“Audrey, we lost. We’re eliminated, we finish twenty-first” Pablo starts telling his girlfriend the cold, hard truth. “And Gerard doesn’t feel like he can keep playing quiz bowl at this level anymore! We need to step up to the scientific plate next year!”
“For the rest of this tournament, regardless of the outcome, I say, you watch carefully. But I’ll tell you a little secret: I sacrificed half an AAU season for this tournament. But for this summer, we’ll study for the ACT as a group, with our own basketball and football players” Audrey confides in her before getting to the Marquis ABC ballroom.
“Wouldn’t sacrificing half an AAU season hurt your college basketball prospects?” Pablo asks her.
“As I already told you, right now, I’m a Division III prospect at best. Perhaps a strong performance at the HSNCT might help me get a walk-on spot at an Ivy” Audrey responds to her before getting on stage. “For walk-ons, especially in DIII, colleges tend to put more weight on how prospects act off the field”
Pablo then wastes no time asking for availabilities of rising juniors for semi-private ACT studying with him on the football team’s social media.
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Late afternoon arrives, and, once again, people all over Jefferson Davis Parish follow their team closely on the parish radio. Which even invites people tuning in to watch the NAQT livestream from the Marquis ABC ballroom, since VA will, once again, get filmed. And hence audiences nationwide will see them.
“Venomous Agendas A advances to the sixth playoff round, and this is a rematch of 2026. For those who didn’t follow VA quiz bowl at the time, that game against Detroit Catholic Central A was marred by a vomiting-induced timeout that forced a key player off the stage” the parish radio’s anchor comments on the game. “Two of the most rabid quiz bowl fanbases in the country face off once again, on the grandest stage of the quiz bowl world!”
And even parents of VA basketball players on Bayou City’s roster start listening to the online podcast of the HSNCT on their way back home from their final game at LGR Takeover.
“Audrey’s still playing quiz bowl?” Cora asks her parents. “She might have sacrificed a quiz bowl tournament for a travel basketball one earlier in the season, but she went around and sacrificed half the AAU season for the HSNCT? I’ll never understand her!”
She said it so herself that she needed to develop her passing game and rim protection, on top of that, I need to develop some in-game chemistry with her! I really hope the other half of the AAU season will be enough! Cora seems to question Audrey’s dedication.
“How deep in are they anyway?” Susan, Lacassine’s shooting guard, asks Cora’s parents while she is driven to her home, not knowing what the HSNCT is beyond quiz bowl.
“They’ll finish thirteenth at the lowest” Cora’s mom then explains quiz bowl and the role of the HSNCT in quiz bowl to Susan.
Cora’s mom is making it sound like Audrey is a brainiac, and Lacassine sure as hell isn’t playing quiz bowl! Susan then starts listening to the first tossup of the DCC-VA game on the radio. It seems like Audrey’s quiz bowl successes has hurt her on the court! Is that what she sacrificed half an AAU season for: some trivia game?
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Speaking of the first tossup of the game between DCC A and VA A, the moderator starts reading it, after introducing them to the crowd. The game in question is played to a crowd most quiz bowlers could only dream of, even though the ballroom isn’t filled to capacity.
“Here’s tossup one: the War of the Bucket was one of the proxy wars fought by these two factions in Bologna and Modena”
To the first clue, both Shamrocks (DCC players) and VAs roll their eyes: not even Leonard seemed able to respond to it.
“The Lombard League defeated Fredrick Barbarossa at Legnano in 1176, marking the end of the first phase of these wars between these two factions”
I’m lost. I’m not entirely sure why Fredrick Barbarossa fought the Lombard League, nor what they fought over, Leonard ruminates as he desperately looks for a way to break the stalemate and maybe even buzz in. At the same time, the opponent isn’t willing to buzz in either. Especially given DCC’s quiz bowling history against VA. Unfortunately, their actions caused the power mark to lapse.
