Avon High School Defeats Olmsted Falls on Scholastic Games Radio Quiz

On this week’s broadcast of the Scholastic Games of Lorain County, the radio quiz program (on WEOL, AM 930) featuring academic teams from Lorain County high schools, Avon High School scored a decisive 420 to 120 point win over Olmsted Falls High School. So far, it is the highest winning score of the season for the program. The program is heard most Tuesdays from 6:05 to 7 p.m. The strong victory was a surprise to some, considering that Falls had won four consecutive annual championships on the program, and a string of victories last year that was one competition short of a fifth. The school is definitely in a building phase after several triumphant years of regional, state and national championships.

The victorious Avon team consisted of Brian Lee, Alex Stamatis, and team captain Pete Stamatis, who was named recipient of the weekly “Standout Scholar Award,” a $50 prize given to the student judged by scorekeepers to have contributed the most to his or her team. Olmsted Falls was represented by Molly McCafferty, Isaac Rivera, and team captain Zach Buchta.

Though they were not the formidable competitors of the past several years, the Olmsted Falls team scored respectably throughout the five rounds of questions and answers. The teams correctly answered the same number of questions in the first round. Avon had a twenty point lead after the current events round. Round three was when buzzers were introduced, giving an advantage to those with quicker answers, and this was where Avon began to pile on the points.

Round four is a series of items in which each answer is preceded by a succession of clues. If a correct answer is given after the first clue, 50 points are scored, whereas the final clue yields only ten points for a correct answer. Pete Stamatis scored a total of 100 points for Avon, identifying Alexander Hamilton for 50 points and Margaret Thatcher for 30. Buchta scored 30 for Olmsted Falls by identifying the FBI, but his team entered the final round with a 150 point deficit, and Avon continued to outscore them. Its winning score guarantees Avon a slot in the program’s quarterfinals which begin in a few weeks.

The teams are guided by faculty advisors. Mr. Todd Sayers is advisor for Avon High and Mr. Erin Stanton advises the Olmsted Falls team. Continuing a 25-year tradition, each participating school will receive a $1000 tuition credit to be given to a deserving student who will attend an area college or university. Many additional credits are awarded to schools as they compete and win in playoffs. Contributing institutions include Lorain County Community, Baldwin Wallace University, Ohio Wesleyan, Oberlin College, Ursuline College, Ashland University, Case Western Reserve, Heidelberg, John Carroll, Notre Dame College of Ohio, and Tiffin University, many of which have participated in this program for a number of years.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS ON WEOL (AM 930):

TUESDAYS, 6:06 p.m. (except when sports games delay the quiz to Tuesday, same time) This schedule is slightly revised from those previously published.

3/1 Amherst Steele (defending champion) vs. Elyria

3/8 Avon Lake vs. Midview

3/15 North Ridgeville vs. WILDCARD TEAM (to be determined)

3/22 Highlight Rebroadcast

3/29 to 5/24 – Elimination Playoffs & Championship

Scholastic Games, on WEOL radio since 1990, is presented on the station by the Elyria Public Library System. Production of the program is made possible by funding from the Nordson Corporation Foundation, the Nord Family Foundation, the Community West Foundation, and the following funds administered by the Community Foundation of Lorain County: the Nelson Stud Welding Fund, and the Oscar H. Steiner Memorial Fund.

The Elyria Public Library System and the Elyria Days Inn provide recording venues, and following broadcast, weol.com and standoutscholars.com offer the programs as “podcasts.”

A member of the Broadcasters Hall of Fame of Akron and Cleveland, the program’s producer, Jim Mehrling, is a veteran northeast Ohio broadcaster. After seven years as Chief Announcer at WEOL, he was Production Manager at Cleveland’s WERE-AM for over a decade, and has for over twenty years been with Cleveland’s WCLV-FM, now a part of Ideastream public broadcasting. Again this year, most Scholastic Games programs are being followed by a talk feature, “Dialogues in Education,” which presents education success stories with its host, award-winning journalist Bob Tayek.