and we also got 3 quiz outs. Dave felt so comfortable with our younger quizzers, he took Mike out when he quizzed out. Spring City won the match 145-20. Spring City was 2-0 in Group G.

We had a break set, then came our 2:40 match: Spring City vs. Livng Rock 2. The team was coached by the Bergs. Spring City has crossed the Bergs a few times in quizzing, especially during tournaments. This is the first time we quizzed against the Berg's daughter, Becca Berg. When 2:39 came around, as the team gathered to pray, we realized we were missing someone. It was Tim! No one could get ahold of Tim! Luckily Tim rolled around at exactly 2:40 so we could start our match. Anyway, the match started, and Spring City performed similar to our last match. We had 3 quiz outs, topped off with team bonus. Living Rock 2 wasn't as fortunate as Ridgeview 2 because they could only get 10 points. We had our strongest win of the day at the end of the match, winning 145 to 10. But still, the two teams came together to shake hands. Thank you, Living Rock 2, for being good sports about it...well, for the most part. I did hear a quizzer say, "Thank you for crucifiying us." While some might have been offended, I took it as a compliment. :). Spring City was now 3-0.

We had another break set. So I watch Hinkletown 3 vs. Petra 1 because I knew I had to scout Petra 1. Up to now, Petra 1 was 4-0. Petra 1's performance against Hinkletown 3 was similar to ours. They buzzed in a lot, giving few questions to Hinkletown 3. They got both quiz outs and team bonus. They won the match, scoring over 100 points. Petra 1 was now 5-0. Their last match was us. I knew that's what it would come down to.

Starting at 3:20, Spring City had back-to-back matches. The first match was against Akron 2. Spring City has faced Akron a couple times, especially in tournaments, and most of the time it is a win. While not as spectacular as the Ridgeview 2 or the Living Rock 2 match, Akron 2 was a great match for Spring City, even better than against Hinkletown 3. Spring City got team bonus and 2 quiz outs. We won the match 130-40. We shook hands with the other team, but couldn't stick around for much more, for we had to get to our next match in the other building.

Once we got to the other building, we went upstairs to our match against Strasburg 1. Now Strasburg 1 performed at the same level as Living Rock 2 and Akron 2 in the season, but from watching in the ACC Tournament, they knew what they were. They were about to prove that to us. Strasburg 1 contested twice, even as early as the first question! That sounds like something Tim would do (lol). Spring City errored a lot, coughing up a lot of bonuses. Some of them Strasburg 1 got, the others Strasburg missed. Their number 1 quizzer errored out, which helped me quiz out. It got close. Spring City racked up enough errors to start losing points. But after switching into conserative mode, Spring City did win 70 to 55. Spring City barely made it to 4-0.

After a break round, Spring City was now to face Petra 1. Both teams were 5-0 and in the playoffs. Now it was just a final battle for that no. 1 seed, which was the bye in the tournament. We prayed together with Petra 1 and then the match started. Petra 1 took an early lead in the match, 20-0. We tried to keep close to them, but we struggled. Not too many highlights of the match on Spring City's side. The biggest highlight would have to be my contest. I got for a bonus "Where was Abraham staying when Abraham said of Sarah, 'She is my sister'?" Right from the start, I thought it was a bad question, and planned to contest from the start. Until then, I babbled. "Egypt.....and Gerar.....and he also said it to Sarah before they left as in what to say wherever they go..." This babbling went on until time ran out. They judges briefly met together, and then came out to say it was wrong. I immediately contested the question. First I started out, "If I have found favor in the quizmasters eyes, may he let me contest the question?" (I always wanted to do that). After everyone laughed, the quizmaster said, "I think I have to let you" (which isn't true, the quizmaster can deny a contest, so yes, a quizzer must ask for permission to contest). So I explained to the quizmaster that it is a bad question because both in Egypt an Gerar Sarah is called Abraham's sister. Furthermore, Abraham tells Sarah before they left Haran that wherever they go, she should say that she is Abraham's sister, so really it was probably said more than those 2 places, and Egypt and Gerar are just two examples of that. Thus, I suggested the question be thrown out and a new one given. So the staff went back into huddle to talk it over. This huddle took longer, with a lot of page flipping. Finally the quizmaster came up. "Thank you for waiting," he started. "We're going to grant your contest, but not the way you are thinking. We're going to give you the bonus points. You're right, it does appear in different places. So we're going to accept multiple answers." I was happy and took it. So after 8 years of quizzing, I made my 3rd career, and won my first one. But in the big picture it didn't matter. Spring City gave enough bonuses that Petra 1 could win. The final score was Petra 1: 75, Spring City: 65. This is how Spring City finished it's round robin. That was Spring City's first ACC Tournament Round Robin loss since 2006. With that in mind...

