(Secaucus,
NJ—March 8, 2017) In a wild finish to the 2017 Hudson County Academic Bowl,
both High Tech High School and Secaucus High School shared in the glory of
winning the championship title in this season’s quiz bowl competition, announced
Dr. Joseph Giammarella, Principal of High Tech.
The High Tech Senior Quiz Bowl team, captained
by Ryan Miller of Kearny, found team members Rakeeb Alam and Akash Ram of
Bayonne and Kearny residents Jonathan Brooks and Kevin Shi tying Secaucus High
School 210-210 after a controversial vote over an Academic Bowl rule.
“The Secaucus team claimed this rule
never gets enforced,” says Miller. “The
advisors also said that one teammate wanted to help the captain out with
pronouncing a word.”
According to the rules, each team
designates a captain, who serves
as the primary spokesperson for the team, prior to each match. However, on the Secaucus High School team, a
non-captain answered a ten-point question.
The questionable answer, based on the rules, didn’t figure into the
calculation of the tournament until the final score, which had originally been
210-200 in favor of High Tech due to the sanction. At the end of the championship, one of the
Secaucus High School advisors objected to High Tech’s win. So, based on a democratic vote, which favored
Secaucus High School 3-2, the teams agreed to a tie. No one suffered the agony of defeat this time
around.
