COAL GROVE — The competition spilled over into a second week and a new location, and the county has a middle school Quiz Bowl champion.

Dawson-Bryant’s team won first place in the tournament, which wrapped up on Wednesday at their home school.

The event, organized by the Lawrence County ESC began last week at Ohio University Southern, and included all of the county’s public school districts, as well as St. Lawrence Catholic School.

But the competition ran long, so the final matches between the top three schools were put off for another day, with Dawson-Bryant agreeing to host the continuation of the event, which included Rock Hill and Chesapeake as the final three teams.

It resumed with Dawson-Bryant undefeated in the double elimination brackets, and Chesapeake facing off against Rock Hill to take them on.
Rock Hill emerged from that competition and needed to win two matches against Dawson-Bryant in order to win the event.

The two schools were closely matched, and Rock Hill won their first face off.

When they had the rematch, the score remained close, with Rock Hill leading by two points at the conclusion of the first round and alphabet round.

The match then went to the lightning round, featuring questions on topics ranging from science to social studies to pop culture to history.

“What is the only U.S. state with a one-syllable name?” (Maine)

“George Washington was sworn in as president in what U.S. city, which was the nation’s capital in 1789?” (New York City)

“Who was shot by Jack Ruby in the first televised murder?” (Lee Harvey Oswald)

“Who is the author of ‘Superfudge’ and ‘Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing?” (Judy Blume)

At the end of the event, Dawson-Bryant had pulled ahead, winning the match, 60-55.

It was a double victory for the team, as they were also honored as the regular season winner for school-to-school matches. Chesapeake took second place in those honors.

Coached by Leigh Ann Waginger, Dawson-Bryant’s winning team is comprised of Liam Basham, Tanner Brown, Cyrus Chaffin, Jackson Harrison, Easton Mader, Benson McCoy, Ethan Reynolds, James Reynolds, Owen Smith and Autumn Wheeler.

Second place Rock Hill’s team is coached by Kaylin Taylor and comprised of Blake Alltop, Gavin Bailey, Grayden Depriest, Alexis Eicher, Levi Abrams, Lula Mae Fuhr, Chris Wilson, Ava Crank, Avery Bailey and Quinn Fraley.

The ESC will host a Quiz Bowl tournament for high schools in the spring.