Spring City finished the round robin 5-1. 5-1 got us 2nd place in Group G, which put us in the playoffs. The only difference from being in first place is that we had to quiz 1 more match. Now look at it in the bigger picture. This is the 5th time Spring City has been in the playoffs in the past 6 years. Like I said, this was Spring City's first loss in the ACC Tournament Round robin since 2006. So from 2007-2009 in the round robin, Spring City is 17-1. Pretty impressive. If you want to date it back to when I starting quizzing for Spring City, Spring City is 24-5 in the round robin. Spring City is not to be taken lightly in the ACC Tournament.

So mom was nice enough to get me a salad for dinner. Tim and Mike went out to eat. So the rest of the team ate together. When we were done eating, I went out to fill out my bracket. Then I spent a little alone time in room 200. I don't have the time or space to explain that; maybe I will explain it later. Then we all gathered in the Fine Arts center for the ceremonies. I usually am loud and riled up for these things, but not today. I feel like I was more just taking in the surrounding for one last time as a quizzer. Fred got up and thanked all who were involved in quizzzing. Then we saw the quizzing video, produced by Brian Harnish, which I saw myself in a few times. Then came the individual quizzing awards. This year they changed it to the top 66 (I wasn't a big fan of it. As I say, "When everyone is special, then nothing is special") One by one, I saw quizzers go up. I saw many friends go up, but only 1 teammate went up. Tim Moss finished in 39th with 510 points. If Tim chose to end his career after this season, he will have officially ended his career better than any of his brothers. As I saw the points people scored go up, I saw the placings go up. I knew I finished 1 short of perfect, but how many people were perfect. Then I heard, "2 people tied for 4th place with 615 points," I knew what to expect next. "From Spring City, Graham Holcomb!" And just as I declared I would at the beginning of the season, I went and went BYAH! for every quiz out I had, totalling 17. With one final BYAH! I went to Fred, received my award. If there was any order I was suppose to stand in, I violated it. Instead of standing with the perfect quizzers, I want to stand with my quizzing brother Tim.

So in the 8 years of my career, the last 6 years I finished in the top 100, the last 5 years I finished in the top 50, the last 4 years I finished in the top 20, the last 2 years I finished in the top 10, and this past season I finished in the top 5. In those 6 years I have 81 quiz outs (2004: 7, 2005: 12, 2006: 15, 2007: 14, 2008: 16, 2009: 17) and 3210 points. (2004: 370, 2005: 510, 2006: 585, 2007: 530, 2008: 600, 2009: 615).

After the ceremonies, we split to the rooms to our match. Spring City got to face Zion 1, 3rd place in their group. As a matter of fact, they had finished in a 3-way tie for 3rd at 3-3, and they won due to less errors. After praying, we were ready to start. Hannah Gehman from Zion 1 gave Spring City a scare when she quizzed out a third of the way through the quizmatch, and had taken a sizable lead in front of Spring City. I turned to Tim and said, "Let us both match her" and that's what we did. Both Tim and I quizzed out. Spring City beat Zion 1 by scoring twice as many points, 90 to 45. Once Hannah was out, all Zion picked up was 10 points.

There were no more break rounds, so Spring City was off to our next match. The seeded team we had to quiz against was Conestoga. If you don't know, Conestoga and Weaverland 2 tied for 4th place in League B in the season. This is important because the 4th seed is the seeded team. Because Weaverland 2 won against Conestoga in the season, they got 4th place and the seed. Not like it really mattered because Conestoga was put in the same group with Weaverland 2. But the irony is that the same thing happened in the group in the ACC Tournament as it did in the league in the season. Both teams took off, and it came down to their head-on match. This time, though, Conestoga was the winning team, so they got the bye. Now Spring City got their ahead of time, before the whole staff was ready, so the ready quizmaster gave us practice questions, which were really old quizzing questions from week 4 of the season. The way Spring City was doing, things were looking up. But that is what could have knocked us off our rocker. Spring City errored...a lot. Both Tim and I, Spring City's top 2 quizzers, erorred out. We were 6 errors alone. So naturally we lost points. It seemed any points we earned were quickly lost. Not only did we lose points, but we kindly handed bonuses which were converted into points for the other team. Needless to say we lost. This had to be the hardest match for me to error out and for my team to lose. Why? This match was my 250th career quizzing match. What a match no. 250 turned out to be. Instead of quizzing out, I errored out. Instead of winning, we lost, and now we were out of the tournament. Another time Tim was denied a trophy.