“The struggle between these Italian medieval factions was rooted in the Investiture Controversy” Leonard and DCC A’s history player are then engaged in a buzzer race a few words before the FTP clue is given.
As with the B-team, the A-team saw its share of buzzer races all over the tournament, but here DCC prevails.
“Guelphs and Ghibellines!” DCC’s history player answers.
“Ten”
As DCC answers the bonus they’re given, Audrey doesn’t realize, because her cell phone is in a handbag stowed away behind her, she received a scathing text message from Heather. “Audrey, I should have told you earlier, but I am questioning your commitment to basketball!”
“Thirty for the bonus. Tossup two: A family of functions is said to uniformly equicontinuous if, in absolute value…” the moderator then lists some mathematical conditions.
Myriam buzzes in. “Epsilon”
Equicontinuity is the same concept as continuity but for families of functions… Myriam sighs.
“Fifteen”
For some reason, this game appears to be some mirror image of the TJHSST game, in that VA has the advantage in science tossups, rather than a disadvantage. On the other hand, DCC has the advantage in religion and mythology. And yet, in all other areas of the game, they appear to be mostly evenly matched.
And, of course, fans in both Jefferson Davis Parish and Novi are delighted by the high level of quiz bowl play of both teams, keeping everyone on edge in both. As well as on stage.
But when the final tossup comes around, everyone shakes in their seats, even when DCC holds a 40-point lead going into this tossup.
“Tossup number twenty-four: In this novel, Nick’s impression of Tom is as a restless man going about his entire life looking for another football game to win”
But here, unlike so many buzzer races, which tended to occur in later clues, Scott and DCC’s literature player are trying to win the buzzer race on the first clue. A mere fraction of a second made a world of difference to them. In the end:
“The Great Gatsby!” Scott answers.
“Fifteen. For ten points each, answer these questions about the history of mansions. The advent of which type of weapons in the late Middle Ages caused the replacement of fortified castles by mansions?”
“Firearms!” Leonard responds.
“In English renaissance, the largest of these mansions were built with a view of housing Elizabeth I and her retinue during the annual royal progress” the moderator reads the second bonus part.
Myriam and Audrey both signal they don’t know the answer, leaving Scott and Leonard to sweat as they feel the pressure ratcheting up with every second. And the clock ticks in on them, pressuring them like lemons to conjure an answer…
“Prodigy house?” Scott answers, unsure of his answer.
“Mansions of this type became popular in 1980s California”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Come on! Even though the hardest part is over, I need to find an answer, quick! Audrey starts feeling the clock ticking on her, with the entire game riding on this one bonus part. She also feels her own heart beating louder in ways that differ from what happens to her body in basketball games.
Four seconds elapse, and the VAs have yet to provide an answer to the final bonus par. The end of regulation time has sounded:
“McMansions!” Audrey shouts, with hints of despair in her voice.
“Thirty for the bonus, and that’s the game” the moderator rules, and turns to the scorekeeper. “Score?”
“DCC three hundred sixty-five, VA three hundred seventy!” the scorekeeper announces. “DCC finishes tied for thirteenth place!”
As DCC A’s players get their trophy, the VAs realize Audrey scored the quiz bowl equivalent of a buzzer beater in basketball. Now that’s one quiz bowl buzzer-beater! VA is now in the top-10 at this tournament, for better or for worse!
And, obviously, the crowd attending that game hollers all over the place, making players on both teams feel like they just played the noisiest quiz bowl game of their lives.
“Yay! 2026 has been avenged!” Warren shouts, not realizing that someone at home is about to upload a clip of the whole tossup-bonus cycle leading to this buzzer beater.
“Ballista! Ballista!” Pablo hollers in Audrey’s direction, who reaches for her handbag.
What the hell? Why did Heather text me in the middle of a playoff game telling me she’s questioning my commitment to basketball? Last year, I wasn’t playing at the HSNCT, this year I am! Does Heather think that VA can make it to the top-10 at the HSNCT with me still playing AAU ball? Does she know the requirements of playing high-level quiz bowl? Audrey fumes at Heather’s text message. Heather clearly doesn’t have what it takes to play quiz bowl for VA! I really hope some D3 school will have pity on her and offer her to play hoops for them!
