The formal start of the Pennsylvania quizbowl season has, for the last few years, been the Nittany Lion Novice event at Penn State University. It’s been the first tournament in the state each of those years, making it a nice benchmark for the ramping up of fall quizbowl activities. This year’s incarnation will take place this coming Saturday. However, as there are events in some neighboring states during September, some PA schools choose to begin their season a bit early. I thought it was worth briefly covering some out of state action that readers might have missed in a mini-wrap up.
- On September 22nd, Penn Manor played Johns Hopkins Novice Tournament. The event was aimed at new teams and freshmen, though best I can tell Penn Manor fielded a full strength team. This led to a strong 2nd place finish for the A team, with an 8-2 record and 66 powers. Though the weak nature of the field means we should take tossup numbers with a grain of salt, they did manage a very promising 24 points per bonus on an A set, which bodes well for future performances. Penn Manor B finished 4-6.
- Friends Select started off the season at Rutgers University the same day, going 6-4 against a competitive field. This is all the more impressive because they were missing their returning starter from last year, Rudyard. Matt D’Annunzio emerged as a potential star player himself behind a 23/26/6 line for 57 ppg, and the team averaged about 22.6 PPB as well. At full strength, Friends Select should continue to contend.
- Two Northeastern PA regulars, Delaware Valley and Wallenpaupack, ventured to Princeton University for the annual PHSAT tournament on September 29th. PHSAT runs on an IS set. It was not the best day in terms of W-L for Pennsylvania, with DV going 3-8 and Wallenpaupack A ending the day winless against a brutal field of top New York City area teams. While both might be rebuilding, it was good to see them start of the year and get going on the learning and studying early. Delaware Valley’s Emma Dove led the way in scoring with around 44 points per game.
- We would be remiss not to mention that Jack Edmondson, a former Pennsylvania high school player, was the director of the tournament. Princeton has in the past been notorious for poorly run tournaments that would continue well into the evening, but Jack directed by all accounts a logistically excellent event. We’re proud of him for spreading the Pennsylvania way of running events and fixing a longstanding trouble tournament!
- Lastly, GPQB’s #1 Ranked team, Allderdice, ventured to Miami Valley High School in Ohio on the 29th to play the same set as was read at Princeton. Allderdice finished 3rd in their playoff bracket, one of two parallel brackets. With more powers than 10s and 22 points per bonus, they had a very solid performance, especially since they were slightly shorthanded. Jakobi Deslouches’ 61 points per game in a stacked field stands out.
–Ben
GPQB 