CVU Scholars Bowl Team advances to nationals

CVU Scholars Bowl Team gathers in front of CVU after winning the championship on March 26.

From left to right: Aidan Devine, Keaton St. Martin, Kai Jenkins-Mui, Ava Rohrbaugh, Evan McMahan, Jake Potter, Elias Leventhal, Ben Fox.

CVU survived contentious playoff competition to take home the championship at Montpelier High School on March 26. 

This makes it the second state championship after their previous win in 2007, according to a Press Release from Coach John Bennett.

The team triumphed over host Montpelier High School, Hanover, and South Burlington to earn the title, but it was not easy, CVU senior Ben Fox said. 

“South Burlington - that’s the one that was really, really tough, because they’d been defeating us all year,” Fox said. “I wasn’t sure if we were going to win just because they’re so good.”

South Burlington had previously won three other major scholars bowl tournaments this season, and had beaten CVU three times previously, Coach John Bennett said in an email. 

Bennett explained what the difference was this time:

“We had to play a perfect match, minimizing mistakes and taking advantage of any opportunities they might give us with missed questions. That is exactly what we did.”

The team got off to a quick lead and after a brief comeback from South Burlington, held off to win the match by a margin of 70 points, 385-315, according to Bennett.

The championship was a team effort, but one thing is for sure to both Bennett and Fox: Evan McMahan played a crucial role. 

“Evan is our all time leading scorer and the best player I have had on one of my teams,” Bennett said. 

According to the press release, McMahan finished his scholars bowl career with 1,136 questions answered, and averaged 23.6 correct buzz-in answers per league game, Bennett said. 

Bennett said that even just 10 correct answers in one game is a very good statistic. 

“Whenever I’m talking about scholar’s bowl with my friends, they just kind of cite him as godlike,” Fox said in reference to McMahan. “And I do agree.”

The team needed to rebuild this year after losing three great players that had graduated the previous year, Bennett said. 

“Of the 8 players who played in our championship day playoff matches, 5 of them were new to Scholars Bowl this season and joined our team because of C3 time,” Bennett said.  

Of these five, Fox was one of them. He described C3 time as a period in the school day where students can connect with teachers or participate in clubs that they otherwise would not be able to do. 

“I've always done jazz band and theater and so having the opportunity to do it during C3 time was really helpful for someone with my loaded schedule,” Fox said.

With these new additions, Bennett knew he needed to organize the team in a way that allowed everyone to contribute to their win.  

“I guess if there was a strategy, it was figuring out how to use our team depth to complement Evan's abilities,” Bennett said. “We had really critical contributions from everyone at the final playoffs.”

The CVU Scholars Bowl Team will head to nationals in Atlanta on Memorial Day Weekend. They have participated in nationals four times previously, and have made it as far as the second to last round back in 2007 when they last won states, Bennett said. 

“I am very excited,” Fox said when discussing nationals. “We made it this far and I really believe our team has the capability to make it further.”

CVU finished their season with a record of 32-4, the second best winning percentage in team history, according to the press release.