The Wayne Hills Quiz Bowl team competed again in the North Jersey Academic Competition held at Leonia High School on December 10, 2016 and had a great day. Led by advisor Susan Price, the Wayne Hills Quiz Bowl A and B teams went up against tough opponents and tried their best. 68 teams from 34 different schools from all over New Jersey attended the competition. The one-day tournament is in Jeopardy! format and the categories include Arts and Entertainment, Math, History and Geography, Potpourri, Literature and Language, and Sports. As you can see, the seven categories encompass a broad range of subjects where literally anything can come up. The categories contain four questions labeled 25, 50, 75, and 100 according to their comparative difficulty and for a total of 28 questions on the board per round. There is a thirty second limit for each answer but ten seconds for the potential steal. However, there are also two “Pesesky Power Plays” hidden to the view of the teams in each round. These special questions can be found anywhere on the board. When a team selects a question on the game board that is a Pesesky Power Play, the moderator will announce with a noisemaker and read the question. If the team answers the question correctly, they will receive 10 points and unlock a string of four questions – worth 20, 30, 40, and 50 points – which will be related to each other and to the first question. The theme of the Pesesky Power Play will tie into the category where it is hidden. Specific incorrect answers can be stolen by the opposition. There is a ten second limit for each answer and the potential steal. Each school was allowed to bring up to six teams composed of a maximum of eight members and are guaranteed three rounds. At the end of every qualifying round, each team’s score was added up to determine the winner. The winning team also has a 100 point bonus added on to its score. The scores for the three qualifying rounds are then used to determine the playoff teams and match-ups.

Wayne Hills A managed to beat all three teams it was seeded with: High Tech B, MAST C, and Demarest B. Meanwhile, Wayne Hills B beat but lost to Newark Academy B. After the three preliminary qualifiers, Wayne Hills A finished in 14th place overall with 2290 points and Wayne Hills B finished in 20th place overall with 1880 points. Wayne Hills is part of the Northern New Jersey regional division, for which Chatham won a trophy. Then playoffs took place in the afternoon for the top 16 high scoring teams. The champion team takes home two trophies: the Justin Ziegler Championship Trophy and the NorJAC Cup: kept by the winning school for one year and then returned with the names of the players and coach engraved on it. This year, Wayne Hills A reached the Sweet 16 round but lost to Newark Academy A. Wayne Hills B did not make the Sweet 16 round but still received a Silver Standard trophy. If Wayne Hills A had also defeated the other team in the Elite Eight, then it would have had the chance to participate in a buzzer format for the semifinal and final rounds, as opposed to the Jeopardy! format of the earlier rounds.

Sudharshan Venkatesh said, “Our team did very well in the competition. It was truly a great experience.”

Congratulations to the team members of Wayne Hills A: Daniel Kang, Jacob Rantas, Sudharshan Venkatesh, and Robert Salita and the team members of Wayne Hills B: JT Brennan, Maros Adamec, Sandy Yang, Justin Cohen, and Paul Lazurenko. A great finish in a very competitive tournament!