FOR RELEASE: APR. 26, 2022 – Contact: Jim Mehrling 440-463-2557
Headline: AMHERST STEELE DEFEATS BROOKSIDE IN SCHOLASTIC GAMES ACADEMIC QUARTERFINAL
Lorain County’s high school quiz show, the Scholastic Games, now in its 32nd year on WEOL radio (AM930 and FM 100.3), hosted the third of its quarterfinals this week, resulting in a competitive 350 to 260 victory for Amherst Steele High School over Brookside High School of Sheffield Village. In all but one round of questions, the two excellent academic teams were close, but once Steele took the lead, it was maintained. Weekly broadcasts, Mondays 6 to 7 p.m., will continue through the May 23rd championship
The Amherst team consisted of D. J. Theisen, Mark Vitelli , and team captain John Perez-Strohmeyer , who won his fourth “Standout Scholar Award,” which is presented each week by judges to the student determined to have contributed the most to his or her team. His first three awards were achieved in 2021 online competitions. Each of these honors includes a $50 award. The team from Brookside consisted of Chase Holm, Andrew Baughman , and team captain Kassie Brooks, who won her fourth Standout award in a competition earlier this year. Students over the years who win four or more awards are added to a Scholastic Games online “honor roll” at the end of the season.
Brookside took an early lead in the first, the “Initial Round.” Its questions all had answers beginning with the letter “B,” ranging from Belarus to beluga whales, and it ended with Brookside leading 40 to 30. Amherst quickly turned the tables, however with a stronger showing in the “Current Events Round,” which ended with a 90 to 60 advantage for Steele. The third, or “Theme Round,” is the first in which buzzing in gives an advantage to the quicker team. With “gold” as part of every question, answers ranging from the year of the Gold Rush to the country of Golda Meir (Israel), the round ended with Amherst’s lead reduced to ten points, a score of 140 to 130.
Round four was challenging for both teams. It consists of a series of clues for each answer. A correct answer to a first clue yields fifty points, with diminishing point values for up to four additional clues, the last of which is ten points. Clues about the state of Wisconsin brought a 50 point buzz from Amherst. The answer given was Nebraska, eliminating the team, but Brookside did not score until the ten point clue (“America’s dairyland”) to temporarily tie the score. Unfortunately for Brookside, the rest of the scoring in that round went to Steele. It was 30 points for naming John Tyler, 20 for naming Eleanor Roosevelt and another 30 for identifying Maria Theresa.
Amherst’s 80-point lead entering the final round proved insurmountable for Brookside. Its more than nine minutes of tossup and bonus questions yielded nearly equal scoring for the two teams which resulted in a solid victory for Steele. The team will face Olmsted Falls in the semifinal to be broadcast on May 16th. Weekly broadcasts will end with the program’s 32nd annual County Academic Championship. Remaining playoffs are as follows, subject to further modification if there are conflicts with live sports coverage.
5/2—Quarterfinal #4: Avon vs. Keystone; 5/9—Semifinal #1: Avon or Keystone vs. Lake Ridge Academy; 5/16—Semifinal #2: Amherst Steele vs. Olmsted Falls; 5/23 –Championship
Following broadcast WEOL archives the programs on its website (http://weol.northcoastnow.com/2022-lorain-county-scholastic-games/ ). Additional archives are available at http://standoutscholars.com . Among the twelve different schools that have won Scholastic Games championships, Olmsted Falls (in 2011, 12, 13, 14, and 18) and Elyria High School (in 1992, 93, 94, 97, and 2000), have won the most. Amherst Steele won in 1991 and 2015) and the remaining semifinalist team, Lake Ridge Academy, won in 2021 and earlier championships in 2006 and 2010. Of this years remaining quarterfinalists Avon won four past championships (2009, 16, 17, 19), and Keystone one (in 2004). Other past champions not among finalists this year are Avon Lake (2001, 05, and 20), Admiral King (1995, 1998, now closed), Oberlin (1996), North Ridgeville (1999, 2002), Midview (2003) and Vermilion in (2007, 08).
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