So for the rest of the night, I watched other teams quizzed. It was hard getting into the quizzing, knowing that we lost in such a horrible way. It was hard to pick a team to root for when you wanted to be that team. I saw Petra 3 win against E-Town 1 in the quarterfinals, and Conestoga win against Petra 3 in the semifinals. Then everyone crowded in the Fine Arts center for the final match of the ACC Tournament. On one side Conestoga had one their 3 matches to get to the final match, on the other side, Bowmansville 1 had done the same. Bowmansville 1 was rearing to go, and they showed it. By question 4, they were in the lead 40-0. It was hard for Conestoga to produce a comeback, and they just could not. After 15 questions, Bowmansville 1 was the victorious team, winning 100 to 40. So the ACC Tournament ended, and so did quizzing in PA. Bowmansville 1 was the ACC Tournament Champions, with Conestoga in 2nd place. Congratulations to both teams.

And in this way Spring City grew exceedingly prosperous

We're down to a bunch of "last"s. Last 2 chapters in Genesis, last week of the season, as well as the last match of the season. I had my last team read through of the material, my last Sunday afternoon practice and my last season performance. This one match was the big one. We were in 4th place, but by a mere 5 points. Our goal was to stay in 4th, so we can be seeded for the tournaments, but we had 2 team training closely behind us 5th place Timberline 1 was in 5th place, just 5 points short of tying us. 6th place E-Town 1 was only 30 points behind. We needed to score points. To make things more exciting, we were quizzing 2nd place Petra 2. Practice looked up. In our first practice match I quizzed out on the first 3 questions, all buzz ins. In our last match, we answered 15 questions without erroring. We seemed to know our stuff. But only our real quiz match could tell how well we were doing.

We got to LMH with a few spare minutes to go, but we decided to go right to the Fine Arts center and await the announcements. Of course this was a good chance for me to get some last minute studying in. At announcements, we were told that it was still a close competition for places 1-4 in League B and places 4-7 places in Leage A. But they said they planeed a 4-way fun match between the League B Quizzer All-stars, League B Coaches, League A Quizzer All-Stars. My jaw dropped when I heard this. I thought "oh my gosh, this could be me." Now let me tell you this was a dream be considered good enough to be in one of these fun matches. I gripped Robert's and Alyssa's hand as I heard the names announced. After the 3 perfect quizzers from League A, the final name is called out: "Graham Holcomb from Spring City." When my name was announced, there was a roar from both myself and my team came, loud enough to noticed by Merv. He said, "Well, I hope he gets at least one right." Now the catch was if a quizzer was called up, so was his coach. So Coach Dave had to quiz as well. Dave turned to me and said, "Thanks a lot!" lol. It was going to be fun. After announcements about the season playoffs, ACC Tournament, and the Invitational, it was time for the last 3 rounds on the regular season.

So the first match I went to go watch was Parkesburg vs. E-Town 1, since E-Town 1 was only 30 points behind us. I thought it was good to get an idea on how much to score, and keep that 30 point lead. E-Town 1 was in 6th place, while Parkesburg was in 15th. Now, as of week 6, both had 1 perfect quizzer. I would sit up with each one at the fun match. If they were perfect through week 7 too, they finished the year perfect because both of them quizzed out in the match. Jordan Keener's quiz out was the highlight of E-Town 1 because they errored more than they got right. 6 errors caused E-Town to lose 10 points. At the end of the match, E-Town 1 scored 45 points, allowing Parkesburg the win. With a 15th place team beating a 6th place team, I had confidence that 12th place Goods 1 could beat 5th place Timberline 1.

