On Saturday, October 24th, 25 teams were on hand for the second event of the PA quizbowl season, held on NAQT’s IS-196A set. As the first non-novice event of the season, this was many teams’ first chance to see how they stacked up against their rivals, and a field packed with strong teams from all corners of the state led to several great matchups. Full stats for the tournament can be found here.
The varsity division, which used the same tossup-only prelims format as GPQB’s October Novice event, was won by an utterly dominant Great Valley A team who clearly demonstrated why they were voted unanimous number one in our statewide preseason poll. In a tour de force, Anish, Nolan, Rishi, and Anshu cleared the field, running up colossal margins even against other top playoff teams like Manheim Township, Cedar Crest, and Kiski. The fearsome squad was led by Anish with 80 points per game but featured no less than three scorers in the top 15 of the tournament.
Second place went to Manheim Township A, led in scoring by AZ, who racked up an impressive 42 powers over 10 games and received solid support from teammates Baybars, Deeya and Elena. Manheim went undefeated in the prelims and won their first few playoff rounds by healthy margins but took a nasty 90-615 loss to Great Valley in the penultimate round of playoffs. They redeemed themselves to take second with a convincing last-round win over third-place Morgantown A, a strong West Virginia team led by Silas that notched notable victories over several top PA teams.
Cedar Crest A and Kiski finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively, mirroring their relative pre-season rankings. These two teams were led by powerhouse generalists Danny and Eddie, whose 40+ powers each propelled them to second and first in overall scoring with a respective 92 and 117 points per game. A tense sixth-round matchup between the two teams ended in a narrow 360-320 victory for Cedar Crest thanks to crucial contributions by Danny’s teammates.
Sixth place went to a balanced Henderson team that performed well in the prelims but took a series of tough losses to the other top playoff teams in the afternoon.
A balanced Great Valley B squad won the middle playoff bracket, showcasing the depth that has been a hallmark of GV’s program in recent years. They were followed by Allderdice and a Kevin-led Manheim Township B, whose solid performances vindicated the handful of votes they received in the preseason poll. State College, playing without their top scorer Ananya, still managed victories over C teams from Manheim Township and Great Valley who put up respectable performances of their own.
Pittsburgh Central Catholic, making their second appearance this season after a win at GPQB’s October Novice Tournament, won the bottom playoff bracket behind strong scoring from Joe and Jude. Another Western PA team, DuBois, finished just behind them led by Timothy’s 57 PPG. Carver HSES A, paced by a 46-PPG effort by Sebastian, and Huntingdon both picked up wins over an Ian-led Bishop Canevin team to complete the bottom bracket.
The JV division, which featured only eight teams, was played as a round-robin where tossups and bonuses were read for all seven rounds. It was won by a short-handed Downingtown STEM team who nevertheless managed to win every matchup they faced. Yaduraj, whose 91 PPG propelled STEM to victory, led the division in individual scoring, followed by Morgantown B’s Venkat with 63 PPG. An out-of-state High Tech team finished in second, while third place went to Carver B, who came within 30 points of defeating STEM during a close Round 1 game. Carver’s C and D teams rounded out the JV division together with B teams from Morgantown and Cedar Crest and a Wallenpaupack team paced by strong scoring from Abby.
Teams from both divisions seemed to enjoy the opportunity to compete, albeit not in person, and both moderators and players appeared to take to the modified online format fairly well. We hope to see many of the same teams (as well as a few newcomers) in action again at GPQB’s next tournament on November 14th!
-Will