Reach For The Top Trivia Teams Lose Playoffs In Semifinals

On Friday, March 27, at Knox Presbyterian Church in Kitchener, PHS’s two Reach for the Top teams each earned a spot in season playoffs--only to lose in semifinals by narrow margins. Though rather disappointed that they were unable to compete in the finals of the buzz-in trivia game, the teams are proud of their performance and the points that they did score.

“Our hard work this season hasn’t paid off quite like we wanted it to,” said Erin Kinzie, intermediate team member, “but we’ve done our best and had some wins to be proud of.”

Playing their last regular-season matches on Friday, the intermediate team suffered a close loss, while the senior team scored a win. Both teams qualified for playoffs with high hopes.

Preston’s intermediate team--composed of Erin Kinzie, Marina Grekoff-Hunt, Keira Madden, and borrowed senior member Laura Zehr--faced off with #2 seed Cameron Heights in the semifinal. The game was tight, and with a final score of 240-210 for Cameron, PHS lost by only 3 questions.

Lucas Haddaway, Berker Elyay, Daphne Van Delst, and Kimberley Pita made up the senior team for the semifinal as they played the 2nd-seeded SJAM. PHS trailed in points for the majority of the match’s 3 rounds, but very nearly managed to close the gap as the game came to a close--of the final 10 “snapper” questions, Berker Elyay single-handedly won 7. Ultimately, Preston was edged out by only 10 points.

On Tuesday, March 31st, to round out their season on a positive note, the teams played their annual student vs. teacher game, against a teacher team of DeLonghi, Haddaway, Bout, and Mme. Gendron. The students blew the teachers out of the water, winning the game 440-240.

Reach for the Top is a trivia game in which 2 teams of 4 players face off and buzz in to answer questions on any variety of subjects. Preston’s teams (coached by Mr. DeLonghi, Mr. Haddaway, and Mrs. Bout) compete against schools from throughout Waterloo County in several tournaments throughout the year.

Said Erin Kinzie about the 2014-2015 season, “Now that the season’s over, we’re proud of what we’ve done and we’ve had some fun. We are definitely looking forward to winning that final next year.”

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