(upbeat music) ♪ Go (upbeat music) - Welcome to this season of WVIA Scholastic Scrimmage.

I'm your host, Paul Lazar.

Scholastic Scrimmage is a question and answer competition featuring high school students from across the WVIA viewing area.

In each program, two schools will compete in a single elimination tournament for a chance to win $1,000, $3,000, or $5,000.

Tonight's match features Montrose versus Dunmore.

Representing Montrose are Madeline Dorval, Elyssia Gerald, Madison Dunham, and Ben Fowler.

Their alternate is Allison Jennings, and their advisor is Ryan Griffiths.

Representing Dunmore are Santino Nicastro, Amanda Dempsey, Jimmy Clark, and Taryn Walsh.

Their alternate is Maya Herety, and their advisor is William O'Malley.

Scholastic Scrimmage is a game of rapid recall of factual information, so let's take a moment and review the rules.

The first team to buzz in will have an opportunity to answer a toss-up question.

Correct answers to these questions are awarded 10 points, and the team will then receive a five-point bonus question.

If that toss-up answer is incorrect, no points will be deducted, but the question will then rebound to the other team.

If the other team answers correctly, they will be given the toss-up points but will not receive a bonus question.

Let's get the game started with this toss-up question.

In 2025, researchers announced a six-atom allotrope of what element that is most stable as a diatomic gas that comprises most of Earth's atmosphere?

(buzzer beeps) Madeleine, Montrose.

- Nitrogen.

- Is correct, and here's your bonus.

What name is given to rocks produced from other rocks by changes in temperature, pressure, or chemical composition?

(buzzer beeps) - Sedimentary rock?

- No, that's metamorphic rocks.

Here's our next toss-up.

What disaster after which Max Blanck and Isaac Harris were tried for manslaughter killed 146 garment workers in 1911 in a namesake New York factory?

(buzzer beeps) Ben, Montrose.

- Triangle Waist Fire.

- Is correct.

And your bonus, in a 1963 speech in West Germany, what American said the proudest boast in the world of freedom was "Ich bin ein Berliner" or "I am a Berliner"?

(buzzer beeps) Ben.

- FDR?

- Nope, that was JFK.

JFK.

Let's go to our next toss-up.

What novel in which Shug Avery has an affair with a woman who's married to an abusive man named Mister, is about Celie and is by Alice Walker?

(timer beeps) That is The Color Purple.

Okay guys, here's our next toss-up.

In 2025, what city's former police officer Brett Hankinson was found guilty of charges related to the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky?

(buzzer beeps) Madeline, Montrose.

- Louisville.

- Is correct.

And here's your bonus question.

What failure of sister chromatids to properly separate in cell division has a name that sounds like a double negative?

(timer beeps) That is nondisjunction.

Okay, here's our next toss-up.

What French scientist, who in 1881 demonstrated a vaccine for anthrax, developed a namesake method that uses heat to kill pathogens in milk?

(buzzer beeps) Madison, Montrose.

- Pasteurization.

- What's the scientist's name?

- Oh, I don't know.

- Okay, rebound to Dunmore.

(buzzer beeps) - Louis Pasteur.

- Is correct for your rebound points, Dunmore.

Great job.

Here's our next toss-up.

What comic strip includes the invisible Not Me was created by Bill Keane features a child named PJ and is a single panel with a circular border?

(timer beeps) That's The Family Circus.

Here's our next toss-up.

What deity who fathered gods of fear and terror named Phobos and Deimos during his affair with the love goddess, Aphrodite, was the Greek god of war?

Madeleine, Montrose.

- Ares.

- Is correct.

And your bonus now.

Ailurophobia is the fear of what animals whose feces are a frequent vector for toxoplasmosis?

(buzzer beeps) - Cows?

- Nope, you're looking for cats.

Cats.

All right, let's move on to our next toss-up question.

(timer dings) Well, we'll get to that in the next round because that's sound that you heard signals the end of the first quarter, and it's now time for the lightning round.

In this segment, each team will have an opportunity to answer as many of the 10 rapid fire questions as they can in one minute.

Montrose has won the coin toss and will pick first.

Your categories are Birds In Fine Art or The Great Lakes.

- The Great Lakes.

- The Great Lakes.

(buzzer beeps) - The Great Lakes.

