Francine Black, Staff Reporter

The members of the Calabar Schools' Challenge Quiz team who defeated St. George's College yesterday. From left Demar Barnett, Rexandrew Wright, Winston Blackwood and Aldion Lee (captain) - ian allen

Defending Champions Calabar High started off their performance in the TVJ Schools' Challenge Quiz competition on a very good note when they beat Kingston-based St. George's College yesterday.

Calabar defeated the North Street-based school 54-35 in a match which saw Calabar setting a clear lead from the start.

In segment one, Calabar started to set the lead, finishing one point ahead of George's High's 13 points. However George's had missed an opportunity to equal the score when they incorrectly identified Andrew Wheatley, Mayor of Spanish Town as Andrew O'Kola.

In segment two, Calabar was intent on moving further ahead of their opponents and did that. After the first minute they increased their score to 27 points, compared to George's who increased their score by three points.

The momentum continued to build in minute two and Calabar gained 11 more points while George's only gained eight points. Calabar ended the segment after a strong third minute with 46 points while George's lagged behind with 27 points.

Segment three of the competition was quite competitive and both teams increased their score. St. George's 'buzzed in' most of the times before Calabar but missed a few questions which cost them valuable points. Calabar buzzed in only eight times but earned enough points to further distance themselves and earned the greater score to win the match.

Donovan Williams, one of Calabar's coaches, said he was happy about the win and the team will continue to work on their weak areas as the competition progressed. "(We are) pretty satisfied. We were outpressed in some sections. We are gonna work on the buzzer as we do every year," he said.

Ronald Emanuel, captain of the George's team said they were not afraid when they found out that they would be playing Calabar and he was happy about the level of confidence among his teammates. "The confidence was there and I am happy the confidence came through," he said.

Calabar will automatically advance to the second round of the competition. Calabar should play the winner of the Mannings School and Jamaica College match which should be played today.

Calabar team members are Aldion Lee (captain), Winston Blackwood, Rexandrew Wright and Demar Barnett.

St. George's College team members are Craig Miller, Nathan-John Webb, Ronald Emanuel (captain) and Orrin Carr.