Danbury sees Firelands Challenge championship berth

MILAN TWP. — An nail-biting tiebreaker went down between Danbury and Willard's Firelands Challenge teams. But, after enduring four sets of questions, the playoff newcomer emerged victorious. Danbury — in its historic season — defeated Willard and Bellevue in Tuesday's playoff round at EHOVE Career Center to earn its first-ever appearance in the championship rounds. It faces Perkins and defending champion Edison, which seeks its eleventh-straight program title. With the regular season over, Bellevue, Danbury and Willard finished in third, fourth and fifth places, respectively, and qualified for the playoff round to determine who moves on to the championship rounds. Danbury, also for the first time ever, competed in the playoff round. Early in the playoff match, Willard built a sizable lead. At the mid-point, Willard had 26 points to Bellevue's 11 and Danbury's 10. However, Willard could not answer questions in the U.S. government and great books categories. Danbury then scored 10 points in the same categories to narrow Willard's lead to just six points, and Bellevue picked up five points. Danbury continued to score and finished with 39 points, tying with Willard. Meanwhile, Bellevue finished with 32 points. Playoff round rules require a "sudden death" set of questions from the team choice categories when teams are tied. Willard and Danbury missed their financial literacy questions. Both teams correctly answered their foreign language questions. Willard was unable to respond to its geography question, and Danbury responded incorrectly. It then came down to the Harry Potter category. Both teams received questions from the book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the last book of the popular fiction series. Willard missed its question. Not a sound was heard as Danbury received its question: "In chapter 33: The Prince's Tale, Snape's reply to "After all this time," was one word. What was that word?" Danbury replied with "Always," the correct response. Danbury team members jumped up and down and hugged each other to celebrate their championship berth. "Even in the middle of a tie, we proved that we will 'always' give it our best," Danbury team captain Alexis Wunder said after the match. Program coordinator William Muthig said Tuesday's exciting finale shows how competitive the Firelands Challenge's 42nd season was. "It's further evidence of how close the performance of the teams has been," he said. Firelands Challenge, an academic competition for local high schools, has been organized by North Point Educational Service Center for several decades. The championship round schedule will see Danbury host the first match on Jan. 31. The second match will be at Perkins High School on Feb. 2. The final match will occur at Edison High School on Feb. 7. _ Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com and follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood