Granite State SuperChallenge

It was the battle between two Grafton County teams in the GRANITE STATE SUPERCHALLENGE championship game.

Littleton High School was in the finals for the first time in school history. The team was the smallest public school competing this season, with only 213 students. Playing for the Littleton High Crusaders were captain junior Marcos Silveira, senior Aidan Hastings, junior Breanna Corliss and freshman Vincent Silva. The team was coached by Charles Denny.

The Bobcats of Plymouth Regional High were more seasoned competitors. They played in the 2018 championship game and took home the title in the 2013 season and the 1995-96 season. Playing for the Bobcats of Plymouth High were captain junior Rhys Harris, junior Michael Cathy, junior Erek Bickford, and junior Rhianna Herlihy. The alternates are junior Ben Kresge and sophomore Mason Earick. Jay Fogarty was the coach of the team.

At the end of the first round, Plymouth lead by 170-120. Plymouth played a strong second round ending with a score of 390-200. In the 60-second round, Littleton picked the category "Pining for Purple" where the answer to all the clues included the word purple of a shade of purple. In the 60-second round, alternates are allowed to join their team. Unfortunately, the team from Littleton was down two players due to prior commitments. The team correctly answer five clues and picked up 50 points. Plymouth chose the category "Pen Names" where all the answers were words, names or titles that included the letters P, E, and N in that order. They answered nine out of ten correctly, missing only on the Edgar Allen Poe short story, "The Pit and the Pendulum." At the end of the round, Plymouth lead by a score of 480-250.

In the final round of the game correct answer will get a team 20 points, but an incorrect answer will cost them 20 point. Leads can be quickly lost or gained in the round. Both teams played aggressively, but Littleton was not able to overcome their point deficit and Plymouth Regional won the game with a final score of 620-330. The win gives Plymouth Regional its third championship title tying with Salem High, Hanover High, Alvirne High and Winnisquam High for the most GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE titles.

Plymouth Regional High now goes on to represent New Hampshire in the High School Quiz Show Invitational at WGBH in Boston. They will be playing the championship team form Maine. Following that game, the Rhode Island and Massachusetts teams will face each other.

Tune in to NHPBS Saturday, May 18 from 6-7 p.m. to catch both games. The winner of each game will play for the High School Quiz Show Invitational title on May 25 from 6-6:30 on NHPBS.

GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE features New Hampshire's top high school academic quiz teams as they demonstrate remarkable teamwork, quick thinking and smarts to beat the clock and buzz in first on this iconic New Hampshire game show. The game emphasizes quick recall of math, science, social studies, language arts, and fine arts facts—along with questions about current events, entertainment, sports and New Hampshire.

GRANITE STATE CHALLENGE is funded by lead sponsor Unitil with additional funding from NEA New Hampshire, Heinemann Publishing, New Hampshire Lottery, D.F. Richard Energy, HRCU, Measured Progress, The NHHEAF Network Organizations, Safety Insurance and Super Sunday partner, Manchester Community College.

Pressroom Contact

Carla Gordon Russell
Director of Communications
crussell@nhpbs.org
(603) 868-4339