by Charles Lindsay
The September event has traditionally been good for teams just getting wound up for the year. Unfortunately for those teams this year, there are teams in April form already.
In the RAMS division, Neighborhood Alliance came out ready to take on all comers. They are led by Jeremy Heuslein and he has trained the remainder to quiz well also. Unfortunately, it appears that this year he will actually memorize the verses. That is bad news for all the other teams. At any rate, they went undefeated and look tough already. Community is led by the legendary David Douglas, so even though they seemed to be little challenge to Neighborhood this month, we see them as a strong contender for the rest of the year. Liam Lloyd looks primed to become another of Douglas’s legendary quizzers. While Tropical Storm Henri kept a couple teams away, we expect them all to return in October. We only hope that Neighborhood Alliance starts to feel the heat.
In the VETS division, we had 9 teams. Hobe Sound brought two teams and they were good for the “rebuilding” mode the school claims to be in. TMA brought two teams, but were missing two of their best quizzers again, and they finished in a decent slot. The Austin Family continues to amaze, as they have a disproportionate number of close quizzes, and they seem to win them all. Open Door has survived the turmoil surrounding their team to field a competitive group. One wonders how good they would be if everyone came. The best continues to be First Baptist Central Florida, however. Nathaniel Rowe said, “Next month, we should have a tournament for the remainder of the teams to aim for 4th.” While that might seem trite, there is a certain amount of value in the sentiment. Hopefully, the teams can get together and challenge FBCCF next month.