First off congratulations to State College for winning the HSNCT! It was a well-deserved win, beating LASA twice in two intense finals matches. I saw quite a few teams in action, and I was amazed at how many very good teams there were, even those that finished in the middle of the pack. It was a fantastically run tournament, with very few issues despite a 224-team field, and NAQT should be very proud of themselves for pulling off yet another logical wonder. Anyway, without further ado, here are a few things of note I found looking back on the Sunday rounds:
- During the prelims, Dorman managed to finish a perfect 10-0, beating teams such as State College, Maggie Walker, Detroit Catholic Central, and Seven Lakes. However, on Sunday, after an easy victory over 32nd-seeded Chattahoochee, Dorman lost a very close back-and-forth game against 17th-seeded duPont Manual that was decided on a protest. Unfortunately, their first match in the losers’ bracket was not easy, as they had to face a Bellarmine team that had lost their first-round match. Dorman were not able to regroup after their initial loss, and so finished with a 1-2 playoff record. As a result, they finished tied for 21st, despite being only one of two teams to have less than four losses, and having the third-highest points per game and bonus conversion of the entire field.
- This year, eight B teams made it into the Sunday playoffs, as well as LASA C and D. Two of these, Detroit Catholic Central B and Thomas Jefferson B, finished tied for 8th and even finished better than their respective A teams (and in the latter’s case, by TJ B beating TJ A in an elimination match). Dorman B and LASA
B also had good runs, with both finishing tied for 21st in the nation. - Not only did LASA qualify four teams to the HSNCT, all four were able to make the playoffs. This is the first time in the history of the HSNCT that a single school has sent that many teams, much less have them reach the playoffs. Their B team, which went 8-2 on Saturday, apparently consists entirely of sophomores, which means that LASA will certainly be a powerhouse in the years to come. Coach Jason Flowers deserves a lot of credit for the work he’s done building up that program which didn’t even exist a few years ago.
- Of the five teams that finished tied for 8th, four of them went only 7-3 in the prelims and were seeded worse than 16th. The only team that did not exceed expectations for Sunday was 4th-seeded Seven Lakes A, who had actually beaten fellow 8th-place team Novi A 635-50 earlier in the day. All of these teams should be
impressed with their finishes and pleased with themselves for beating several high-quality opponents throughout the playoffs. - George Mason proved without a doubt that they were the best small school, winning all their matches in the small school playoffs, including two against a Beachwood team that came out of nowhere and had almost beaten 8-2 Ladue in the regular playoffs.
- The final two games of the HSNCT were probably two of the most nerve-wracking in Quizbowl championship history. In both games, LASA started with a small advantage in the beginning, holding slight leads at halftime. However, State College was able to keep pace and eventually take the lead with only a few tossups left
to go. State College’s win can be attributed to their much better performance on bonuses — they had bonus conversions of 22 and 20 for the finals, versus 14 and 13 for LASA. In face, LASA had answered two more tossups in the first finals match, but still lost thanks to their difficulties in getting bonus points.
And so with that, I would like to conclude this year’s coverage of the 2011 HSNCT. I would especially like to thank my co-reporter Marisol Brady, David Reinstein and Joel Gluskin for providing me with valuable schedule information, Stephen Fontenot for helping with the Sunday playoff brackets, the NAQT staff for putting on a great tournament and allowing me to liveblog, and last but not least, the schools, the players, and the coaches that make it all possible in the first place!
