Scholastic Scrimmage is more than just a scrimmage. The term scrimmage implies a lack of competition and excitement. But that it is not the case, it is instead a 24-minute duel of some of the Lehigh Valley’s brightest minds.

Scholastic Scrimmage is a quiz bowl style of competition where two teams of four, usually from different schools, are pitted against each other and asked questions that deal with several different academic disciplines. The first team to answer the question gets a set number of points and at the end of the 24-minute match, the team with the most points wins. The teams play in a tournament format similar to March Madness that lasts over the duration of most of the school year. The team who wins the tournament brings home the grand prize of 4000 dollars and a trophy for their school.

On October 28, four students, junior Daniel Qian, senior David Rush, junior Victor Aung, and junior Jacob Zimmerman, attended the Scholastic Scrimmage match at the PBS39 headquarters in Bethlehem and returned as victors.

The day commenced with the four competitors leaving their classes after second block to catch the bus that would take them into the studio.

Soon after the previous match had ended, the contestants from both schools were summoned into the studio where they met the host, Dr. Karen Walton, who explained the rules. The competitors then took their seats, and the match began. At half time, the students were asked questions about themselves, such as who their role models were and what their goals were for the future.

“It wasn’t recorded live in one take; there was a couple of times where they had to stop and edit things together,” Rush said. “So even though it was supposed to be a timed competition, it wasn’t really.”

The extra time, however, did not seem to give a decided advantage to one team or another, considering the final score.

“The team did really well,” co-adviser Mrs. Beth Dottery said. “The score was 240-40.”

Despite the huge margin of victory, the lineup still must beat four more teams in the tournament in order to be crowned the Scholastic Scrimmage champion. They will continue until the end of the school year to practice and work hard. The group of dedicated students practice every Friday after school with the hope that on the day of the Scholastic Scrimmage final they can lift the trophy and represent Southern Lehigh.

“We’re there to win, we’re there to show that our school is a good school, we’re there to show that we’re good students and we pay attention, we learn, we go above and beyond,” Zimmerman said. “We showed the enthusiasm for learning that all Southern Lehigh students have.”