Heartland Community Schools
Heartland’s Quiz Bowl team returned home with another Southern Nebraska Conference Quiz Bowl Competition Champtionship Gold Placard! courtesy photo
On Monday, March 24th, six students traveled to Fairbury High School to attend the SNC high school quiz bowl competition.
Due to a conflict with practice for this weekend’s musical, “Guys and Dolls”, all of the team members were not available to attend.
The format for the SNC quiz bowl is slightly different from that of other competitions. Each team consists of 5 players competing in each match, allowing alternates to sub between matches. Each match consists of 15 toss-up questions that individual players buzz in to answer. If the player answers the toss-up correctly, the team earns 10 points and is given a bonus question worth 5 points. If the answer is incorrect, the other team has a chance to answer. There is a 10-second time limit for each question, except math questions, which are given 20 seconds.
After a practice round against Fairbury (won 65-20), the double elimination tournament began with a 1st round matchup against Sutton B. After a convincing win, the next opponent was Fillmore Central A. Heartland beat the Fillmore team 95-30, and that created a matchup against our neighbors from Sutton. At the end of question 14, the score was tied 55-55. With a quick buzz in and a correct answer, Heartland was headed to the championship match of the winners bracket.
After an extended wait for the next opponent, Heartland faced Thayer Central B. At the end of question 14, Heartland was behind 55-60. Luckily, another quick buzz and correct answer gave the Huskies a 70-60 victory, and the Huskies were guaranteed a medal.
The championship match pitted Heartland against a David City team that just defeated Sutton and Thayer, so a tight match was expected. After a slow start, the Huskies were able to tie the match on question nine at 55-55. Heartland never trailed again and won with a final score of 95-70.
This is the second SNC championship, and Austin Schmidt and Tara Buzek were on both winning teams. The team brought home a new placard to add to the SNC plaque in the hall outside of the north gym and gold medals.
The season continues next Wednesday with a contest in Seward. The highlight of the season takes place on Wednesday, April 30th, at North Shore Assembly of God Church in Hastings, when the team competes at the state competition. The final competition will be the following week for an Underclassmen contest.
Nic Opfer (10), Siddalee Kliewer (12), Austin Schmidt (12), Tara Buzek (10), Emma Ott (10), Riley Quiring (11) – courtesy photo