But before that, Spring City was up to quiz against Petra 2. We had a huge crowd following us, but a few were our fans. We had all the Petras (and their fans) cheering for their sister team Petra 2 to take 1st place in League A, Slate Hill 1 watching to see if Petra 2 would beat their score, and Timberline 1 watching us to see how much they needed to score. The match started. Tim got the first two right, led by me getting the next two right. With that, 4 questions went by, we were up 40 to 0, and Petra 2 called a time out. Tim and I know that better as the "oh crap" timeout. But then after that, Petra 2 got back in the match. It wasn't enough, though. Tim proceeded to quiz out, and so did I. I got my 17th quiz out of the season, an all-time high, and 615 points, another all-time high. But back to the match. Robert continued to get a buzz in, right making us one short of team bonus. Both Mulllins got a bonus. Chelsea couldn't get hers, but Alyssa got hers! We did win, 90 to 75, but the win wasn't important. What was important was that we scored 90 points, which now gave us and 95 point lead over Timberline 1. We would have liked to score more to give ourselves a bigger lead, but we would have to do with our 95 point lead, and await Timberline 1's match.

The whole team came to see Timberline's match against Goods 1. The Spring City boiz knew what we needed to do...cheer our hearts out for Goods 1. I'll admit, it was a bit ackward in the beginning, since Goods 1's starting lineup was all girls. But our loud cheering beat out the cheering of Timberline, which was a majority of the room. It was so loud we probably blew out a few eardrums. It was so loud that our coaches did not want to associate with us. Mike was so loud it caught Fred's attention! Well, I have to say our cheering had to do something with it because Goods 1 took off with an early quiz out. Goods 1 was the victorious team, scoring 115 points. This held back Timberline 1 to only 45 points. Good enough for us. Spring City had gotten in 4th place in their league for another consecutive year. As I left the room, I told Dave, "I'll see you on the stage."

So after the end of the regular season round robin, everyone started crowding back into the Fine Arts Center. Fred gathered together all the scoresheets, trying to make sense of tiebreakers. At the time, I got to talk to other quizzers, like Jeremiah from Zion and Mike from Slate Hill 1. Mike Good told me that Grace Point 2 was the only playoff team that one their last season match. Meanwhile, Fred showed a 4 minute clip that was about creation. As Genesis 1 text flashed on the screen, it showed the beauty of the creation, along with the music of "indescribable." It was beautiful. Like Fred said, it is hard to see how people stare at the vast array and complexity of the creation and say it is by chance. How foolish they are. So then the fun match was ready.

I walked up on the stage, happy and proud at the same time. I always envisioned myself being on that stage. usually it was as being in the season playoffs. But I also envisioned myself in the all-star match. Now it wasn't as an all-star of the whole ACC, but just in my league. I'll take it. I sat on the end on my team's table, so I was beween the Parkesburg coach and Luisa Miller, star quizzer from Slate Hill 1. Same rules were in effect pretty much (15 questions, 3 question quiz out and error out, etc.) but no contesting and no subbing. The material was Genesis 1-30. There would be only one bonus, and the team and quizzer who got it was random. Let me tell you, it was harder than it sounded. Buzzing was crazy. It got so crazy that I thought my buzzer wasn't working! Needless to say I was frustrated. Then again, I came to I was competing with 11 others....well, more like 7, the 7 other quizzers. The coaches have no idea to compete with our scores. To get an idea of how fast things were going, 13 of the 15 buzz ins were errors. Mainly, it was coming from the League A Quizzers side. Nothing was seen, not even bonuses, from League B (either quizzers of coaches) until the second half of the match. They didn't get a lot of points. We did see quiz outs. The Parkesburg coach was the first to quiz out. I got 2...errors. The first one was a situation question, but I found out later there were 3 possible options, and I picked the harder one, which is the wrong one. The second one was the last question of the match. I just wanted to get in, so I had to get a buzz in at least one more time. I went kamakazie green, and ended buzzing in after "what did Abraham..." With that little information, I tried, and failed. Luckily for coach Dave, my 2 errors both went to him as bonuses, and got them right! Makes up for erroring out on the fun match last year. While League B, quizzers and coaches were out of it, League A quizzers and coaches were closely tight in the race. But mainly consisting of bonuses, the coaches on League A won with 75 points. 2nd place was the League A quizzers with 55 points. In my dreams, I quizzed out in my all-star match. In reality, I errored twice. Still, it was pretty awesome.

