This story is told by Mr. Bob Schick, Moderator of the Academic Team.
The Academic Team, hoping to defend our title, spent April 26th competing in the Harford County Academic Championships. Captain Eric Wright, with seniors Liam Dunn and Michael Sanphillipo, sophomore Drew Forthman, and freshmen Jack Plumer, Pierce Berger, and Paul Capobianco would play six rounds to determine who would make it into the four-team playoffs.
We started poorly, losing the first game to C. Milton Wright 190-160, and dropping the second game to Fallston 230-160. Feeling the heat at the Heat Center, and with our backs against the wall, John Carroll peeled off four straight wins over North Harford, Havre de Grace, Edgewood, and Bel Air to earn a 3-seed in the playoffs.
For our playoff run, we chose the four players who had played the best that day: Eric, Liam, Drew, and freshman Jack.
We faced #2 seed Fallston, who had already beat us by 70 points. With the HCN cameras rolling, the Academic Team crushed Fallston 260-140. This set up a finals showdown with C. Milton Wright who also beat us earlier, had shellacked Bel Air in the semis, and had not lost all day.
The lead changed hands numerous times, and as we entered the fourth round of questions, we were tied at 140-140 with ten tossup questions to go. After those ten questions were complete, the score stood at 190-190. We entered sudden death overtime.
At this point, each team had heard 360 questions over the last five hours. Now it came down to one final tossup. Here it is:
Notes with frequencies of 264 and 528 hertz are an example of what “perfect” interval, an example of which is a C and the C eight notes BUZZ! Drew Forthman beat everyone to the punch, and gave his answer. “Perfect octave.” This correct answer gave JC the Harford County Championship for a second straight year. Drew may have delivered the winner, but all four players came through on tough questions, setting up the dramatic finish.
Congratulations to our team members on their clutch performance, especially as we bid farewell to seniors Eric, Liam, Michael, and Madison Reed (who was unable to make this meet). It was a roller coaster of a season, but we certainly ended on a high, thrilling, you might even say “perfect” note.