On Saturday morning, all the way to Leesville, it seems like the nerves got the better of both Cora and Gerard, seated in the latter’s car. The same car as Pablo and Audrey. They are, once again, shaking in their seats as they are doing a last-ditch attempt to study from collegiate packets, with the more recent ones being given more weight.
When they step off the car in Leesville High’s parking lot, both seem to freeze in place. For months now, we were made to study from packets of ever-increasing difficulty. I really hope that it will lead us to play better... Cora ruminates as she gets out of the car, wearing her away, purple-and-green basketball kit.
“I know you’re nervous, you have knots in your stomach, just put any notion of playing at the HSNCT aside” Gerard’s dad tells the two.
“Even if you don’t play at the HSNCT, this season won’t be wasted” Audrey adds.
“You will have the next few days to focus on basketball. For now, just focus on quiz bowl!” Warren tells the two VA basketball players on the quiz bowl team.
Speaking of basketball, our first playoff game is against Brusly. It should be very winnable, so, in the near term, quiz bowl is the most immediate concern, Audrey ruminates while she guides the other 3 to the auditorium.
As they still shake and walk in slow motion, they have a hard time getting to the other VA players. They even needed some help to find their footing. Once the seeding is announced:
“No matter what happens, stay strong. We’re not going to encroach on VA B until the second stage of the tournament!” Pablo then hugs Audrey.
“I really hope that we aren’t in the group of death!” Cora starts praying.
“Group of death? Come again?” Gerard asks her, not knowing what a group of death is. “Is this some basketball term?”
“A group of death is a group in a preliminary round that’s much more competitive than the others” Cora answers.
“Normally, there shouldn’t be a group of death in a quiz bowl tournament this late in the season. Early in the season, sure, the impact of players coming and going might throw off seeding based on last season’s performance, and hence create a stronger group than expected” Warren explains to Cora to calm her nerves down, before accompanying the B-team to its game room.
The A-team goes to their designated game room. Then the tournament begins, with the quiz bowlers arrayed on a row of desks, facing their opponents. The moderator working that game starts the game:
“This is round one of the 2031 Leesville Spring Invitational. From Jefferson Davis Parish, we have Venomous Agendas A, from Ouachita Parish, we have Wossman. Best of luck to both teams, and here’s tossup one”
Just because Wossman is new to quiz bowl and they haven’t earned a berth for quiz bowl-State doesn’t mean we should underestimate them! This holds true in football, hoops or quiz bowl, Pablo then listens to the first clue. Which both teams are about to miss.
“Evidence supporting this theory includes magnetic striping from seafloor measurements of Earth’s magnetic field”
Oof... Is that the kind of question that will be asked of us at State? A Wildcat (i.e. Wossman’s) player muses, while the second clue is read.
“Dissipation of heat from the mantle drives movement of the theory’s namesake areas” the moderator reads.
That sounds a lot like mantle convection, however mantle convection is a possible mechanism of the answer, Audrey starts thinking of what the answer could be, before Pablo buzzes in.
“Plate tectonics!”
“Fifteen”
Unfortunately for Wossman, this game proves to be a total blowout. Already that it’s one of the most lopsided games in LQBA history, since VA is leading by a whopping 665 points going into the final tossup.
We’re not going to be shut out, will we? Another desperate Wildcat sees his face turning redder (as much as a black person can turn red, anyway).
“Final tossup: Dave Mustaine was ejected from this band prior to the recording of its debut album over drug and alcohol abuse”
Damn: I knew that music was often rife with drug and alcohol issues, and I knew these claimed the lives of several musicians… Nadine ruminates, but appears hesitant to buzz in. The other three players seem not to know much about that area of musical history. Being kicked out of a band for that pales in comparison.
“Its debut album was renamed from Metal Up Your Ass over concerns about its offensive nature”
Wossman’s arts and literature player buzzes in, in a last-ditch attempt to evade a shutout. “Metallica!”
“Fifteen”
Woohoo! Our first points in the game! A reinvigorated Wildcat feels better even though the game itself is a foregone conclusion.
And yet, Wossman somehow manages to score only the “gentleman’s 10”, that is, the easiest bonus part.
“And that’s the game. VA A six hundred sixty-five, Wossman twenty-five” the moderator announces the game’s result.
Is that how it would feel to be playing at State? Is it worth continuing to play quiz bowl if we keep getting blown out like this? the Wildcats’ coach starts questioning whether this entire enterprise of getting Wossman to play quiz bowl after they lust for this elusive win that will somehow get that school to a quiz bowl-State berth.