Now the season playoffs were going to be between Slate Hill 1, Petra 2, Petra 3, and Grace Point 2. The two matches were League A 1st place Slate Hill 1 vs. League B 2nd place Petra 3 and League A 2nd place Petra 2 vs. League B 1st place Grace Point 2. I went to watch Grace Point 2 vs. Petra 2. The match started close with both team's top quizzer taking control of their team. But soon the rest of Petra 2 hopped into the match, getting Petra 2 team bonus. They also got 3 quiz outs. After a quick playoff match, Petra 2 won against Grace Point 2, 135 to 55.

Since the match I was watching got over so quickly, I went over to the Fine Arts Center, hoping to get in on the the end of the other playoff match between Slate Hill 1 and Petra 3. To my surprise, I walked on after a ruling was made on question 4. So I watched the rest of the match. This match wasn't as fast paced, as there wasa a lot of timeouts and contesting. Petra 3 took a small, early lead, and kept it to the best of their ability. That small lead was enough for the win. Petra 3 won, beating Slate Hill 1, with a score of 80 to 50. Not a high scoring match like Petra 2, but the win was all that was needed to get the win to go on to the final.

The final match was set between Petras. Petra 2 was going to take on Petra 3. Watching this match, I couldn't help but wonder how many times these 2 teams had quizzed against each other in practice, laughing and joking and having fun. Now it was serious. While Petra Fellowship was coming home with the championship, both teams quizzed for their own team. The match was a close one, from beginning to end. Each team got the chance to be the lead team. When all was said and done, Petra 2 won the final match, 70 to 65.

So that's how the season ended. Petra 2 is the champion team for 2008. In 2nd place is Petra 3. I want you to note that last year's champion team was Petra 1. So the traveling trophy would not leave Petra Fellowship, but go from team 1 to team 2, with team 3 in 2nd place. But let's not forget Slate Hill 1 or Grace Point 2. To be one of the top 4 team among 57 quiz teams is an amazing feat. Especially to Slate Hill 1, who after quizzing 18 matches avearged 117 points per match. As a matter of fact, Slate Hill 1 and Petra 2, both from League A, are the only two teams in all ACC to score over 2000 points this year. Congratulations to all.

But since I am a Spring City quizzer, and most of the readers of this are Spring City fans, let's draw back to the Spring City team. Read all the blogs/notes together. That is the tale of how Spring City grew exceedingly prospreous by going from 21st to 4th in a matter of 6 weeks. I don't have the time or room to explain what happened and how the Lord moved. I'll probably do that some other time. But those are the two things you need to know. The Lord moved in us, and something happened. For the second consecutive year, Spring City is in 4th and seeded in both tournaments. Spring City is also ranked 10th over all ACC quizzing teams. Like I said, I finished with 615 points and 17 quizouts, putting me in the top 10, and perhaps the top 5. Tim got a final quiz out, which should hopefully put him in the top 50. Now let's see what we can do with this entering the tournaments.

When we reached Hinkletown, we stopped for the night to quiz

Let me set you the scene. Beacuse of the previous week performance, Spring City had moved up to 5th place, and we were only 65 points behind 4th place Timberline 1. All of a sudden, we were back in the picture for getting in 4th place, which we need for a seeding in both tournaments. So it was a motivation for studying extra hard for these 2 upcoming match, especially considering 5th place Spring City was quizzing against 4th place Timberline 1. With every practice match we had, we seemed to get better. On our last practice match, after 15 questions, we had not a single error! We were ready.

We got to Hinkletown at a reasonable time. So when we finally got everyone rounded up and found a secluded place, we went through questions one more time. The room we used was the room we would have our first quizmatch in. Ed White, from Slate Hill, guest starred as our timekeeper as Dave asked questions. It was loads of fun. When the time came, we went up to worship, listened to the announcements, and then we were off to our quizzing matches.

But we weren't quizzing immediately. Our match was 2nd, so we had to wait a match. So the team stayed in the sanctuary for Hinkletown 1 vs. Bowmansville 2. Bowmansville 2 was quizzing the same two opponents we were, so we watched both of the matches. It was good scouting for our future match against Hinkletown 1. It seemed like it was going to be an easy match for us in the beginning, as we saw Hinkletown give up a few errors, even though Bowmansville didn't pick up the bonuses. They wish they had, as before you knew it, Hinkletown starting taking off, going from fast buzzing to smart buzzing, earning team bonus and quiz outs. Despite getting 5 errors and losing points, they still won, scoring in the triple digits.