- You don't seem sure.

(contestants laughs) (Paul laughs) The Great Lakes it is, and your time begins after I finish reading the first question.

Which of the five North American Great Lakes border Chicago?

(buzzer beeps) - Lake Michigan.

- [Paul] Yes.

Is the largest by area?

(buzzer beeps) - Lake Superior.

- [Paul] Yes.

Shares its name with a Canadian province?

(buzzer beeps) - Lake Ontario.

- [Paul] Yes.

Was the site of an 1812 naval victory for Oliver Hazard Perry?

- Lake Erie.

- [Paul] Yes.

Contains Georgian Bay and Saginaw Bay?

(buzzer beeps) - No answer.

- Huron.

Has the Niagara River as its main outflow?

(buzzer beeps) - Lake Erie.

- [Paul] Yes.

Does not border Canada?

(buzzer beeps) - Lake Michigan.

- [Paul] Yes.

Is east of the Straits of Mackinaw?

(buzzer beeps) - Lake Superior?

- [Paul] Huron.

Is drained by the St.

Lawrence River?

(buzzer beeps) - Lake Erie?

- [Paul] Ontario.

Was where the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank?

(buzzer beeps) - Erie?

- Superior.

Okay, Montrose, that's going to wrap up your portion of the lightning round, Dunmore we're coming your way.

Your remaining category will be Birds In Fine Art.

And again, your time begins when I finish reading the first question.

Answer the following about artworks that feature or depict birds.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ballet with white and black waterfowl?

(buzzer beeps) - Swan.

- [Paul] Be more specific.

- Swan Lake.

- Swan Dance?

- [Paul] Swan Lake.

Country where Hiroshige created bird and flower ukiyo-e prints?

(buzzer beeps) - Japan.

- [Paul] Yes.

Renaissance painter of Madonna of the Goldfinch and the School of Athens?

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- [Paul] Raphael.

Composer whose pastoral sixth symphony imitates bird calls?

(buzzer beeps) - Beethoven.

- [Paul] Yes.

Sergei Prokofiev work in which the oboe depicts a duck?

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- Peter And The Wolf.

Painter and naturalist who compiled the Birds of America?

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- [Paul] Audubon.

Jazz sax player nicknamed Bird who wrote Ornithology?

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- [Paul] Charlie Parker.

Composer who imitated bird's song in his The Four Seasons?

(timer beeps) Ran out of time there.

That was Vivaldi.

All right, that's going to do it for our first lightning round.

And after that, we have Montrose in the lead over Dunmore, 70 to 20.

And now we'll go ahead and begin the second quarter with this toss-up question.

What term can be combined either with Brown to name failed stars that can't fuse hydrogen or with planet to name bodies like Eris and Pluto?

(buzzer beeps) Madeline, Montrose.

- Giant.

- Is incorrect.

Rebounded to Dunmore.

(timer beeps) That is a dwarf, a dwarf planet.

Okay, here's our next toss-up.

In what empire did locals Zemstvo assemblies help redistribute land after 1861 when its surf population was emancipated by Czar Alexander II?

Madeline, Montrose.

- The Russian Empire.

- Is correct.

And here's your bonus question now.

Almost 20,000 British soldiers died at what battle that lasted for four months in 1916 and was named for a French River?

(buzzer beeps) - Battle of the Sun.

- [Paul] I'm sorry?

- Battle of the Sun.

- No, we're looking for the Battle of the Somme.

Very close, very close.

Here's our next toss-up.

What author of the novel Eight Cousins wrote about a girl who falls in love with a German Professor Bhaer after she rejects Lori in Little Women?

(timer beeps) That is Louisa May Alcott.

Okay, here's our next toss-up.

What position the top quadrant of a Nolan chart names a party that ran Chase Oliver for president and values both capitalism and civil liberties?

(buzzer beeps) Ben, Montrose.

- Independence.

- Is incorrect.

Rebound to Dunmore.

(buzzer beeps) - Right Libertarian.

- Is correct for your rebound points, Dunmore, as we turn to our next toss-up question.

What NFL team, which in 1972 was coached by Don Shula to an undefeated season used to play, Madeline, Montrose.

- The Miami Dolphins.

- Is correct.

And your bonus question now.

