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Black River thrashes St. Catherine in thrilling second rounder

The members of the Black River High Schools' Challenge Quiz team pose after their 24-21 win over St. Catherine High. They will go on to play Kingston College in Round Three. - Carlington Wilmot

THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN St. Catherine High and Black River High may go down as one of the most exciting matches of this the 35th season of TVJ's Schools' Challenge Quiz Competition.

In fact, spellbinding may be a better description of the second round match in which Black River, faced with a nine-point deficit, summoned all the mental strength and knowledge they possessed to beat a stunned St. Catherine High.

All season long Black River has been beating teams that were supposed to be better than they were, and this was no different. In the preliminary round, they dispatched an over-confident St. George's College, 49-45, and they booked their place in round two with a low scoring 24-21 victory over Excelsior High School. They beat St. Catherine High by the same scoreline.

Black River will next meet Kingston College.

Black River got off to a very slow start. In Section One, where questions are posed alternately to each team, Black River struggled. They seemed incapable of answering correctly any question posed to them. St. Catherine High capitalised and surged ahead and at the end of the section, the scores were seven to two in favour of St. Catherine.

Prior to the start of the second section, a point was deducted from St. Catherine's score after the judges ruled that an answer that they had given and which had been ruled correct was in fact. incorrect.

During Section Two teams are given three alternate one-minute time periods within which to answer as many questions as possible. In their first minute, St. Catherine performed poorly, managing only three correct answers. Black River performed even worse, getting only one question correct.

Points deducted

Both teams performed much better in their second minute. Black River got eight questions correct. St. Catherine got six. Both teams struggled during their respective final minutes with St. Catherine getting four points, while Black River earned three. The section ended 21-14, in favour of St. Catherine.

During Section Three, more popularly known as the buzzer section, questions are posed to both teams with the team pressing the buzzer first getting the chance to answer. Two points are awarded for each correct answer and two points deducted for incorrect answers.

St. Catherine was the first to answer and immediately opened up a nine-point lead. The coffin seemed closed and nailed shut on Black River at this point but only they knew what was to happen next.

They launched a comeback which saw them attempting seven questions, answering five of them correctly. St. Catherine attempted six but only got half of them right.

Ultimately, St. Catherine helped with Black River's comeback by answering incorrectly to the question "What is Lady Bustamante's maiden name?"

When the end came the look on the faces of the members of both teams said it all. Black River's team members were all smiles. Members of St. Catherine looked glum.

After the match, Black River's captain, Vayden Hayle, told THE STAR that he was never doubtful that his team could pull through. "We kept our focus, we concentrated and we prayed. We knew we could do it," he said.

The other members of his team, Krystal Lyn, Damion Martin and Lance Haughton were in the background hugging and praising each other. Their coaches were Errol Reid and Andre Gordon.

Not as elated were the members of the St. Catherine team. Their captain, Laura Matthews told THE STAR, "It was a well played match, but I feel the better team has not won. That last question, we should not have answered it," she said.

The other members of that team were Garfield Barclay, Melissa Taylor and Donald Smith. They were coached by Errol Martin and Winston Henry.