Shown from left are Bedford High School sophomore Tabitha Arp, freshman Sumedh Godavarthy, sophomore Alina Chausovsky and freshman captain Matthew Ruggiero. Bedford recently defeated Profile High School in the Granite State Challenge and will advance to play Merrimack High School in the semifinals. Courtesy photo

DURHAM – The Bedford High School Bulldogs kept their winning streak alive and managed to run away with the game in the final round to beat the Profile Patriots, 300-180 in the final quarterfinal game of the Granite State Challenge.

Playing for the Bulldogs were freshman captain Matthew Ruggiero, sophomores Tabitha Arp and Alina Chausovsky and freshman Sumedh Godavarthy. The team alternates were sophomore Samantha Arp and freshman Tristan Albano. Their coaches were Destination Imagination Coordinator Kelly Chausovsky and parent volunteer Sherry Arp.

Playing for the Patriots were junior captain Maddie Perkins, junior Mica Ritter, senior Isaac Reeder and junior Raiden Valentine. The team alternate was senior Sophie Phelps. The team was coached by social studies teacher Paul Savard.

The first round teetered back and forth between the two teams as they both answered a wide variety of questions.

Profile took a small 20-point lead halfway through the round after all four of its contestants answered questions correctly while Ruggiero scored 40 points for Bedford.

Alina Chausovsky answered the Unitil Power Question about a quote about power from author Alice Walker and picked up 20 points for her team. At the end of the round, the Bulldogs had a slight edge at 80-60.

The second round has been challenging for teams all season and that trend continued in this match.

Bedford went first and Ruggiero answered the first question about dancer Isadora Duncan correctly, but the team faltered on the next three questions about actors in the Godfather movies. The Bulldogs were held to 10 points in the round.

“I think the pass rounds, generally, we’re pretty good about it,” said Bedford’s Alina Chausovsky. “Passing to people who know it, but I think we just need to really lock in and consider whether it’s worth passing or just giving a wrong answer, because I think that was definitely our weakest round this time.”

Profile was next and used two passes and answered wrong twice before a question about the Wright brothers came around to Perkins who was able to answer correctly. Like Bedford, the Patriots struggled after answering one right, and earned 10 points in the round.

In the third round, Profile picked the Two M category in which all of the answers had two consecutive letter Ms. The team picked up 70 points in the round on questions about Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, commas, the Peter Gabriel song, “Sledgehammer” and mummies.

The Bulldogs chose, Isn’t it Ironic, as their category, where each answer included the word “iron.” With a variety of answers from popular culture, sports and science such as “Iron Maiden,” “Iron Age,” “Gridiron” and “Iron Lung,” the Bulldogs locked in 90 points. The round ended with Bedford leading, 180-140.

In the final round, Bedford answered questions about the sum of the interior angles in a hexagon, Andrew Carnegie, Adam Sandler and paintball. Profile wasn’t able to keep up and was held to 40 points. The game ended with Bedford on top by a final score of 300-180.

Despite the loss, Profile left the game in an upbeat mood.

“It was amazing as a smaller school. We don’t get to experience a lot of these opportunities,” said Perkins. “So, it was nice to get to take advantage of it, be in the studio, and just have fun with our team.”

Bedford’s Alina Chausovsky was a new fan of positive thinking.

“I don’t really believe in manifesting but still before this round, I tried to go in thinking like, ‘Oh, we’re definitely going to win, no matter what,’ and then we did so, maybe I do believe it now,” she said.

Godavarthy was primed for the upcoming semifinal game against Merrimack High School.

“I’m just really excited to go to the semifinals,” he said. “Because of course, this is the first time that Bedford’s doing this in a while, it’s great to represent our high school.”