The life of Herod the Great, a book rescued from a fire and published posthumously in 2025, is by what Black author of Their Eyes Were Watching God?

(buzzer beeps) - DeBoy?

- No, that was Zora Neale Hurston.

All right, guys, here's our next toss-up.

What quantity the inverse of the period is the number of times and events such as a pendulum swing occurs in a given time unit and, Amanda, Dunmore.

- Frequency.

- Is correct.

And your bonus.

What character from a 1999 film born Thomas Anderson and sometimes called The One, takes a red pill that reveals his ordinary life is an illusion?

(buzzer beeps) - The Matrix?

- Is incorrect.

We're looking for the character, Neo.

That was Neo.

Okay, let's move on to our next toss-up.

What holiday during which a cup of wine is left full for Elijah begins with the Seder meal and celebrates the Jewish liberation from Egypt?

(buzzer beeps) Madeleine, Montrose.

- Hanukkah?

- Is incorrect.

Rebound to Dunmore.

(timer beeps) That holiday is Passover.

Passover.

All right, guys, here's our next toss-up.

What institutions, many of which were founded under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts, received funds from the GI Bill to provide veterans with education?

(buzzer beeps) Santino, Dunmore.

- Colleges?

- Is correct.

And here's your bonus and get out your pencils and papers.

What is the surface area of a cube whose square faces each have a perimeter of 20?

(suspenseful music) (buzzer beeps) Taryn.

- 8,000.

- No, we're looking for 150.

All right, well, that sound that you heard signals the end of the first half, and we're now going to give our contestants a bit of a break and the opportunity for those of you at home to get to know them a little better.

And we'll start with the students from Montrose, and Madeline, I'll come to you first.

Tell us your favorite place to go on vacation and why.

I went to Alaska on a cruise this summer and I went and zip-lining in the rainforest and it was the coolest experience of my life.

- [Paul] That is so awesome.

Thanks Madeline.

Elyssia?

- When I went to Myrtle Beach with my grandmother because I got to meet a lot of my extended family in South Carolina.

- [Paul] That's excellent, thank you.

Madison.

I went to DC, and it was very cool.

- It is, it really is.

Ben.

- When I went out to Montana because I got to see Glacier National Park.

- All right, excellent.

Thank you, Montrose, and good luck the rest of the way.

Dunmore coming over to you.

Santino, tell us about the best place you ever went on vacation.

- In this past summer I went to Spain, and it was the first time I ever went to Europe.

- [Paul] Oh, that's excellent.

Thanks, Santino.

Amanda.

- This past summer I went to the Isle of Palms in South Carolina and it was very beautiful.

I was with my family.

- [Paul] Thank you, Amanda.

Jimmy.

- This past summer I went to California, and I got to meet a lot of my extended family that I don't get to see very much.

- [Paul] Thank you, Jimmy.

Taryn.

- I went to Ireland with my family a few years ago.

It was very cool.

- How cool.

Thanks, Taryn.

Good luck to you the rest of the way, Dunmore, as we begin the third quarter with this toss-up question.

What body of water whose Cyclades islands is home to Santorini, is north of Crete, and is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea bordering Greece?

(buzzer beeps) Santino, Dunmore.

- Black Sea?

- [Paul] Is incorrect.

Rebound to Montrose.

(buzzer beeps) - The Dead Sea?

- No, we're looking for the Aegean Sea.

The Aegean Sea.

Here's our next toss-up.

What novel that depicts a small castle built by Wemmick, a clerk to lawyer Mr.

Jaggers is narrated by the orphan Pip, and is by Charles Dickens?

(timer beeps) That novel is Great Expectations.

Let's move on to our next toss-up.

What 1930 painting held in the Art Institute of Chicago depicts the Dibble House and a farmer holding a pitchfork and was painted by Grant wood?

Santino, Dunmore.

- American Gothic.

- Is correct.

And your bonus question.

In the Ideal Gas law, what letter denotes the proportionality constant, which can be written as 8.31 Joules per mole Kelvin?

(buzzer beeps) - Lambda?

- No, the answer is R. R. Guys, here's our next toss-up.

What group of plants which have a prothallus gametophyte stage have brown clusters of sori on their undersides and have broad leaves called fronds?

(buzzer beeps) Madeline, Montrose.

