L-R: Makadia, Young, Pasatta. Cox, Anders, Zielske.
RELEASED APR. 5, 2022 – Contact: Jim Mehrling 440-463-2557
Headline: DEFENDING ACADEMIC CHAMPION LAKE RIDGE ACADEMY DEFEATS VERMILION IN RADIO QUARTERFINAL ON SCHOLASTIC GAMES
Lorain County’s high school quiz show, the Scholastic Games, now in its 32nd year on WEOL radio (AM930 and FM 100.3), hosted a hard-fought 490 to 380 victory for Lake Ridge Academy over a formidable team from Vermilion High School. Vermilion’s losing score was higher than half of this year’s winning scores, while Lake Ridge’s winning score was exceeded by the team’s own in an earlier broadcast. Weekly broadcasts, Mondays 6 to 7 p.m., will continue through the May 23rd championship.
The Lake Ridge team consisted of team captain Tyler Young, Tanish Makadia, and Finn Pasatta, who won his second “Standout Scholar Award,” which is presented each week by judges to the student determined to have contributed the most to his or her team. The honor includes a $50 award. Young was a four-time winner in last year’s competitions. The team from Vermilion consisted of captain Patrick Anders, a “Standout” winner earlier this year, plus Kacy Cox, and Justin Zielske.
Vermilion took an early lead in the competition’s “Initial Round,” in which all answers started with the letter “K.” Both teams answered four of five questions, but Vermilion drew the double-scoring “plus points” question which required two answers (scoring with Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh and the justice he replaced, Kennedy). Vermilion’s lead was short lived, but the team remained in contention throughout.
Lake Ridge outscored its opponents in Current Events, leading 100 to 80 after round two. The third round, the first in which the team “buzzing in” gets to answer first, followed a theme of “New” locations, from New Jersey to New Brunswick. Again Lake Ridge slightly increased its lead, advancing to a 170 to 120 advantage. Round four 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. It often provides a virtually insurmountable lead for one team, but it was not the case this time.
The first series of clues were about Sir Isaac Newton. By the second clue, only his date of birth and the fact that he was an English scientist were revealed. A quick buzz earned 40 points for Lake Ridge. The second started with a 50 point clue about an American site named for the first Secretary of War. That single clue earned Vermilion 50 points for naming Fort Knox (the Secretary was Henry Knox). The third set of clues advanced to the 30-point level before Lake Ridge won points for naming the Inquisition. Then Vermilion bounced back with another 50-point answer, Andrew Carnegie, based on a clue that revealed only that his wealth had led to the construction of many libraries. The final item in the round provided another 40 points to Lake Ridge, from clues describing the U.S. presidential election of 1960.
Entering the final round with a 280 to 220 lead, over nine minutes of toss-up and bonus questions provided hundreds of additional points to both teams, but Lake Ridge continued to stay ahead to achieve a decisive victory. Weekly broadcasts will end in May with the program’s 32nd annual County Academic Championship. Following broadcast the station archives the programs online (http://weol.northcoastnow.com/2022-lorain-county-scholastic-games/ ). Additional archives are available at http://standoutscholars.com . Programs air between 6 and 7 p.m. on Mondays, with one exception in the upcoming schedule. Here is the schedule, subject to further modification if there are conflicts with live sports coverage. The schedule: 4/11—Quarterfinal #2: Firelands vs. Olmsted Falls; 4/18 – A s rebroadcast of the exciting Amherst-Avon match from February; 4/25 –Quarterfinal #3: Amherst vs. Brookside; 5/2—Quarterfinal #4: Avon vs. Keystone; 5/9, 5/16, 5/23 – Semifinals and Championship
Both of this week’s quarterfinalist teams are among the twelve different schools that have won Scholastic Games county championships, Lake Ridge in 2006 and 2010 as well as 2021 and Vermilion in 2007 and 2008. Others among these are quarterfinalists Avon (2009, 16, 17, 19), Amherst Steele (1991, 2015), Keystone (2004), and Olmsted Falls (2011, 12, 13, 14, 18). Brookside in Sheffield Village and Firelands in Oberlin are seeking their first championships. Among past champions not among finalists this year are Avon Lake (2001, 05, and 20), Elyria (1992, 93, 94, 97, 2000), Admiral King (1995, 1998, now closed), Oberlin (1996), North Ridgeville (1999, 2002), and Midview (2003).
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