Merrimack High School recently advanced to the semifinals of the Granite State Challenge. Shown from left are senior captain Erin Murray, seniors Liam MacIsaac, Maeve LaRock and junior Avis Clever. Courtesy photo

DURHAM – Merrimack High School narrowly defeated ConVal Regional High School, 330-290, in the quarterfinal round of Granite State Challenge on April 17.

Playing for the ConVal Cougars were juniors Lukas Baker, Benjamin Michaud, Remy Kekuewa-Colon and senior Owen Beaulieu. The Cougars’ alternates were senior Kyle Austin and junior Brian Alonso. The team was led by coaches and social studies teachers Eric Bowman and Christopher Heider.

The defending champion Merrimack Tomahawks were led by senior captain Erin Murray. She was joined by seniors Liam MacIsaac, Maeve LaRock and junior Avis Clever. The team’s two alternates were senior Hikari McDowell and junior Lauren Murby. The team was coached by chemistry teacher Dr. Sara Campbell and physics teacher Elizabeth Dumais.

The game opened with a question about diving, which stumped both teams. Merrimack picked up 10 points on the next question about Sherwood Forest and ConVal picked up points on a question about the St. Lawrence River.

ConVal added 20 points on the Unitil Power Question, correctly identifying Leo Tolstoy as the author who wrote in his novel War and Peace. They scored another 10 points on the next question about the Venus flytrap.

Merrimack came back with three correct answers in a row on questions about Maurice Sendak, Ralph Waldo Emerson and the game Battleship. Not to be outdone, ConVal picked up 40 points on questions about Frosty, Snoop Dogg, the only mountain above 20,000 feet in the U.S. and the movie in which Angela Lansbury played a teapot.

At the end of the round, Merrimack held a slim lead of 110-100.

“We knew ConVal was a good team. We knew it was going to be tough. I was excited in the first round, we started to pull away a little bit,” said Campbell.

The second round was tough on both teams. ConVal correctly answered the first question about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but failed to score on questions about Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac or the now-abandoned Portsmouth Naval Prison, which was featured in the 1973 movie, The Last Detail and the team only picked up 10 points in the round.

Murray passed her first question about Marlon Brando to her teammate MacIsaac, who answered incorrectly. The team couldn’t answer the next two questions about Mike Pence and the number of blackbirds baked in a pie in the nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Six Pence.” The round ended with the teams tied at 110.

In the third round, ConVal chose the category “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” All the answers in the category included the words “wolf” or “wolves.”

The Cougars easily answered eight of the 10 questions in the category correctly, only missing questions about Wolfgang Puck and the Irish wolfhound.

The two remaining categories were “Hit a Brick Wall” and “Banned Books.” Merrimack chose “Hit a Brick Wall.” All the answers in this category included the word or the sound “brick.” The team missed only two questions – one about the Pink Floyd song, “Brick in the Wall” and the other about what a physical store is called – brick and mortar.

The round ended in a 190-190 tie.

The first question of the final round was a special video question asked by Miss New Hampshire, Emily Spencer, about a 2002 case dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court that sought to establish that the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was part of New Hampshire, not Maine. ConVal gave an incorrect answer and lost 20 points.

Merrimack picked up 40 points on the next two questions about Confucius and the semicolon.

ConVal picked up 40 points on a video question from New Hampshire author Rebecca Rule about the Fisher Cats and a math question about the area of a room.

The round went on with both teams picking up points and keeping the score close and with less than a minute left in the game, the score was tied 250-250.

Merrimack picked up 60 points on the next three questions about the beluga whale, David Copperfield and scurvy, bringing the score to 310-250. ConVal picked up 40 points on questions about toucans and Ukraine and the score was now 310-290 with time for only one more question.

A correct answer by ConVal or an incorrect answer by Merrimack would tie the game. A correct answer by Merrimack would win the game. Murray buzzed in for Merrimack and correctly identified Phoebe Bridgers as the artist who released the album Stranger in the Alps in 2017, locking in the win for Merrimack by a final score of 330-290.

ConVal left the game knowing that they had proven themselves to be worthy opponents.

“I think we did a pretty solid job. Merrimack has been the past champion for several years. We kept it pretty close and I think we did a pretty good job,” said Kekeuwa-Colon.

“I thought the match was close. The second round was a little rough, but I think we kept it close, and we kept it tight the whole game,” said Beaulieu.

Murray attributed her team’s win to teamwork.

“I think the fourth round is our most important round,” she said. “We can play a strong fourth round. That’s a lot of buzzing and knowing the answer and just trusting in your team, knowing who knows it the best, and letting them get it, because I think we can’t just rely on our middle round anymore.”

Campbell is already thinking about what her team needs to do as they move on to the semifinals.

“We are going to make sure they get some rest and stay calm,” she said. “It’s very easy to psych yourself out for something like this. We need to make sure that we play our game and not worry about them playing theirs.”

Merrimack now advances to the semifinals where the team will face the winner of the match between Bedford High School and Profile High School on April 24.