- Palm?

- [Paul] Is incorrect.

Rebound to Dunmore.

(buzzer beeps) - Ferns?

Ferns is correct for your rebound points, Dunmore.

Let's go to our next toss-up.

What man who claimed "You Catholic girls start much too late," and, "Only the good die young"?

Amanda, Dunmore.

- Billy Joel.

- Is correct.

And here's your bonus question.

The Palk Strait separates the state of Tamil Nadu from what island country?

(buzzer beeps) - Sri Lanka?

- Is correct for your bonus points, Dunmore.

Got a great game here.

Here's our next toss-up.

What state whose motto is Spanish for gold and silver is known as the, Santino, Dunmore.

- Florida?

- Is incorrect.

I'll finish the question and rebound to Montrose.

Known as the treasure state, and is home to Glacier National Park and the city- - Montana.

- Is correct for your rebound points, Montrose.

- Let's go to another toss-up question.

What man who testified against Michael Servetus in Geneva wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion, and advocated the doctrine of predestination?

Madison, Montrose.

- John Calvin.

- Is correct.

And here comes your bonus.

What French artist depicted outdoor parties in Bal du Moulin de la Galette and Luncheon of the Boating Party?

(buzzer beeps) - Raphael.

- No, we're looking for Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Okay, let's go to another toss-up.

What dialogue in which the Vishva Rupa or universal form of Krishna is shown to Arjuna is a 700 verse Cree that is part of the Mahabharata?

(buzzer beeps) Montrose, Madison.

- The Torah.

- [Paul] Is incorrect.

Rebound to Dunmore.

(buzzer beeps) - The Koran?

- No, that is the Bhagavad Gita.

The Bhagavad Gita.

Let's go to another toss-up.

What process whose RSA form is based on factoring large primes consists of converting data into a coded form to prevent unauthorized access?

(buzzer beeps) - Firewall?

- [Paul] Jimmy, Dunmore.

- Firewall?

- [Paul] Is incorrect.

Rebound to Montrose.

(timer beeps) (buzzer beeps) - Pascal's triangle.

- No, that is encryption.

Encryption.

Well, that sound that you heard signals the end of the third quarter and another lightning round.

This time Dunmore will pick first.

Your categories are Double Ls or Tennis Synonyms.

- Double Ls.

- Double Ls it is, and your time begins when I finish reading the first question.

Give these answers that have consecutive Ls.

Term for lines that never intersect.

(buzzer beeps) - Parallel.

- [Paul] Yes.

Fundamental unit of life in biology.

(buzzer beeps) - Cell.

- [Paul] Yes.

Writing tool made from a feather.

(buzzer beeps) - Quill.

- [Paul] Yes.

Fictional island nation in Gulliver's Travels.

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- [Paul] Lilliput.

Literary device in which consonant sounds are repeated between nearby words.

(buzzer beeps) - Alliteration.

- Yes.

Cut of pants that flare out from knees to ankles.

(buzzer beeps) - Bellbottom.

- [Paul] Yes.

Surname of Ozymandius poet, Percy.

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- [Paul] Shelley.

Term for property offered by a borrower to secure a loans repayment.

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- [Paul] Collateral.

Leonard Cohen song that starts, "I've heard there was a secret chord."

(buzzer beeps) - Hallelujah.

- [Paul] Yes.

In statistics, the hypothesis a significant test tries to reject.

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- That is a null hypothesis.

All right, Dunmore, great job in the lightning round.

Montrose we're coming your way, and your remaining category will be Tennis Synonyms.

And once again, your time begins when I finish reading the first question.

Give these words, all of which also have a specific meaning in tennis.

Place where a judge oversees legal cases.

(buzzer beeps) - Court.

- [Paul] Yes.

Multiplies a number by two.

(buzzer beeps) - Double.

- [Paul] Yes.

Responsibility for a bad outcome.

(buzzer beeps) - Consequence?

- [Paul] Fault.

In math, a collection of elements often enclosed in braces.

(buzzer beeps) - Parentheses.

- [Paul] Set.

Boiled and baked food made from a ring of dough.

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- Bagel.

Passage between two buildings.

(buzzer beeps) - Alley.

- [Paul] Yes.

Three-letter verb meaning to allow something.

