The FQA Atlanta Division also held its opening tournament of the season last Saturday – the Atlanta Springboard. There were six teams representing three ministries: Athens, Georgia Tech, and new comer Old Suwannee.
Athens:
After a somewhat disappointing year marked by not winning the state of Georgia for the first time ever (maybe, I didn’t do any fact checking but at least for the first time that I’ve ever heard of…..), Athens looked to get off to a good start for next year. They brought three teams, the best of which was their middle school guys team led by Daniel Zimpfer and Zachary Homentowski.
Old Suwannee:
Both of Old Suwannee’s teams were great. Since they hadn’t had much experience quizzing before, I was expecting maybe one mediocre team and another that would just try to get a question or two every quiz. I was wrong. Both teams not only got questions, but also were capable of beating anyone else at the tournament.
Georgia Tech:
Because school had let out for us, my two usual teammates were in South Georgia and France respectively when they should have been quizzing. Luckily, I was able to call upon my roommate, Kenny Bradley to come to the rescue.
Morning Rounds:
The morning rounds were fun for everyone. Old Suwannee proved that they indeed would be able to compete, Athens had a team of three middle schoolers talking trash to a couple of college guys, and Georgia Tech used their experience to collect only high wins.
Playoffs:
The top four seeds advanced to the playoffs for a set of single elimination two team quizzes. In the 2v3 quiz, Athens 1 defeated Old Suwannee 1 handily as their two big guns both quizzed out. In the 1v4 quiz, Georgia Tech looked posed to win especially with their addition of Joey D. during lunch. However, it was not to be, Old Suwannee used a complete team effort to defeat the older guys.
The third place quiz put the #1 seed Georgia Tech against the #2 seed Old Suwannee 1. Again, Old Suwannee’s team first mentality enabled them to coast to third place.
However Old Suwannee 2 proved to be no match for the young Athens quizzers who grabbed the Atlanta Springboard championship and look like they could be one of the top middle school teams in the country this year.
The results are available in their entirety on here on the FQA website
Synopsis:
Although the FQA Atlanta division does not yet compare to the FQA South division, I think that we are seeing the beginnings of something good in Georgia. I don’t think that we had any teams last week that are going to be challenging for a national championship this year, but eventually they could. With the addition of Eagles Landing during the school year and hopefully some more teams, it will be interesting to see how the league develops and matches up with the FQA South at the joint tournaments to be held at the end of the year.