Stony Brook kept quizzing on the 30th day of the 1st month in the evening at Calvary Monument Bible Church

 When the standings came out on Wednesday evening, the standings revealed what everybody expected. Stony Brook dropped to 4th place in their league and 8th place overall. At the Thursday practice, the Stony Brook quiz coach Graham Holcomb reminded the quizzers of the motivational poster "Hang in there!" and that sometimes quizzing can be just hanging in there, trying the best to maintain average and not slide down. The practice questions started off rough, with a lot of error and a lot of missed bonuses, but by the end of the night, the correct buzz ins increased, and the errors decreased.

Sunday afternoon practiced looked a little different than normal. Not only did Caleb and Kate have their usual choir practice, Lauren had a family reunion, so that left Kaylee and Olivia for practice. Their quiz coach asked them if they felt like a quiz practice with only 2 quizzers was worth it. They pretty much answered, "You can never have enough practice!" Graham liked the answer! :) On Sunday afternoon, Kaylee and Oliva met their coach at his home for 4 practice matches. The questions bounced back and forth between the 2 quizzers, but it was worthwhile. The afternoon practice started out with a bunch of errors and a bunch of missed bonuses, but by the end, both Olivia and Kaylee were buzzing in and answer correctly. After having a dinner of Mediterranean pasta with a side of salad, Graham drove Kaylee and Olivia to the Metzlers, where they would meet up with Caleb and Kate. The whole team minus Lauren would go up to Calvary Monument together, so Graham could ask all 4 of them questions, with the heavy emphasis on asking Caleb and Kate questions because they did not have the Sunday afternoon practice. When they all arrived, they met up with Lauren in the back of Calvary Monument sanctuary. After a time of worship, the Stony Brook had to hurry off to the quiz match, as they quizzed during the first round.

In the first round, Stony Brook went to room 22 at Calvary Monument for their quizmatch vs. Metzler, with Sam Beiler as the quizmaster. Stony Brook began the quizmatch strong. Olivia got a bonus correct on the 1st question, and she followed that up with a correct buzz-in on question 2. It looked like she would quiz out on question 3, but Metzler bounced back, with 2 correct buzz-ins from 2 different quizzers. It merely delayed Oliva's quiz out, as she quizzed out on question 5. Graham called timeout, slid everyone down 1 seat, allowing Caleb to sub in on seat 4. Once time was back in, on question 6, Metzler's perfect quizzer Rebekah Martin buzzed in and answered correctly, her second for the match. She really wanted the quiz out, for she buzzed in again on question 7, but she errored instead of quizzing out. The bonus went to Kate, but unfortunately, she could not answer it correctly either. Caleb interrupted Rebekah's buzzing flow on question 8 by answering his own buzz in correctly, but Rebekah would go back to buzzing in on question 9, and this time, she would answer correctly for the quiz out. The score was now tied at 45. Kaylee would break the tie on question 10, with her own correct buzz in, giving Stony Brook a 10-point lead. At the point, Metzler's Annalee would take off, earning a quiz out from 3 consecutive buzz ins correct. With 2 questions left, Metzler was winning 80-55. At this point, Graham called another timeout. He informed the quiz team that the only way to win was with team bonus. Olivia, Caleb and Kaylee had already contributed for team bonus. Therefore, he only allowed Lauren and Kate to buzz in for questions. On question 14, Lauren buzzed in, and unfortunately, she committed an error. Fortunately, for Stony Brook, Laina could not answer the bonus correctly, for if she did, then even a team bonus would not give Stony Brook the win. On question 15, Kate buzzed in on "The priest bearing what..." and she answered "the ark," which would result in a correct answer, which would result in a team bonus, which would result in a win! Stony Brook won, 85-80.

Stony Brook vs. Metzler

Stony Brook didn't have too much time to celebrate their win, as they had to rush to their quizmatch in the second round versus Blainsport 3. Blainsport 3 would dominate the first half of this quizmatch, buzzing in on the first 7 questions. As a matter of fact, the first 3 questions were buzz ins by Cole, all of which he answered correct, quizzing out with 12 questions to spare. Cole's teammate Ty tried to repeat the same results, but he was less successful. He alternated between correct buzz ins and errors. For the first bonus Ty gave Lauren, Lauren could not answer correctly, but on the 2nd bonus, she did answer it right! Lauren gave Stony Brook the turn in the tide they needed. For the next 6 questions, Stony Brook would buzz in and answer correctly 5 of them. It was only interrupted by Ty quizzing out on question 9. Stony Brook's correct buzz in streak would result in Olivia quizzing out. This time, with 2 questions left, the match was tied at 65. Graham had to make a tough coaching decision. Stony Brook was 1 correct buzz in from team bonus. Only Caleb and Lauren could get team bonus, but a team bonus wasn't necessary for a win. Graham had to decide whether to coach the team for team bonus or coach for the win. Graham ultimately decided that, since standings went by points, the team needed the extra 20 points that comes with team bonus. Graham instructed only Caleb and Lauren to buzz in. On question 14, Blainsport 3 quizzer Alli buzzed in and answered correctly, giving Blainsport 3 the lead 75-65. Now Stony Brook needed team bonus for the win, too. On question 15, the quizmaster asked, "Kings and counselors rebuild..." and Lauren buzzed in, and then the quizmaster slipped out the extra word "ruins." This caused a problem for Lauren because Lauren thought "ruins" was the correct answer. Lauren tried her best, giving the answer "The Lord," but unfortunately, that was not the answer. Blainsport 3 quizzer Jocelyn did not get it, either, but it didn't matter. Stony Brook lost 65-75.