“Don’t go around thinking all games will play out like this” Pablo warns his teammates.
The second game, on the other hand, is a painful reminder for VA A that they shouldn’t take winning games for granted. With, as per usual for close games, one tossup to go, it’s VA A’s turn to go against another team poised to win it all here: Episcopal-Acadiana.
VA A is leading by 20 points; however, they had some bad question luck on an occasion or two. They hope the tide will turn around…
“Final tossup: The Tianjing Incident led to the death of several leaders of this rebellion and loss of popular support for it...”
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Tianjing Incident? What’s the meaning of this? The VAs are more than befuddled, and not even Lilina would be able to break through. However, out of left field, an ESA player buzzes in, pressing the buzzer like a syringe.
“Taiping Rebellion!”
“Fifteen. For ten points each, answer these questions about parenting”
Ouch. Youth psychology didn’t seem to appear much in quiz bowl packets of any level. It might seem a little distant to us now, but here goes nothing! The Falcons’ (i.e. ESA’s) special topics player muses going into the question.
At the same time, the VAs start praying that their opponents will fail to answer the bonus completely. The Falcons fail to answer the first two bonus parts, but the third part begins then:
“Snowplow parenting is a more extreme form of this parenting style”
All VA players in that game room shake in their seats, on the verge of panicking as the clock ticks on everyone in the room. With one second to go:
“Helicopter parenting!” ESA’s special topics player answers.
“Ten for the bonus and that’s the game”
VA A’s players have their heads down: after all, they lost their first game of the season. A very long winning streak by quiz bowl standards, which started at Tal Atkins.
“VA three hundred seventy, ESA three hundred seventy-five!” the moderator announces the game’s score.
“It was due to happen at some point! We can’t always win, but if we want both VA A and B to get to the HSNCT, we will need to win every game from here on out!” Nadine harangues the players, before going to the next game room.
So while the next two games seem to go smoothly for both VA squads, they are both 3-1 going into the final preliminary round. While the relative weakness of VA A’s opponent would essentially guarantee the A-team would get to the top-2 of the pool, VA B, on the other hand, needs to step up to the plate to get to the top playoff pool.
“You’re trembling, Cora. Why?” Gerard asks.
“I can’t just... let my teammates down at such a crucial time in this tournament! As in basketball, there’s only so much one good player can do for a quiz bowl team!” Cora starts crying. “I must pull some weight or else!”
Although winning a quiz bowl tournament playing solo happened, it’s not exactly common. The closest VA got to that was Imélie scoring 97.50 PP20TUH at LQBA Winter Invitational South in 2024, making VA A win it, Warren ruminates about Cora saying that she must pull some weight.
“Cora, no matter what happens, you have improved as a quiz bowler. And no, it’s not about starring. You have some talent!” the coach tries to calm her down.
“What talent I do have might not be enough to take us to the HSNCT!”
And VA B’s final opponent, Leesville, also goes into the game with a 3-1 record. Which makes both teams fight tooth and nail for every point they can grab along the way, in hopes of getting the second spot in the top playoff pool.
Like ESA earlier against VA A, here VA B must score 20 points to win. Everyone appears to be so tense on both sides. Especially Cora, so eager to prove that she can play quiz bowl that she appears willing to buzz in at any time.
“Final tossup: Degeneracy pressure of a gas made of these particles is responsible for preventing white dwarves’ gravitational collapse”
To this clue, the Wampus Cats’ science player (i.e. Leesville’s) draws a blank. As did the VA B players, rolling their eyes. Even with Cora being unsure of what the answer is, and hence waits for the next clue.
“The Compton effect occurs when…” the moderator is interrupted mid-clue.
And yet, sensing that Cora could buzz in without warning… I won’t let this… basketball player rob us of a shot at the HSNCT! Leesville’s science player is locked into a buzzer race against Cora, who slams the buzzer.
“Electrons!” Cora shouts in the moderator’s direction.
“Fifteen. For ten points each, answer these questions about medieval Central Asia. This Uzbek city was the capital of two Muslim empires”
This time around, it appears that, in their eagerness to get the final points necessary to win the game, their collective knowledge bases start to show their limits. As the clock ticks in on the VAs, with no one else willing to answer, Cora feels like a risk is necessary:
“Kashgar” Cora steps in to answer.
“Samarkand. Samarkand was a major stop along this overland trade route” the moderator reads the second part.
