BLOOMDALE – For the second straight year, Bowling Green Christian Academy ended the quiz bowl season undefeated.

BGCA entered Monday’s Northwest Ohio 2024 Quiz Bowl Tournament for firth/sixth graders as the top seed.

Also, for the second straight year, the team was crowned tournament champion.

And for the second straight year, Elmwood was the runner-up team.

BGCA outscored Elmwood in the first round, 32-28 but fell behind in the second round, 30-38. Elmwood faltered in the third round, giving up 30 points while only scoring 12. The final score was BGCA 92, Elmwood 78.

Each match consisted of three rounds and each round had 25 questions. Teams got four points for a correct answer; a team that answered correctly on redirect got two points.

Bowling Green Christian Academy coach Margaret Malanga said “we were hopeful” entering the tournament as the number one seed.

“I have a lot of strong kids. As a team, they’re working very well together,” she said.

This was her first year back as coach after a 10-year hiatus.

Malanga said she told her players, “Guys, even though we’re ranked number one, come in like you’re the underdog so you are fighting all the way through and do not give up.”

Going into the final match, Elijah Stalica said he thought his team would beat Elmwood since they had done it once already this year.

That confidence was shaken after the game started.

“I thought we were going to lose,” Stalica said, “because in the first round we were close and in the second round they were winning.

“I was like, there’s no way we’re going to win,” he said.

Caroline Cooley had similar thoughts.

“At first, I thought we were going to win,” she said, “and then in the first two (rounds) and then in the beginning of three, I definitely thought we were going to lose.”

Both Stalica and Cooley are sixth graders, and both said they had knowledge of a wide range of topics.

The championship team also included Nathan Malanga, Trenton Grills, Atticus Genson, Joe Hofner, Azaria Baker, Jonas Hofbauer, Austin Long and Jack Herr.

“I thought we had a pretty good chance since we were second seeded,” said Elmwood’s Elijah Henning, who said his strength was in math.

Elmwood’s only loss this season was to BGCA.

Dolan Peter, from left, Lyndsay Miller, Abram Hiser and Elijah Henning represented Elmwood, which was the runner-up team.

“I thought our chances had definitely increased,” said Corbin Stephenson about the second opportunity to defeat the academy. “Since then, we’ve been studying more and practicing more.”

Brielle McCune agreed.

“I thought we had a really good chance. We were doing really well as a team. …” she said.

Stephenson said his strength was in geography while McCune’s was spelling.

Henning, Stephenson and McCune are all sixth graders.

The rest of Elmwood’s team included Evelyn Hannum, Spencer Helberg, Abram Hiser, Lyndsay Miller, Dolan Peter and Tatum Wise.

Elmwood coach Sandra Laborie pointed out her team beat BGCA in the 2021 and 2022 tournaments.

She said her team practiced twice a week and it was hard to say what they could have done better.

Students were faced with questions on spelling, geography, continents, math, geology, politics and history.

BGCA correctly answered which state is round on each end and high in the middle (Ohio) while both teams incorrectly guessed which state was bordered by two oceans. BGCA said Florida, Elmwood said Hawaii. The correct answer was Alaska.

In the quarterfinal matches, North Baltimore’s Powell Elementary defeated Gibsonburg’s Hilfiker Elementary 86-66 and Otsego defeated Fostoria 114-42.

Otsego, Hilfiker, Powell and Fostoria entered the tournament ranked third, fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

BGCA defeated Powell, 128-50; and Elmwood defeated Otsego, 108-70, to meet in the championship match once again.