Stony Brook vs. Blainsport 3

Stony Brook had a round off, but then, in the 4th round, Stony Brook had to quiz again, this time versus Maple Grove 3, who was 16th place in League A. Because Maple Grove 3 was 16th place, Stony Brook expected this quizmatch to be the easiest match of the night. That couldn't be further from the truth. Maple Grove 3 dominated the first half of the quizmatch, as they buzzed in on 8 of the first 9 questions. As a result, Maple Grove 3 quizzer Grant quizzed out and Peter went to "full count" (2 correct and 2 errors). Fortunately, these bonuses Stony Brook could turn into correct answers. On top of that, the one time Maple Grove 3 did not buzz in, Stony Brook did buzz in and answered correctly. After 9 questions, Stony Brook was still in this match, only losing by 10 points, 40-50. Also to Stony Brook's benefit, Peter's "full count" meant that Peter would most likely slow down, lest he error out and kill the seat. It did help Olivia buzz in three times, but 2 of those 3 buzz ins resulted in errors. Now Oliva was also at "full count." Peter slowing down might have helped Maple Grove 3 as well. It let their other quizzers buzz in. On question 13, Maple Grove 3 would get team bonus, and then, on question 15, Peter, with nothing to lose, would buzz in and quiz out. Stony Brook would lose to Maple Grove 3 50-105.

After 3 quizmeets and 8 quizmatches, Stony Brook has a win-loss record of 4-4. After 3 quizmeets and 8 quizmatches, Stony Brook has scored a total of 670 points, averaging 84 points per match. While Stony Brook's average did drop by 10, it may not hurt too much. Stony Brook had a sizeable lead on 5th and 6th place. Depending on how the other teams near Stony Brook in the standings did, Stony Brook may stay in the top 5. Let's hope so! :)

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.

Supposedly the easiest week? Ups and downs.

Week 3 of the quizzing season started off crazy with the snowstorm that went from Friday to Saturday. Even though the snowstorm was done by Saturday, the snow drifted back onto the roads. Sunday School was cancelled, but church service was still on. But we needed practice for the Sunday School hour because he had limited practice in the new afternoon. So I contacted the quizzers and they were all willing to still come out for quiz practice. I hope their driving circumstances weren't as bad as mine. My car stalled starting up, and I slipped about 3 times trying to turn. The scariest part was passing buggies. But I made it in one piece, and so did everyone else. During the Sunday School hour, we read the material and got off two practice matches, althought the second match I only gave them 15 seconds to think. After that, we joined together in worship. Following worship the quiz team ate a warm lunch of sloppy joe and mac n cheese, provided by my mom. We were making good time, so we did 2 more practice matches: 1 new, 1 missed questions. We wanted enough time to drive in the snow, so we left about 1 PM for Bowmansville. We got there around 1:20-1:30 did rounds of questions in a classroom, then joined everyone for worship.

Conestoga's first match was during the second round. We quizzed against Bowmansville 2. Since it was aginast Bowmansville, we were up in the sanctuary. I introduced the quizzers to a sanctuary match, telling them to listen carefully to the quizmaster and talk into the microphones. The match started off with Bowmansville, but Conestoga got back into the swing of things. Kristy, Joy, and Denise all got a buzz-in. We were only one away from team bonus. All we needed was Justin. Denise quizzed out, putting in Meredith and increasing our chance for team bonus. On one question, Justin buzzed in...and errored. I told him to shake it off and keep on trying because we needed him. Soon enough, Justin buzzed in on "What do we partake..." I knew Justin had this because "partake" was one of the keywords. Justin answered "the body of Christ" and got it correct! Of course I went wild; it was our first team bonus of the year! When the quizmaster heard, and was told, he said, "I was wondering what all the commotion was about. That's team bonus." I replied, "DARN RIGHT!" Justin also got the last question right for team bonus, giving Conestoga the win 95-30.

We watched Hope of the Nations for the match in between, and then we were off to our next match. We were quizzing Weaverland 2 downstairs. I had bad memories of that place because that is where I lost my last perfection for the last time. I hoped the team would avenge. That would not happen. Weaverland was just too fast. They got very good buzzes, and on the ones that weren't, they got luck on their answers. Weaverland's point went quickly the the triple digits. Maybe out of frustration, Denise somehow squeezed a quiz out. Conestoga lost with 45 points.

Since we only had 2 matches, and the Super Bowl was 3 hours away, we all went back to the respective Super Bowl party. While the quizzers went to Dylan Beam's, I went back to the college because I had homework I need to finish. The college did put on a decent party for the Super Bowl. They even had a contest to who had the right winner and the closest score. I lost because I picked the Colts. It looked like the Colts were going to win, but with the Peyton Manning interception, the only interception of the game, it turned the game around to the Saints, and sealed the victory to them. The Saints won 31 to 17.

Back to Conestoga and quizzing, Conestoga's average dropped from 74 to 73 points per match. It's not too much, so hopefully we would stay in the same ranking. I was hoping the 95 point match would boost us, but with the 45 point match, it would only negate it. But I believe the quizzers did their best, and we got the best results we could get. Jesus be praised. We'll just keep practicing and learning. And with the snow storm coming, that might become an issue.