Now it was time for the long awaited match between 5th place Spring City vs. 4th place Timberline 1. It started out good for me, Spring City's best quizzer. I quizzed out by question 5 with 3 buzz-ins. For Timberline's top quizzer, things didn't go as well. He had 2 errors without any question right. Those 2 bonuses he gave, plus a correct buzz in, gave Tim a quiz out by question 11. Robert got a buzz in correct, but while attempting a second one, a situation question, he got it wrong. Robert heard "Are you willing..." when it really was "Are you really..."and he couldn't get off of that. Mike joined in the fun by getting 2 right, and his one buzz-in got us team bonus. We were really hoping he could get a quiz out for 15 more points, but he was stuck. Nonetheless, it delivered the win we needed. Winning 120 points to 55 points, it would be well on our way to 4th place.

We had to wait a match before our next match. I was going to watch Zion 2 vs Timberline 2 in the same room we had been in there. But with the room being so hot and stuffy, I decided it was best to go to the sanctuary and await our next match there. Besides, it was good to get an idea of the acoustix sounding. The match seemed the same as the other Hinkletown vs. Bowmansville in the sanctuary. Hinkletown started off with errors going to Bowmansville, but then got their act together and won the match big time, with team bonus and the whole what not.

Now it was Spring City's turn to face Hinkletown 1 in their home sanctuary. I had quizzed many matches on that stage, and was ready for another. I sat in seat 2, across from Hinkletown 1's top quizzer. Our coaches decided to start Chelsea instead of Robert. Early in the match, Hinkletown 1 began as they usually do: with a couple errors. Chelsea had some oppurtunities to get some points, but alas no. Spring City continue to press on. Tim and I continued to quiz out. Robert also continued to get in. We were just short Mike, Chelsesa or Alyssa for team bonus. All of them tried, but none of them could get it. Spring City won 80-40. We would have liked more points, but we were glad with what we had.

We knew had to come down to our 190 total points outscoring Timberline's points by at least 65. So we watched Timberline quiz against Bowmansville 2. My whole team gathered to see that match, to see what our fate would be. It was quite the scene. Mike and Tim took front row to cheer for Bowmansville 2, in their typical loudness. I joined them in loudness, just a few seats back. Now this would seem quite awkward, knowing that Mike and I, who are both 20, and Tim, who is 19, were sometimes loudly cheering for 2 girls somewhere between 13 and 14 years old. But it also was funny, too. When we quizzed Bowmansville 2, Mike said it was his goal to make the small top 50 quizzer cry. He wasn't too successful on that. He should've made his goal to make him laugh, because every time Mike cheered for him scoring, he would burst out laughing. Bowmansville 2 didn't win, but they kept Timberline 1 to only 75 points.

Let me tell you where were at now. Our goal for that night was a success. Spring City scored 200 points, and Timberline scored 130 points. If you do the math, we passed Timberline by 5 points. So it's a tiny lead. Still, Spring City is 4th place. Now in our League, League A, the 2 season playoff teams have already been decided as Slate Hill 1 and Petra 2. They have clinched the top 2 spots because there is no way any other team can catch up to them. Their positions, however, can change. Slate Hill 1 has a lead of 60 points. If Petra 2 can score 60 more points than Slate Hill 1 scores, they will get top spot. But it gets interesting where it comes to 3rd and 4th place. Why are those two spots so important? The top 4 teams from each league get a good seeding in both tournaments. This means that for the ACC Tournament and Invitational, they will be in a group where they will statistically be the highest team. Let's take a look at it. (Each team in our league has quizzed 17 matches, leaving only 1 left.) Currently in 3rd place is Grace Point 1, with 1720 points. In 4th place is Spring City, with 1670 points, 50 points behind 3rd place. 5th place is currently occupied by Timberline 1, with 1665 points. This puts them 5 points behind 4th place, 55 points behind 3rd place. 6th place E-Town 1 has 1640 points, which is 30 points behind 4th place and 80 points behind 3rd place. Now keep in mind every team has 1 more match left. So to achieve their decision position, each team has to score than many points MORE than the team(s) ahead of them earn. As for Spring City, we're just trying to hold onto our 4th place, and we do that by scoring more than Timberline, whatever their score may be. It's going to be hard, considering we quiz before them. But there is a small possibility we could even surpass to 3rd, if we can outscore Grace Point 1 by 50 points. It is a tight, exciting race between place 3rd through 6th in League A.

