Nashua High School South recently won its quarterfinal match of the Granite State Challenge, defeating Bedford High School, 365 to 250. Courtesy photo

DURHAM – Nashua High School South recently won its quarterfinal match of the Granite State Challenge, defeating Bedford High School, 365 to 250.

Captain Henry Long, a senior, led the way for the Purple Panthers. His team included fellow seniors Eric Picanco and Thanasi Miris as well as sophomore Charles Long. Senior Jerry Primo served as the team alternate. The Purple Panthers were coached by Social Studies teacher Lex Duval and English teacher Kelli Thornhill-Telerski.

The Bedford Bulldogs were captained by sophomore Matthew Ruggiero. His team included junior Tabitha Arp, freshman Samuel Dooley and sophomore sophomore Sumedh Godavarthy. Junior Samantha Arp served as the team alternate. Bedford was coached by Destination Imagination Coordinator Kelly Chausovsky and parent Sherry Arp.

Both teams hit the ground running in a high-scoring opening round, with the lead changing hands multiple times.

“There were very few questions that neither team got,” said Long. “That first round was intense. It was just correct answer after correct answer.”

By the end of the first round, Nashua had a two-question lead over Bedford. Nashua managed to bolster its lead by a modest 20 points during the second and third rounds.

In the fourth round, where incorrect answers lose points, game play heated up as Nashua made some uncharacteristic stumbles. But just as Bedford seemed poised to overtake its rival, Picanco began a streak of correct answers, dominating the buzzer and locked out the Bulldogs.

Buzzer speed was an integral part of Nashua’s strategy, according to Thornhill-Telerski.

“A lot of it comes down to buzzer speed practice,” she said. “I feel very confident in the fact that our team has a lot of content knowledge, but I think timing is everything in this game.”

Ruggiero agreed that buzzer speed is crucial.

“We’ve still got to work on buzzer speed, that’s been the main focus,” he said. “But it was a good experience, I think we learned a lot.”

For their part, Chausovsky and Sherry Arp were very happy with their team’s performance.

“I think that they played a really clean game,” said Chausovsky. “They did all the things we talked about, so I’m really proud of them.”

“They were up against an amazing team today,” said Arp. “I think they represented themselves and the town well.”

Thornhill-Telerski articulated what many watching the game were thinking.

“Bedford’s team is incredibly intelligent, and they’re young,” she said. “I think they are going to be a team to watch out for in the next few years.”

The Purple Panthers will now advance to the semifinal round where they will face the winner of the quarterfinal game between Profile High School and ConVal Regional High School on April 16.