Brain Game
West Rowan Wins Quiz Bowl

BY SUSAN DICKERSON
SALISBURY POST

''Let's rock.''

That's how Nick Davis, a West Rowan High junior, began Tuesday night's Rowan Public Library Quiz Bowl.

And rock his teammates did.

West Rowan went on to defeat Salisbury High 155 to 110 for the championship.

The bowl, lasting more than two hours, captured all the emotion of a typical competition - tension, anxiety, anger, sadness and laughter.

''Who is North Carolina's Lieutenant Governor?'' elicited the answer: ''Something with a B?''

And don't forget ''What former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture was found not guilty of corruption in a recent trial?''

One team answered the universal ''Smith.'' Another team answered ''Farmer Bob.''

The audience just laughed.

The anger came when an East team member realized the Salisbury team had received its second warning for conferring too early - which, in the rules, means their question is disqualified. The bowl officials didn't catch it, and Salisbury was allowed to answer their question, albeit incorrectly.

A few questions later and at the end of the match, which Salisbury won, an East team member caught the mistake and challenged the call, loudly and publicly.

The judges told the team member he was challenging improperly, too late after the question. And after conferring with other officials, Melody Moxley, authority for the bowl, told the audience the call wouldn't have mattered because Salisbury didn't answer the question correctly anyway.

That East team member left angrily and didn't return.

It was drama in the standing room only Stanback Room.

East, the two-time reigning champion, fell to Salisbury High. The East team held virtually the same faces as it did last year, just one member shy of the original team - Robert Basinger, who couldn't fly out of Canada to return home. He was fogged in.

East lost to West and went on to lose a second match to Salisbury.

With East out of the way, Nick was worried about Salisbury.

Salisbury lost its first match to North, and defeated East in its second match.

Salisbury's third match, probably the most exciting in the bowl, pitted the team against South.

After the first round, Salisbury was up 40 to 20.

After round two, South rallied back for an 80 to 70 score.

''South came from behind,'' Nick muttered to himself. ''This could be interesting.''

But South fell to Salisbury, 80 to 205.

''Good Lord, they licked 'em,'' Nick said, looking at scores.

As his West teammates took their seats for the final match, Nick said, ''Here goes.''

With West undefeated, Nick ran through the possibilities. ''So we could lose this one, and still be OK.''

''What is prevaricating?''

Neither team could answer. ''Audience?''

''Lying,'' the audience answered back.

Round one left the teams tied at 30 to 30.

In round two, the West team had to answer: ''What is the term for the general study of motion?''

''Kinetics,'' the team answered.

''Incorrect,'' the judges ruled. Muttering went across the audience. The judge asked them to repeat their answer.

''Just one moment.''

The judges began conferring.

Nick began looking around, angry. His right arm began tapping out a staccato beat on his right leg. ''It is kinetics.''

He raised his arm and began tapping out a lighter beat on the wall with his fingers. ''I would think so,'' said his coach, Keith Townsend. ''I think it's right.''

''I'm sure it's right,'' Nick whispered back. ''I don't know what the problem is.''

He couldn't stand it any longer. ''I'm going to get some water.''

And then the judges returned their ruling: ''We're going to throw out the question, and we'll give you another. It's too ambiguous.''

The answer given with the question is ''kinematics.''

At the end of round two, the score: West 110, Salisbury 80.

In round three, Salisbury's defeat came with a question like: ''What type of radiation has the lowest wavelength and the highest frequency in the electromagnetic field?''

Salisbury had the question and answered: ''Alpha?''

''Incorrect.''

''Gamma,'' West answered.

''Correct.''

Before the last question, Nick sensed victory. He pursed the smile behind tight lips.

At the announcement of the end of the match, he whispered to himself, ''I'm going to contain myself. I'm being cool.''

After a long dry spell of county Quiz Bowl victories, Townsend, Nick and West teammates took the big trophy home.

They slapped each other on the back, and Nick said, ''You know, I broke my finger today.''

You wouldn't have known it by the way he took that hand and slapped his leg, tapped the wall and held his chin in his hand.

And it didn't matter that he wasn't one of the four at the table answering the questions. ''Me and Coach are the same. We know history and nothing else,'' Nick said.

West goes on to the district Quiz Bowl competition on March 27 in Statesville. And if they win that, they go on to the state competition in April.