Now onto me personally. I quizzed out twice on Sunday, giving me 16 quizouts and 580 points for the sesason. I have now tied my all-time career quiz out high (which, by the way, I figured out that the 12 quiz out streak I was on this year is a career long streak, too). But enough about the quiz outs, let's focus on points because it is by points the individual rankings are based on. Now they didn't post the individual standings this week, but through statistics of previous year, I can tell you that my 580 points have clinched me as 1 of the Top 20 Bible Quizzers. This means for my 4th consecutive year I have finished as 1 of the Top 20 Quizzers. Now let's set the scenario. If I quiz out for one last time, I will have earned a career high quizouts (17), scored a career high points (615), but most importantly, clinch me as 1 of the Top 5 Bible Quizzers. While this is my aim and goal, there can still be hope if I don't quiz out. If I can at least score 20 points, I will have tied my quizout career record (16), tied my career high quizzing score (600), and clinch a spot as 1 of the Top 10 Quizzers for the 2nd consecutive year.

After figuring out all the statistics, you're probably wondering who we have to quiz against this last match to get what we need. Well, it's none other than Petra 2, who is in 2nd place with an average of 117 points per match! You think this sounds bad, do you know how much we were freaking out last week when we saw we might have to face another 1st place team?! Well, even though they are back to 2nd place, I realize that they have the power to be a 1st place team. I've seen the way they quiz, and they can get crazy. 3/4 the way through the season, they have 2 Top 60 Quizzers, plus another 1 makes 3 in the Top 100 Quizzers. This match isn't going to be easy for us, but we'll make sure it isn't easy for them either. We'll study our hardest, quiz our best, and ask for God's favor.

Lord, here I am, 2 months and 1 day in my Nazarite vow. Remember the dedication I have put forward to your word, and bless me for it.

Towards evening, the time the quizzers go out

The quizzing material was the shortest breakdown we will have all season. So it required having to know the material in great detail. On top of that, we had about 5 lists we needed to memorize. Some quizzers did, some quizzers didn't. After our 4 usual practice matches, break and dinner, we were off. The ride there was very interesting. First, we forgot the shirts for Tim to give to Cait for our team shirts, so we had to turn back and get those. Then we missed the exit for 222, so we had turn around for that. Then even when we got in Akron, we couldn't see the small road signs and find the rights roads. Mike and Tim drove ahead of us, and got there 20 minutes before the rest of the team did. We arrived exactly as 6:30 for the end of worship.

We had the third match, so we watched two matches before. The first match the team watched was Petra 4 vs. Forest Hills. I scorekept this match. Forest Hills seemed like the same one we seen for a couple of years. Petra 4 quizzers I didn't recognize, but their coaches I did: Deb Hensen from Petra 1 and Dave Jensen from Petra 2. Forest Hills started out with an early lead. In the middle, Petra 4 caught up. On the last question, Forest Hills errored, Petra 4 picked up the bonus, and Petra 4 won 75 to 65. It took us by suprise when we realized Forest Hills was 5th and Petra 4 was 14th. Continuing our scouting, we watched Ridgeview 3 quiz against Akron 2. They were right next to each other on the standings, so ya think it would be a close match, right? Wrong. Akron 2 took the lead, then took off. Living Rock 3 made quite a few critical mistakes. Akron 2's score skyrocketed into the triple digits.

