BY: FABIAN LEDGISTER, Staff Reporter
ICARDO MAKYN - Members of the Morant Bay High School, School Challenge Quiz team at TVJ.
IT WAS A close and controversial 8th match in the second round of TVJ's School Challenge Quiz, with Morant Bay High clinching victory from Charlemont High, 21-19 after last minute deliberations by the judges.
From the match's onset, the display of limited knowledge base from the two teams brought little excitement to the first round. Most of the questions from host Devon Yetman were either incorrectly answered or not responded to at all.
By the end of section one, Charlemont High was holding a one point lead over Morant Bay High with scores showing Charlemont five, Morant Bay, four.
SACRIFICING TIME
Morant Bay seemed to step up their efforts in the speed section, making attempts at all questions while sacrificing valuable time in doing so. Charlemont High passed on four occasions, giving them an opportunity to challenge more questions, and scored 13 points for the section.
At the end of section two, Charlemont stood at 18 points, slowly widening their lead on Morant Bay, who had 12 points at the end of the section.
Seemingly comfortable with their marginal lead, Charlemont were over-cautious at the start of the third section, hesitating to respond to questions. Morant Bay were however not complacent and took the opportunity to stage a commendable comeback, answering four questions correctly, and two incorrectly.
The match tied at 18 points after incorrect responses from both teams and was even again at 16 points, with less than 10 seconds left in the match.
'TWO POINT VICTORY'
In the final three seconds of the match, the question, "Give a word beginning with H, meaning to stay afloat" was thrown out.
In a split second before the bell to signal the end of the match, Charlemont High correctly responded, "Hover," giving them a two point victory.
But, a protest from Morant Bay team member Colleen Williams, drew the attention of their team coach, who checked into a Spanish question that was deemed incorrect in the 'buzzer round.'
Judges had asked to give the English translation for the word "Peluquero." Morant Bay had responded "barber," but it was asserted that the word meant "hairdresser."
It was revealed that the Spanish word meant both 'barber and hairdresser,' and as two points were detracted for the response, Morant Bay was given 4 points, securing them victory for the match.
Other checks made into incorrect decisions by judges, resulted in one point being awarded to both teams. After calculations, Morant Bay was deemed the winners, now having 21 points, against Charlemont's 19 points.
TEAM ANGER
The anger and excessive tears of the Charlemont team, revealed a strong dispute between the team members and their coach. Team members charged that the judge had taken off their best player without warrant.
"In the practice....she couldn't answer a question...and she and the coach get in argument...and him tek her off di team," sobbed Kemar McKenzie, a 13-year-old member of the team.
The coach disputed that this was the cause of their loss, but confirmed that he had indeed replaced a member of the team for "bad behaviour."
"I'm disappointed that we lost but I've been trying to get them to study...I did substitute a member of the team for bad behaviour," said Steve Cummings, the Charlemont team coach.
Morant Bay's team members were quite pleased with their victory, but said their performance was poor.
"It was a very close match and we're disappointed with our performance, but we're glad we became the victor...we'll have to do much better next time," said Kadian Francis, the team captain for Morant Bay High.
TEAM MEMBERS
CHARLEMONT HIGH: Mario Christie
Janvo Aldred, Kemar McKenzie
Romaine Myers (team captain)
MORANT BAY HIGH: Orette Burke,
Venesha Drysdale, Colleen Williams
Kadian Francis (team captain)
Next Match: Glenmuir High versus St. Andrew Technical
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