RELEASED MAR. 15, 2022 Contact: Jim Mehrling 440-463-2557
Headline: VERMILION DEFEATS ELRIA AS SCHOLASTIC GAMES QUIZ PROGRAM – PLAYOFFS ARE ANNOUNCED
It was two solid academic teams in competition, but by the final bell, Vermilion High School had managed a solid victory over Elyria. On Lorain County’s high school quiz show, the Scholastic Games, now in its 32nd year on WEOL radio (AM930 and FM 100.3), it was an ultimate win of 480 to190 points for the Vermilion team, as the series completed its first round of competitions.
Vermilion was represented by Kacy Cox, Justin Zielske, and team captain Patrick Anders , who was named the program’s “Standout Scholar,” which is determined each week by judges as the student who contributed the most to his or her team, an honor that includes a $50 award. The Elyria team consisted of Odin Hirsch, Isaac Quast, and team captain Elena Runion. Both schools have previously won Scholastic Games championships.
The first round provided an early, if short-lived, led to Elyria, Called the “Initial Round,” it featured all “H” answers ranging from haiku to Hamlet. It ended with a 60 to 50 point edge for Elyria. Both teams did very well in the “Current Events Round” which followed, and this time Vermilion outscored Elyria by one answer, tying the score at 100-100. The third, or “Theme” round, was “lists,” in which the teams had to identify lists of losing presidential candidates, Hawaiian islands, and former Soviet republics, to give three examples. It is the first round of questions to use buzzers, giving advantage to the team responding first, and it ended with a 90 point lead for Vermilion which, unfortunately for Elyria, persisted for most of the competition.
The fourth round presents a series of clues for each answer, with a correct answer to a first clue yielding fifty points, with diminishing point values for up to four additional clues, the last of which is ten points. Clues about the much-conquered city of Palermo eluded both teams. Vermilion buzzed on the final clue but mispronounced the name to the extent that the judges ruled it incorrect, so there was no score. Vermilion bounced back with a 40-point score on a clue about a man who had been governor of two different states, correctly identifying Sam Houston. (The states were Tennessee and Texas.) Clues about the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem advanced to the 10-point level, and finally it was Vermilion that scored. Elyria came back strong with a 40 point score for identifying facts about Stalin. The next answer was Alaska, and when the 30-point clue mentioned the price (when the territory was purchased from Russia) both teams reached for the buzzer but Vermilion was first and scored.
At the end of round four, Vermilion had advanced to a 280 to 150 lead, and the team’s momentum only increased in the fast final round which consists of over nine minutes of questions, including the possibility of bonus points. The 480 point win assures Vermilion a place in the program’s quarter finals, which begin airing in three weeks. Elyria’s score, unfortunately, just missed the cutoff for an opportunity to be a “wild card” team, and a second chance to win and advance to the elimination rounds.
THE PLAYOFFS Starting with next week’s broadcast, two programs will pit highest-scoring runner-up teams and lowest-scoring winning teams against each other as “wildcards.” Winners advance to the quarter finals the following week. Barring a playoff forfeiture, byes to quarterfinals are awarded only to the top four winning teams and the one highest-scoring losing team. WEOL will continue to archive the programs online following broadcast (http://weol.northcoastnow.com/2022-lorain-county-scholastic-games/ ).
Programs air between 6 and 7 p.m. on Mondays. Here is the playoff schedule, subject to modification if conflicts with live sports coverage occur:.
3/21 Wildcards: Avon Lake vs. Keystone
3/28 Playoff: Avon vs. Elyria Catholic
4/4 —Quarterfinal #1: Lake Ridge Acad. vs. Vermilion
4/11—Quarterfinal #2: Firelands vs. Olmsted Falls
4/18 – A rebroadcast to be determined
4/25 –Quarterfinal #3: Amherst vs. Brookside
5/2—Quarterfinal #4: Avon OR Elyria Catholic vs. Avon Lake OR Keystone
5/9, 5/16, 5/23 – Semifinals and Championship
Scholastic Games began in the fall of 1990 with the support of Nordson Corporation and has continued on radio station WEOL during every school year since. The format, originally developed for a Cleveland program in the 1980s, has changed little in the run of the show, though the questions are continually updated. Scholastic Games is the longest continuously-running program of its type in the region, and its focus on greater Lorain County has provided maximum opportunities for local students to compete.
Over the years, twelve different schools have won the championships. Defending champion Lake Ridge Academy’s 2021 win was its third (with earlier wins in 2006 and 2010). Other championship winners have included Amherst Steele (1991, 2015), Avon Lake (2001, 2005, and 2020), Elyria (1992, 93, 94, 97, 2000), Admiral King (1995, 1998), Oberlin (1996), North Ridgeville (1999, 2002), Midview (2003), Keystone (2004), Vermilion (2007, 08), Avon (2009, 16, 17,19), and Olmsted Falls (2011, 12, 13, 14, 18).
The program has enjoyed long-term support from Nordson Corporation and various funds of the Community Foundation, this year including the Steve Boyza Fund, the Patsie C. Campana Sr. Fund, the Schaeffer Family Fund, The Stumphauzer, O’Toole, McLaughlin, McGlamery & Loughman Co. Fund, the “Touch the Future” Fund, the Al Hillegass Fund, the Ford MacArthur Endowment Fund and the Madeleyn Metzger Fund. Additional support is from the Nord Family Foundation and the Community West Foundation. The radio sponsors this year are EcoTree Services and the Elyria Public Library System, which has provided venue space for program sessions for several years.
Area colleges and universities participate by providing $1000 tuition credit awards for allocation by participating high schools. Participating for all or most of the program’s thirty-year history were Lorain County Community College, Oberlin College, Ursuline College, Ashland University, Heidelberg University, John Carroll University, with more recent additional awards from the University of Findlay, Lake Erie College, Tiffin University and Notre Dame College of Ohio.
The program’s host and producer, Jim Mehrling, is a veteran northeast Ohio broadcaster. After seven years as Chief Announcer at WEOL, he was Production Manager for, first, Cleveland’s WERE-AM and later at Cleveland’s WCLV-FM. He was recipient of a 2019 President’s Award from the Cleveland Association of Broadcasters. Again this year, most Scholastic Games programs will be followed by a talk feature, “Dialogues in Education,” which presents education success stories with its host, award-winning journalist Bob Tayek.
BROADCAST ON AM 930 – WEOL – From MEHRLING STUDIOS, BEREA, OH, 44017-2449, Telephone 440-463-2557