‘Quizcats’ win Class AAAAA tournament
Published 5:39 pm Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Bainbridge Quizcats hold their state championship trophy Saturday. Shown are, left to right, Amanda Wooten, Jakob Thorn, Eli Poché, coach Mitch Alday, Bryce Williams and Quest Brown.
Bainbridge High School’s “Quizcats” proved Saturday that they are among the best Quiz Bowl teams in the whole state of Georgia.
The Quizcats won the Class AAAAA state championship, at the Georgia Academic Team Association’s State Varsity Tournament, which was held at Ola High School in McDonough, Ga. The team was undefeated in competition, beating Apalachee in the semifinals and topping Dunwoody in the championship match.
The state champion Quizcats are senior Eli Poché, juniors Jakob Thorn and Amanda Wooten, freshman Bryce Williams and eighth grader Quest Brown. Mitch Alday, a BHS English teacher, is the team’s coach.
“We have a cohesive unit with no real ‘superstars,’” Alday said. “We have a finely tuned machine, and the individual parts function together like clockwork. I couldn’t be prouder of these kids. They have achieved at a level that no one, including me, thought was possible.”
Alday said that the Quizcats won one tournament in the 2011-12 season, but this season they won three in a row to start the year. The overall record in games this season is 59-10.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had a team win 50 games all year, and this team has a chance to win 60,” he said.
The Quizcats are also scheduled to play Chiles High School, of Tallahassee, Fla., in the finals of the Big Bend Brain Brawl today at 3 p.m. The winner will receive a $2,500 scholarship for their school, and the second-place team will get a $1,250 scholarship.
“This is a tournament that has been hosted for 35 years at Tallahassee Community College,” Alday said. “In its run, I don’t believe a team outside of Tallahassee has ever competed in the finals — this year, that changed.”
Alday noted that the team has been especially successful because each of the players has specialty subjects they are especially strong in.
“You wouldn’t build a football team out of the 25 best quarterbacks,” he said. “You need somebody to handle that responsibility, true, but you need somebody else to do the blocking, and the tackling, and the kicking, and the punting, and the running, too.”
