Bellefield High school and St. Thomas Technical High school kicked off the 40th season of the TVJ's Schools Challenge Quiz when both teams played an exciting match which ended with a seven point difference yesterday.

The schools met in the first match of the preliminary round of the competition and at the end of the keenly contested match Bellefield won with 29 points to St Thomas' 22 points.

From the first section, Bellefield was dominating the match earning 10 points to St. Thomas Technical's eight points. In the second section, both teams sought to get more points with Bellefield ending the round with 27 points to St Thomas Technical's 16 points.

In the third segment, Bellefield's score widened while St. Thomas lost points for some questions and in the end only gained six points from the round. When the final bell rang, Bellefield was on 25 points while St. Thomas Technical had 22 points.

Later adjusted

Bellefield's score was later adjusted to 29 points after they were given points for a science question previously awarded as incorrect.

Kelvin Campbell, captain of the St. Thomas Technical High School team said they were disappointed with the results. "We came here to win," he said.

He noted that nervousness contributed to their failure to execute and he also said the team did not get to do many practice matches which would have helped them to be better prepared.

Jahvel Campbell, captain of the Bellefield team said that they could have scored more points if they were not so nervous. He said they will be working on their buzzer skills and are hoping to reach at least the third round in this year's competition.

The team members of the Bellefield team are Jahvel Campbell (captain), Shamoya Wright, Ornella Bell and Clifford Davey.

The team members of the St. Thomas Technical High school team are Kelvin Campbell (captain), Deanna Steele, Anthony Phillips and Xavier Henry.