The Homewood-Flossmoor High School Scholastic Bowl A-team took third place and the B-team took eighth place in state competition.
The teams competed against other top-ranked Illinois high schools at the Early Bird Tournament at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Saturday, Oct. 1.
For those who love the program “Jeopardy!” you have the idea of what Scholastic Bowl is like for the H-F students. Getting to the buzzer before your opponent is the objective, although the rapid-fire questions on topics in math, science, social studies, English literature/mythology, arts and music and miscellaneous topics are much more difficult than those posed to TV contestants. Some even require math calculations, in which students are given 45 or 60 seconds to use pencil and paper to get to the correct answer.
The H-F A-team was led by senior Lily Hamer, who averaged 85 toss-up points per game during the preliminary rounds and finished second out of 62 players at the tournament.
Seniors Michael Bonthron and Thomas Simon, and junior Ethan Bosch, helped lead the team to major victories over state powerhouse programs at Carbondale, Sandburg and Springfield high schools, said math teacher Michael Sacks, who has coached Scholastic Bowl at H-F for the past 14 years.
The H-F B-team’s strong showing included a win over the Champaign Centennial High School A-team.
B-team members are juniors Declan Cawley, Michael Colton, Luca Strohmeier and sophomore Myles Walker.
Sacks said the teams will compete in a number of upcoming meets, including the SWSC competition Nov. 2, and a varsity tournament hosted by H-F on Nov. 19.