MVHS Varsity Quiz Competes In A Tougher League

By GABRIELLE SHIOZAWA

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Varsity Quiz team came into the spotlight last January. For the first time in Pirate history, the team not only qualified for the league playoffs but won the overall championship as well. This year, five returning team members and a handful of new recruits are back in the game and hope for another major victory.

But there’s a twist. Their former division was closed off after the end of the 2017-2018 season. This moved the Pirates into a much more competitive league.

“It’s almost like a league of champions,” said MVHS Varsity Quiz advisory Jared Bushman. “These are all teams that destroy the competition. They put us in there feeling like we were on par with all of these teams, and I think we’ve shown that we are.”

Still, the transition has been challenging. The MVHS quizzers have competed in four matches so far and have won just one of the intense thirty-minute competitions.

Each match includes three rounds: a toss-up, a bonus section, and a speed round. Questions typically feature such topics as literature, science, math, and current events.

The first two competitions of the season took place on Tuesday, October 30. Coronado High School overtook Moapa Valley in the first match with a score of 165-105. Determined to make a comeback, the Pirates ended their second match 95-90 over Foothill High School in an intense tie-breaker round.

The next match, another double-header, took place on Tuesday, November 13. Las Vegas Academy (LVA) took the lead with a score of 55-40 by the end of the first round. MVHS made a comeback during the bonus section with a score of 80-65, but they were ultimately overtaken by the end. LVA won 135-110.

In the following match against Green Valley High School, the Pirates fell 155-110.
Bushman commented that while the MVHS players have a good knowledge base, they need to work on increasing the speed in which they answer questions.
“I don’t think that any of the schools know more than we do, but they are a little quicker than us right now,” Bushman remarked. “We know the content, but we need to be faster.”
The Pirate Varsity Quiz team will end their regular season with a match against Liberty High School on Tuesday, December 4. If they win this match, they will qualify for the playoffs.
“Hopefully, we can focus on just buzzing in sooner,” said Bushman. “If we can be faster than Liberty, we can beat them. We have to win!”