One of our favorite things to do at BibleQuizzer.net is to talk preview and rank teams. We’re kind of in a lull right now over the summer on being able to do this. But we’re going to try anyway. We’re going to take about 10 of the best teams and say what we think their strengths and weaknesses will be, who their best quizzers will be, and what should be a reasonable goal for them. These are not rankings or anything like that—we’ll be going in alphabetical order. So come back every couple of days and start reading our previews.
Athens
Capitol City
Faith (SC)
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Athens
Athens is coming off what many would call a rebuilding year. They ended up in the loser’s bracket at SCQANIT and finished 8th at Nationals. Even though they were rebuilding, I’m sure it was still a disappointing year for them.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Athens biggest strength comes in the form of coaching. Jack Bamford may be the tops the list of best active coaches. He has led two other teams to the top before. Their main weakness is that their current group of quizzers has never won a big quiz or even been around late at a tournament. But with the amount of tournaments that we have nowadays, if they can get off to a good start, they could have a tremendous season.
Top Quizzers:
Everyone is starting to learn about Kyler Denis. If Athens has any chance of being a great team this year, he must have a huge year—and I mean best quizzer in the country type of year. After Kyler, seniors Anthony Licata and Freddy Dove also must come up big. I don’t know if either of these guys is going to be great, but at least one of them is going to have to give Kyler a lot of support. Both these guys have a tendency to be error prone. They can’t have that either. Rumor has it that neither Buck nor Bobby Brown will be quizzing next year. They were both tremendous quizzers (Bobby was one of the top middle school quizzers). Their loss surely hurts Athens.
Goal:
Athens is a hard team to predict. They have the potential to win their 2nd national championship in 3 years. As I said earlier, I think the early part of the season will tell a lot about this team. If they beat FBCCF in a showdown at the Midseason Invitational, look for them to have a great year and be right there with the best of them. If they lose, I don’t see them cracking the top 5 at any major tournament.
Capitol City
Capitol City is one of the few teams around that has been among the great teams for multiple years in a row. This year they face a lot more uncertainty than in years past though.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
Capitol City is a lot like Athens in many respects. First, they have one quizzer who they’re going to have to rely a lot on. Second, they also have a superstar coach, Doyle Thompson. Their biggest weakness may be that they only have three high schoolers coming back, but we’ll talk more about that later.
Top Quizzers:
Felicia Burdett will have a huge load on her shoulders this upcoming year. She is probably the third most recognized quizzer coming back for another year behind Jeremy Barker of Woodside and Abby Carbonell of FBCCF. Their problem will be finding somebody to help her out. A lot of her help last year came from Adam Simpson and with him now gone, someone from their flock of youngsters must become step up.
Goal:
This team’s goal is once again going to be to win the national championship. Here are a couple of words of wisdom for them though. Start early. For the last couple of years, they have shown up at New Year’s Classic not nearly as strong as some other folks. This year, that has to change. Also, Felicia’s role is going to change dramatically. Whereas in the past, Adam pushed the team along and was the leader, now Felicia must assume that role. If Felicia can get behind a couple or her team mates, Capitol City could have a very successful year.
Faith (SC)
Faith, as has been the case for the past several years, had another great season. They amaze me by consistently being among the top teams despite not being able to compete at AACS. I had a lady express to me at SCQANIT her shock that their church team had been called the best Bible Quiz team in her country because Bible Quiz was just a Wednesday night youth activity at their church. Well, to at least some of their quizzers, it has become much more than that.
Strengths and Weaknesses:
I think that I’m going to point out a strength and weakness that I’ve thought Faith has always had for this run that they’ve been in. I would presume that most of their church quizzing along with all Piedmont Quizzing Association quizzing incorporates only two teams. These guys can flat out two team quiz. I cannot ever recall this team finishing in second place. They just don’t do it. I’ve always said that their problem has been with the three team quizzing just to make it to the finals. I still think that their style is less suited to the fast paced quizzing that can occur when they face two other great teams. But, it seems like the more I’ve thought about it, the more I realize that this may not really be a weakness. I would be willing to bet that their percentage of making to the finals would probably be the highest of any ministry’s in the past five years. So, in all actuality, it seems like if you’re facing Faith in a three team quiz, you’re probably going to lose, but if you face them in a two team quiz, you will lose. The motto of the story: don’t quiz against Faith.
Top Quizzers:
I’m sure that by now, everyone is thinking “Whoo! I’m glad we don’t have to face Tiffany Parrott any more,” due to her graduation. Well, Faith not having Tiffany Parrott is definitely a good thing (unless you quiz for Faith or are a fan of theirs), but I’ve also got some bad news. Jonathan Bishop sunk a little under the radar last year after an incredible 10th grade year. This year he comes back for the last time. I think he’s going to have a huge year. A lot of people think that he’s past his prime—past his prime?—in high school. Well, I’ve heard some people suggest that there is just so much that your brain can hold and this guy has like 75% of the New Testament memorized. While I think that phenomena is possible, I don’t think Bishop will suffer from it. He’s got one year left, and one last chance to become one of the greatest quizzers of all time. Okay, I’m a big Jonathan Bishop fan, but I’ll stop and save some more of my good info for the season. One last quizzer we need to talk about, is Jonathan’s little brother, Joshua. Joshua will be moving up to the varsity team after a superb year in middles school. I expect that he’ll turn out to be the #2 quizzer on the team and could give Jonathan a little extra motivation to be better than his little brother.
Goal:
With two Bishops on the team, the sky is the limit for Faith. Once again, I’ll say that it’s a shame we don’t get to see these guys at AACS. I don’t think that a win at New Year’s Classic or SCQANIT or maybe both is out of the question and that’s what they’ll be gunning for.