WEEK FIVE of the 50th season of TVJ’s Schools’ Challenge Quiz featured some pairings from which the winners could easily have been predicted, except for one match.
The week started with match 25 between number 3-seed Ardenne High School and number 62-seed Green Pond High School, who were entering the competition for only the second time. The match ended with the experienced Ardenne High on 39 points and Green Pond on 15 points.
Anthony Williams, coach of Ardenne High School, was happy his team won, but there was slight disappointment. “Although they (the Ardenne team) won, they fell a little below expectations, because we were expecting to get at least 70, which was possible in today’s match,” he said.
Williams attributed the shortfall to the fact that the team was new and this was their first match.
The Ardenne team is generally composed and, according to their coach, they are looking forward to being in the finals.
DENBIGH VS MONA HIGH
Match 26 between number 30-seed Denbigh High School and 35-seed Mona High School ended once again without surprise, as Denbigh led the match from the beginning and doubled Mona’s score by the end. The final scores were Denbigh High School 40 points, and Mona High School 20 points.
Mona High’s coach, Demar Barnett, was disappointed in the way the match turned out and pointed out a number of things that went wrong, but plans to make corrections and enter the challenge next season. On the other hand, Alduke Campbell, coach of Denbigh High School, was elated with the victory. “My team’s performance was excellent, and the reason I am elated is that they did exactly what I told them to do and executed the buzzer section well,” he beamed.
Campbell expressed that he and the team are looking forward to the next match in the competition.
The next match featured the ladies of The Queen’s School in St Andrew going against the ladies of Westwood High School in Trelawny. With The Queen’s School seeded number 19 and Westwood at number 46, one would have expected Queen’s to be moving on to the second round, but this was not the case. The team from Westwood High worked well together and was careful with their answers. They held on to the lead from the beginning until the match ended, with Westwood on 34 and The Queen’s School on six points.
Romain Simmonds, coach of Westwood High, commended the team, but stated that the win was not without fault. “It was a good performance from the ladies, but some errors were made. Those could be first-match blues, so we will be working on those for the next match,” he stated.
Roshane Henry, coach of The Queen’s School, explained that it was a standard match but the team did not seem to show up for it.
ST MARY VS SPALDING HIGH
Match 28 featured St Mary High School and Spalding High School from Clarendon. St Mary won the toss and decided to go first, and dominated the competition from the beginning. It ended with St Mary High School on 36 points and Spalding High School on four points.
The next was between number 11-seed Glenmuir High School and number 54-seed St Hugh’s High School. St Hugh’s won the toss but granted Glenmuir the privilege of going first. In the end, Glenmuir won the match with 27 points to St Hugh’s 19. Although St Hugh’s had put up a fight, Glenmuir held on to the lead throughout. And whereas St Hugh’s started to pick up and tried to outdo Glenmuir, it was certainly too late.
Jermaine Allen, pointed out that his team was strongest in the minute section of the match, but was very cautious in the buzzer section. However, he commended them for advancing to the next round. David Gayle, coach of St Hugh’s High School, was disappointed with the loss, recognising some key mistakes that were made. However, he declared that St Hugh’s will be back for next season, stronger and better.
The last match of the week featured Clarendon College, from the parish after which it was named, and Oberlin High School from St Andrew. Clarendon took command of the lead from the start of the match and never let it go. Match 30 ended with Clarendon College having earned 35 points and Oberlin High School collecting 16 points. Coach of Clarendon College Marlon Thomas stated that his team did a fair job, but that it could have been better. “The team did well, considering that we were running late and did not have time to collect ourselves, but you can expect more from Clarendon College for the rounds to come,” he said.
