The previous week's quizzing had been cancelled due to the snow. In reality, quizzing had just postponed. The material studied for that Sunday, January 31, would be quizzed on the next Sunday, February 7 at 2:00 p.m. Furthermore, the quiz meet location and quiz match opponents had been swapped with the 3rd week. Now Stony Brook would head to Hinkletown to quiz against Hinkletown 2 and Gehman 2. This caused so many problems. Lauren had a choir recital on Sunday, February 7 at 2:00 p.m. Caleb had choir practice that afternoon, too, which, at best, meant he would miss the first quiz match and only make the second quiz match. Furthermore, Stony Brook's opponents changed from 2 equally strengthed opponents to 2 top 10 teams in our league. While the Stony Brook quiz team would appreciate the extra week to study and practice, it looked Stony Brook would have to face off against a 9th place team with only 3 quizzers and and a 10th place team with only 4 quizzers. Well, Jesus be praised, for he would provide solutions to all our problems, and in ways we could not comprehend.
The Sunday morning of February 7 looked a lot like the Sunday morning of January 31. Snow coated the ground. This time, however, it started earlier, and it did not snow as much. While Stony Brook Mennonite Church would transition from an in-person worship service at the church building to an online church service via Zoom, quizzing had not been called off. You know what had been called off though? Caleb's choir practice and Lauren's choir recital. Yes, the Stony Brook quiz team was back at full strength!
The Stony Brook quiz team met at the Metzlers at noon for lunch and practice. They scarfed down tacos, provided by Pastor Brenden and Sarah Colla, while going over rounds of questions. Even without buzzer practicing, the quiz team proved they knew the material. To boost confidence, the quiz team even went over rounds of questions in the car ride up to Hinkletown. Again, their answers proved they knew their stuff. They just had to think and feel as confidence and prove it to themselves.
The Stony Brook quiz team entered into Hinkletown sanctuary to join the rest of the quiz teams in a time of praise and worship, lead by Hinkletown quizzers. After the praise and worship time, the matches began. Fortunately, since Hinkletown does not a large lobby or a lot of large rooms, the quiz team could stay in the sanctuary to watch the matches taking place there. It gave them the opportunity to see 2 other teams quiz against each other. It also allowed them to eliminate questions, for the likelihood of a question asked in an earlier match to be asked in their matches dropped. After watching the first match in the sanctuary, the team exited for the lobby, waiting for their first match.
For the first match of the afternoon, Stony Brook faced off with Hinkletown 2, 9th place in their league, in the fellowship hall. Halfway through the match, it did not feel like Stony Brook versus a 9th place team. Hinkletown 2 had gotten 5 errors, 3 of which came from a single quizzer erroring out. Hinkletown 2 was losing points due to errors, and they had killed a seat. Furthermore, Stony Brook had picked up a majority of those bonuses correctly. It even gave Kaylee her first points, right on question 1! Halfway through the match, Stony Brook was winning the match, 30 to 15. During a time out, the coach reminded the quiz team that the Lord had shown Stony Brook grace and favor, and they needed to embrace it with confidence. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Hinkletown 2 would not slow down, and they would dominate the second half of the match, with 3 quizzers quizzing out by the end of the match. Only Caleb could get in on the Stony Brook side for the second half with a correct buzz-in, giving the team 10 more points. Stony Brook lost the match, 40 to 100.
An hour later, Stony Brook went downstairs to the youth room to quiz Gehman 2. Not only was Gehman 2 in 10th place in our League, they had 2 perfect quizzers (meaning 2 quizzers quizzed out in both their matches last meet). Furthermore, of these 2 perfect quizzers was Hannah Gockley, a 3-time top 50 Bible quizzer and 1-time perfect quizzer (quizzing out every match in a single year). Things did not look good for Stony Brook, yet things were about to look up and fast. On question 1, Hannah buzzed in on an easy question and answered...incorrectly! The bonus went to Kaylee, and she easily got it correct. Hannah would answer 3 of the next 4 question correctly (with Olivia buzzing in and answering correctly to disrupt her flow), proceeding to quiz out at question 5. Now with Hannah done, Stony Brook only had to worry about Elvin, the other perfect quizzer from Gehman. On question 6, Elvin buzzes in on an easy question, and he answers...wrong! The bonus goes to Kate, which she easily answers right. During the next timeout, the coach again reminded the quiz team that God has given them grace and favor, and they need to embrace it. This time they do! On question 11, Olivia quizzes out, earning her first quiz out of the season. Caleb takes the seat. On question 12, Kaylee quizzes out, getting her first quiz out of the season. The remaining 3 quizzers of the team, now feeling confidence, give their coach permission to pull out Kaylee. With 2 questions left, Kate could quiz out in those last 2 questions and Stony Brook could get team bonus on those last 2 questions. On question 14, Caleb buzzed in and answered correctly! (Remember, Caleb should have just arrived at quizzing from his choir practice) On question 15, Lauren buzzed in and answered correctly, giving Stony Brook team bonus! (And remember, Lauren is supposed to be at a choir recital right about now!) Final score: Stony Brook - 120, Gehman 2 - 70. So many firsts happened this match. Olivia and Kaylee got their first quiz outs! Lauren got her first quiz match question correct, and a correct buzz-in at that! Stony Brook got its first team bonus and its first win!
Now that Stony Brook has quizzed 4 matches, Stony Brook has scored a grand total of 265 points, averaging 66 points per match. Internally, Stony Brook has a 3-way tie for its top quizzer, with 3 quizzers having an individual score of 65 points. We will see where that lands Stony Brook on the standings. Speaking of standings, make sure you keep an eye out for all 5 Stony Brook quizzers on the individual standings. Now that Lauren scored points, all of them will be on there!
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