(buzzer beeps) - Set.

- [Paul] Let.

Successful fighter pilot.

(buzzer beeps) - Skip.

- [Paul] Ace.

In the film industry, person who provides camera support.

(buzzer beeps) - Assistant?

- [Paul] Grip.

Initial value of a quantity with which current values are compared.

(buzzer beeps) - Base.

- Is incorrect, we're looking for baseline.

(timer beeps) Okay, and that's going to do it for our lightning round.

And man, do we have a great game going here?

Montrose in the lead over Dunmore by just 10 points, 125 to 115, as we go into the last segment of the game with this toss-up question.

What second husband of Livia Drusilla created nine Praetorian Guard cohorts and won a war with Mark Antony to secure power as the first Roman emperor?

(buzzer beeps) Santino, Dunmore.

- Caesar.

- [Paul] Is incorrect.

Rebound to Montrose.

(buzzer beeps) - Catherine?

- Nope, that is Augustus.

Augustus.

All right guys, here's our next toss-up.

What character who writes the messages 'Radiant' and 'Some Pig' to save Wilbur from slaughter in an E.B White novel is, Santino Dunmore.

- Charlotte.

- Is correct.

And here comes your bonus, and get out your pencils and papers.

If weekdays are defined as Monday through Friday, inclusive, what is the maximum number of weekdays in any calendar month?

(suspenseful music) (timer beeps) - Oh.

- Ran out of time there guys.

We're looking for 23.

All right, let's go to our next toss-up.

Bowman's layer is part of what structure that extends from the sclera, is reshaped via LASIK surgery, and is the transparent covering, Madeline, Montrose.

- The retina.

- Is incorrect.

Rebound to Dunmore after I finish the question.

And is the transparent covering of the iris?

(buzzer beeps) - Lens?

- No, we're looking for the cornea.

That's the cornea.

Let's go to another toss-up.

What country's last royal dynasty, The Pahlavi, was overthrown in a 1979 revolution that led to the rise of supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini?

(buzzer beeps) Madison, Montrose.

- Prussia.

- Is incorrect.

Rebound to Dunmore.

- Saudi Arabia?

- Nope, that country is Iran.

Iran.

All right, here's our next toss-up.

What book in which directions to the wicket gate are provided by Evangelist depicts Christian's journey into the Celestial City and is by John Bunyan?

(buzzer beeps) Madison, Montrose.

- Dante's Inferno.

- [Paul] Is incorrect.

Rebound to Dunmore.

(buzzer beeps) - The Wizard of Oz.

- No, that's The Pilgrim's Progress.

Great answer though.

(contestants laugh) Let's go to another toss-up and get out your pencils and papers.

What is the average speed and miles per hour of a car that travels 60 miles in 90 minutes or an hour and 30 minutes?

Madeleine, Montrose.

- 45 miles per hour.

- [Paul] Is incorrect.

Rebound to Dunmore.

(suspenseful music) (buzzer beeps) - 40.

- Is correct for your rebound points, Dunmore.

Let's go to a toss-up.

What architectural elements which may require squinches if built in square spaces create rotundas under them and are, in essence, hemisphere roofs?

(buzzer beeps) Madison, Montrose.

- Dome.

- Is correct.

And here's your bonus now.

What Soviet author was forced to decline a 1958 Nobel Prize after his novel Dr.

Zhivago depicted the brutality of the Russian Revolution?

(buzzer beeps) - Alec.

- No, that's Boris Pasternak.

All right, let's go to our next toss-up in a tight game, what amendment which the Supreme Court applied to students in Tinker v. Des Moines protects against prior restraint and other forms of censorship?

(timer beeps) (buzzer beeps) Santino, Dunmore.

- The First.

- Is correct.

And here's your bonus question.

What current NASA program's original goals included landing the first woman and the next man on the surface of the moon by 2024?

- Crushed it.

- I don't know.

(buzzer beeps) - Mars Mission?

- No, that is the Artemis.

And that's the end of the game.

And wow, our winner today is Dunmore over Montrose, 145 to 135.

It doesn't get much closer than that.

Congratulations, Dunmore, you're going to be moving on.

And we'll see you next time with another round of Scholastic Scrimmage.

I'm your host, Paul Lazar, and thanks for watching.

(upbeat music)