The A-team moves from the Marquis ABC ballroom to the Imperial Ballroom A, on the other side of the floor. However, unlike their previous game, VA plays to a room filled to capacity.
“This is round twenty-seven, the seventh playoff round of the 2030 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament. This game pits, from Louisiana, Venomous Agendas A and, from Texas, Cistercian A. Best of luck to both teams, and here’s tossup one: A black limestone formation on these islands’ West Bay is termed Hell by nearby residents”
We won’t let these… girl-laden Venomous Agendas beat us! one of Cistercian’s players starts ruminating, upon hearing the first clue that made him feel like he’s clearly not going to buzz in on that tossup. No more than anyone else in the game did.
“Seven Mile Beach is home to the majority of these islands’ hotels and resorts” the second clue is being read, interrupted by Audrey.
“Cayman Islands!”
“Fifteen”
Drat! These girls beat us to this tossup! a powerless Cistercian player listens to the VAs attempting to answer the bonus Audrey earned them. I ought to play better on future tossups, so we won’t let these girls get away with this tossup!
As one would have expected out of a game this deep into the HSNCT playoffs, the rest of the game proves to be a high-flying clash of buzzer races and highly competitive play.
Pretty exciting from the POV of the people tuning in on the parish radio as the parish radio’s anchor uses the bus driver’s liveblog to comment on the game. Which he does as one would have a color commentary, while refraining from hinting at specific question content.
Going into the final tossup, VA holds a 35-point lead, which they are hoping they can hold. Essentially, the opposite of what they were living through the previous game.
“Tossup twenty-four: The opening of this movie features hominini learning to use bones as weapons” the first clue is read to both teams.
This sounds far too much like Planet of the Apes or Time Machine, so I’m not sure I should buzz in just yet, Scott ruminates while everyone seems to be rolling their eyes.
“Later in the film, Dave goes on a sortie to retrieve a fault antenna control device, but fails to find an issue, blaming HAL” the moderator keeps reading, interrupted by a Cistercian player buzzing in.
“Space Odyssey!” the Cistercian player answers.
“Fifteen. For ten points each…”
Ouch. Here’s to hoping that Cistercian can only get zero or one bonus part right… Audrey crosses her fingers, while the VA fans in the room start praying for just that outcome.
“This statistical mechanical ensemble allows for systems to have variable numbers of particles”
“Grand canonical” Cistercian’s science player answers the first bonus part, causing VA players to shake in their seats.
With everyone on edge, the prayers intensify for VA fans and players going into the second part of the bonus. Their lead having shrunk to 10 points, they hope that Cistercian won’t be able to answer the next 2 parts.
“In the grand canonical ensemble, this quantity represents the amount of energy per particle”
The clock then ticks on everyone in the room, with Cistercian supporters hoping they score this bonus part, and VA ones hoping they don’t. They struggle to answer the question, and the five-second delay has elapsed.
“Answer?” the moderator asks Cistercian players, with the five seconds having elapsed.
“Chemical potential” Cistercian’s science player answers the second bonus part.
“Chemical potential being difficult to work with, in practice, chemists prefer to employ this quantity when working with gases” the moderator reads what many feel is the hardest part of this bonus.
Everyone’s stress levels go up, and several people start sweating for the bonus. Especially VA players, for whom their entire tournament will boil down to this bonus part. The clock keeps ticking, and the siren marking the end of regulation time rings.
“Time, the answer was fugacity. Twenty on the bonus and that’s the game” the moderator turns to the scorekeeper.
“Cistercian three hundred thirty, VA three hundred thirty”
“We’re going in overtime! Please stand by for additional questions!”
Damn it, our tournament ended with bad luck in overtime, I really hope it won’t happen to Audrey and the A-team! Pablo starts worrying about his girlfriend as the moderator gets the extra packet for overtime questions.