Then it was time for Spring City's match against Forest Hills. It was the fellowship hall with quizmaster Jesse Johnson. Tim started off the match with a right buzz in. He got another one later on. I quizzed on question 8. Second to quiz out was...not Tim...but...Robert! Yeah! It was an exciting one. He got it on some crazy answers. For example, when Robert buzzed in on how much, Robert answered "enough...a beka..." They marked it wrong and then gave a bonus. After hearing Forest Hill's answer, they went into ruling. Tim looked ready to contest. After the ruling, the quizmaster decided that Robert's answer was right! He was looking for "enough water for the camels" but after realizing both "water" and "camels" in the question, he decided that "enough" was...well, enough! lol. Not only did Robert get in for team bonus, he got his second quizout of the year, third of his career. It was new and different to have him on the bench next to me. I told him, "Welcome to the bench!" with a grin. In review, Chelsea got a bonus question: "What did Abraham call the Lord will provide?" Chelsea, after thinking for a while said, "the hill that Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac." The quizmaster met with his judges to discuss. After discussion, the quizmaster said Chelsea was right. She got her third score for the year! Forest Hills tried to contest, and Tim naturally rebuddled, but the decision was made quickly. They had decided that it didn't matter whether it was a hill or a mountain, the place where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac was the important part, so she was right. So it came down to question 15. Tim could have gotten his third right for a quiz out. Mike could have gotten his first buzz in right for team bonus, but neither happened. The match ended Spring City 100, Forest Hills 30.

Waiting for our next match, we watched 2 matches. First was Zion 1 vs. Petra 4. Once again, I scorekept in the match. It seemed like the last Petra 4 match I watched. Zion 1 took an early lead. Hannah Gehman quizzed out. But then Zion 1 started piling up errors, which led them to lose again Petra 4. Petra 4 got their 2nd win of the night. Trying to scout ahead, the next match I watched was Blainsport vs. Petra 2, the 2nd place team in my league. Man, they showed they were a second place team. They owned that match. They won in the triple digits, with team bonus and quizouts.

Now it was time for our second match. Our opponent was Ridgeview 3. Let me tell you, we took off. Well, actually, in the beginning, only Tim and I took off. The first 6 buzz ins were correct by either Tim or I. If I recall correctly, the first 2 were Tim, then I got the next 2, Tim quizzed out on question 5, and I followed by quizzing out on question 6. When I sat down on question 6, Tim said to me, "Welcome to the bench." :D . He was glad after not being able to quiz out the previous match. Now it was up to the rest of the other 4. Mike, still frustrated over getting nothing the last match, quizzed out this match. Robert came through to cap off another team bonus, although he got 2 errors. Alyssa was exciting to watch. The first time she buzzed in on "How did the gold..." and answered "about a beka." She got it wrong because it WAS a beka, as in EXACTLY a beka. But that didn't stop her. She did get another buzz in right and got her 3rd score of the year, hitting a career high 30 points this season. We won that match 145 to 20.

So I watched one last match, and I had to watch Forest Hills' last match. They were the ones in 5th place, the highest we thought we could reach. In this match, Julie and Derick were able to quiz out, but with one of their quizzers erroring out with no points, team bonus was impossible. Forest Hills had to suffer their 3rd loss of the night, giving them 70 points. While this is the most they got all night, all night they scored under their average. Now their new average will be 90.

I don't mention to be mean. I mention this so you may be better informed what this does for Spring City. With the 2 triple-digit scores, Spring City moves ahead to a 98 point average. With Forest Hills falling below us, they means we should move up at least one, unless some team below us had a more fantastic day than we had. So I'm projecting we move up at least one place. For me personally, scoring the maximum for the day, I can't go down. I only come up, and that's dependant on how many perfect quizzers fell from their perfection. I know of at least one, so I'll at least be in 6th. Tim added 55 to his 340, moving him up to 395. I'm hoping that will keep him in the top 50. Mike added 35 to his 210, moving him to 245. Hopefully that will keep him in contention for top 100. As for our younger quizzers. Robert added 45 points to his already 105, which means he now has 150 points. This is a career high for Robert, and on top of that, he's doing better than I did my 2nd year. The Mullin sisters are in this tight, as they tied each other with 30 points. Alyssa is breaking her career high, while I keep praying Chelsea will at least tie her career high. Time will tell.

P.S.
These 2 quizmatches are dedicated to the 2005 Spring City quiz team, the first Spring City quiz team I quizzed with. The Lord used this team to rebuild a broken me. In this team I found friends. Our friendship, our teamwork, united under the grace and favor of Christ, strengthened by our weaknesses, led us to win the 2005 ACC Tournament. These guys will never be forgotten. Thank you for blessing my life with the blessing God has given you. I pray that I have blessed and may continue blessing you in return.

God bless Brandon Tedor, Aubrey Mullberry, Christine Dragan, Julie Whitmore and Josh Kowalski.