This one should be much easier than the last one, one of VA B’s freshmen muses. Cora might have been a little rash on the first part, I will not let her answer to the last tossup be in vain!
“Silk road!” a male VA B freshman answers.
“The Silk Road was theorized for spreading the disease responsible for the Black Death from Central Asia”
“Bubonic plague!” the female VA B freshman answers.
“Twenty for the bonus, and that’s the game. Leesville two hundred eighty, VA B two hundred ninety-five”
“Woohoo!” the male freshman jumps for joy after winning the game. “We made it to the top playoff pool!”
And it’s then that Pablo could consult his email inbox. He realizes that an email has arrived during the prelims, and a big one. Cornell. Maybe I really do have some football talent after all! Pablo muses, while showing the email from Cornell to Audrey.
“Cornell? Are you kidding? I know that stringent academic standards put a straitjacket on the Ivies to recruit athletes, but even if you were VA’s best offensive footballer, I am not sure where you would fit on the roster”
“But if I got an offer from Cornell, maybe it would be a good idea to try, you know, Duke, Rice or Vanderbilt. Or even good old Tulane” Pablo then writes an email about what to expect in playing time from the Big Red.
“Tulane I can do without football”
Dartmouth I know I will get playing time from; Ivies tended to give rookies a chance early in their college careers, at least in basketball. Tulane? It’s a little premature, Audrey starts thinking about where she will see herself in college basketball.
When the playoff pools are announced, Warren has the B-team come together before the first game.
“OK, B-team, you’re going to need to beat both ESA and Catholic to make it to the...”
“HSNCT!” the female ninth-grader sends waves of dread to Gerard, before turning to Cora. “Time to step up to the plate, Cora; to win against Catholic, we need to exploit their misogyny!”
“If I am to step up to the plate, you too!” Cora pleads with her female teammate.
“Yeah, we narrowly lost against Catholic, and we’re set to play them again as a first playoff game” Gerard points out.
While VA A appears to have avenged their loss against ESA in the prelims, VA B, on the other hand, didn’t get to exploit Catholic’s misogyny the way the female ninth-grader was implying. They still won nonetheless.
However, the second playoff round pitted both VA squads against each other and hence it was a foregone conclusion that the A-team was going to win that game. Before the final game of the day begins:
“No matter what happens to the A-team, it’s a given the A-team finishes in the top two. However, you guys must win this game against ESA!” Nadine scolds the B-team.
“Way to put pressure on us!” Cora retorts.
“Better face the pressure on the buzzer now so that you don’t have to on the court on Monday!” Audrey tells her hoops teammate.
Which one is the fluke, our win against VA’s A-team in the prelims, or our playoff loss to them? A Falcon player ruminates upon seeing VA B get seated for their last game of the day.
Speaking of which, both teams are going into it with 1-1 records, and everyone is reminded of the cold, hard truth: teams can randomly shine or choke at tournaments. Like ESA and Catholic respectively.
Nevertheless, this game is, once again, capable of going either way. Especially since the Falcons are in the lead by only 30 points. Cora and Gerard are both trembling and sweating.
“Final tossup: A character of this book series spends an entire book to avoid being promoted to that book’s titular rank”
What kind of character would go to great lengths to avoid being promoted to a certain rank? What kind of responsibility would that rank entail? Gerard ruminates, narrowly avoiding pressing the buzzer despite his shaking hands. At the same time, the opponent fails to buzz in.
“Eleven consecutive books in this series diverge from historical events…” the moderator is interrupted by Gerard buzzing in.
However, this time around, Gerard’s spasms are too much for the buzzer, and his shaky hands get the better of him.
“Aubrey-Mathurin!”
“Fifteen. For ten points each, answer these questions about meteorites. Most meteorites aren’t visible to the naked eye because they burn off at this stage”
I never saw Gerard buzz in on a literature question all season, much less power one; time to earn my keep! The male freshman on the squad ruminates, before answering the first bonus part.
“Atmospheric entry!”
“During atmospheric entry, meteorites undergo this process of partial disintegration”
Seemingly in a hurry, Cora answers the bonus part. “Ablation!”
“Meteor showers made by ablation fall into this area”
By answering this part correctly, Cora landed VA B into the HSNCT. However, the VAs can’t seem to agree on what the answer to the final part is. As the clock ticks on them…
“The answer was strewn area, twenty on the bonus, and that’s the game. ESA three hundred, VA B three hundred and five”