Once the moderator returns with the packet of extra questions, a lot of people in the room feel like they’re agonizing over a game that made them live a rollercoaster.
“Overtime tossup one: Germany gave this name to Canadian troops during the Battle of the Somme”
Something’s not right: Canada in WW1 is mostly known for the Vimy Ridge, which came after the Somme! What did Canada do at the Somme to warrant being given special names by the German army pre-Vimy? Leonard is bewildered by the question implying that Canadian troops gained any special reputation in Germany in WW1 prior to Vimy.
“These German troops used what were known as the Hutier tactics in the Ludendorff Offensive” the second clue is then read.
Cistercian’s history player then buzzes in. “Stormtroopers!”
“Fifteen. Overtime tossup two: The baroque style of this musical theater genre fell out of favor during the Esquilache Riots”
The sheer level of obscurity of the tossup’s first clue caused everyone in the room to space out and no one appears able to buzz in. It also seemed that the second clue was still obscure enough to prevent teams from buzzing in, although less so than the first clue.
“The romantic branch of this genre can be further subdivided into género grande and género chico, which, for ten points, is a Spanish genre of musical theater alternating between spoken and sung scenes” the moderator reads the final 2 clues of this tossup.
The moderator then waits the customary 3 seconds, during which a tossup is considered to be live. Unfortunately, it seems like the tossup hit a blind spot of both teams in their musical knowledge.
“Zarzuela. Overtime tossup three: One of the more prominent books in this romance subgenre is about tutoring the captain of a college team of the subgenre’s eponymous sport in exchange for a fake date!”
We must power this tossup, or else we’re toast! I didn’t sacrifice half an AAU basketball season only to fall short of the top-5 here! I must go as deep as I can possibly get VA into the HSNCT playoffs, or else these sacrifices will have been in vain! Audrey ruminates with all speed, while she’s sweating as her brain is about to overheat trying to find a book corresponding to this description.
Audrey buzzes in. “Hockey romance!”
“Fifteen. This is the end of overtime, and the teams are still tied, three hundred forty-five to three hundred forty-five. This means tossups will be asked until the score changes! Overtime tossup four: The plot of the 2017 Thai movie Bad Genius centered around this activity” the first clue is read to clueless people in the room. “It also caused Harvard to be stripped of four NAQT national titles in 2013”
Although it doesn’t happen often, there are several ways to get a quiz bowl team disqualified. The only instance I remember of such was Marcia’s poor sportsmanship at quiz bowl-State in 2021, Warren is astounded upon hearing the first clue of this tossup. The then-Bulldogs were far from the quiz bowl powerhouse VA is today, and Marcia was the only good Bulldog quiz bowler at the time.
However, that clue also made both teams roll their eyes since neither team had much of a knowledge of the greater quiz bowl history. So when the third clue comes around, while it’s less obscure than the first two clues, because of the consequences of negging being clear to them, neither appear willing to buzz in.
“For ten points, name this activity that comes in either academic or romantic varieties”
And then the buzzer race begins, with Audrey squaring off against Cistercian’s special topics player. But in the end, because Audrey wasn’t fast enough, she prays that the opponent doesn’t get it right. Of course, since the tossup was read in full, there would be no “neg-five” incurred at this point.
“Cheating!”
“Ten, and that’s the game. Cistercian three hundred fifty-five, VA three hundred forty-five!” The moderator then reaches for the trophy. “VA finishes tied for eighth place!”
Even with 2 powers in this game, this is somehow worse than this quarterfinal game against Wossman! Losing to Wossman because of a stupid buzzer-beater was already bad enough, being eliminated from the HSNCT after enduring four overtime tossups and finishing eighth… this is the most heart-breaking quiz bowl loss of my life! Audrey starts ruminating.
“You’re the most clutch quiz bowler I have known in my life…” Pablo comments in Audrey after she gets off the stage.
“Thank you” Audrey then proceeds to kiss him.