By: Stella Feistritzer

Despite the bad weather, our academic team competed at the District Governor’s Cup this weekend and came home as champions. The Rebels dominated the competition, scoring 70.5 points while the closest team had 43.5. Boyle placed first in both Quick Recall and Future Problem Solving, showing how strong and well-rounded the team is.

Individually, several students had standout performances. Desmond Rapp placed first in Math, while Charlotte Rodocker finished as runner-up. Ethan Ren earned first in Science, and Ellis Croshaw placed third. Jacob Kirchner took first in both Language Arts and Arts & Humanities, with Jada Maples placing third. In Written Composition, Frances Chatham finished first, Kathryn Lewis placed second, and Finn Strand earned third.

Team captain Jake Kirchner shared his thoughts on the season so far, saying, “This season has been excellent. Everyone on the team has been doing a great job studying and practicing. I’m especially impressed with the younger players because they’ve been working hard to learn difficult content and qualify for state and nationals. We swept most categories at districts, and I think we’ll have similar success at regionals as long as we don’t take it for granted. The future of this program looks bright.”

The Rebels will compete at regionals on February 16th and 21st. Congratulations to the academic team on an impressive district championship, and best of luck as they continue their season.

Last Saturday, Boyle County’s Academic Team won the Regional Governor’s Cup by getting the overall Region Champion title, Quick Recall Region Champions, and FPS Region Champions!

Senior Sam Hackworth, placing Region Runner-Up in Social Studies shares, “When we go to State, we need to stay focused and we need to work on our mistakes. We made a pretty dominant show in regions but still there’s a lot to grow, a lot to do. I think it’s a good opportunity, I think we can do really well.” 

Congratulations to the following:

MATH: Micah Brown- Region Runner-Up, Desmond Rapp-5th place

SCIENCE: Ellis Croshaw-4th place

SOCIAL STUDIES: Sam Hackworth-Region Runner-Up

LANGUAGE ARTS: Daniel Leber-Region Champion, Jacob Kirchner-3rd place

ARTS & HUMANITIES: Jada Maples-Region Champion, Jacob Kirchner-3rd place

On Saturday, February 8th, at Central Hardin High School, the Rebel Academic Team participated in the new “Pace” format of quick recall. There were new rules and customs to get used to, but they quickly racked up the wins. 

Going into this competition, the BCHS Rebel Academic team was the 12th district champions and was already headed to the National Quizbowl competition in Atlanta over the summer, along with having other successes in previous tournaments. The Rebels had high expectations for themselves. The team was composed of Jacob Kirchner (Jr.), Sam Hackworth (Sr.), Daniel Leber (Sr.), and Jada Maples (Jr.).

In the morning half of the tournament, the Rebels had lived up to their expectations in terms of their record. They would go 4-1, only losing to the out-of-state Detroit Catholic Central, while going on to beat the reigning state champions Paul Lawrence Dunbar, a magnet school based out of Louisville.  

Despite what the positive record coming out of the morning rounds may reflect, the Rebels played at a slower pace than they are accustomed to, and there were a lot of mistakes. Whether that can be attributed to sleepiness, adjusting to new rules, a slump, or a mixture of all of the above remains to be seen. “Jacob didn't drink his tea, Sam was asleep on the bus, but I was ready the whole day”, said Daniel Leber on the matter.

Team captain, and Junior, Jacob Kirchner was also the team's leading scorer coming out of the first half of the day. The title of “leading scorer” shifts from time-to-time between competitions, but Jacob comes out on top many of those times. There’s always a sense of competition between the individuals on the team, with the hope that competition between each other will convert to higher scores and more wins. While staying competitive with each other, they maintain a strong level of team chemistry, as most of them have been teammates and classmates since middle school.

The Rebels came out of lunch and into the second round confident, placing into the top bracket, but understanding that they needed to up their game when it came to playing top competition. While many of the games were close, with the Rebels leading out of halftime in majority, they ended up 0-5 in the last half of the day. Out of all of the top brackets, the Rebels were the only one to be an in-state fully public school. “We recognize this is how we get better; by playing tough competition”, said Coach Murphy, when asked about the competition in the top bracket. He also said “I’m proud of our teams ability to hold their own amid a competitive field”, and “The fact that we were one of only two teams from Kentucky, and the only public non-magnet at that, speaks volumes”

The Rebels also put up a B team, a mixture of extra players and volunteers, such as Nate Snow and Gabe Preston. Despite close matches against tough opponents, the Rebel B team went 0-5 in the morning and afternoon rounds of the competition.

As far as what this competition entails for the remainder of the season, “It puts us in the mix at regions and state with some of the top teams”, said Coach Murphy. The Rebels see this tournament as proof of their talent and potential as well as a learning opportunity as they try to clean up their game and cover their weaknesses in upcoming tournaments.

Last Saturday, Boyle County’s Academic Team won the 45th District Championship. All of their students placed first in every team and individual event of the competition, and every Boyle student who competed won a medal!

Senior Sam Hackworth, placing 1st in social studies testing, shares,“We came into the match confident and cautiously optimistic because we put a lot of work into it leading into this competition starting at the beginning of the school year, Mr. Murphy has prepared us pretty well, we won districts last year and we were hoping to repeat and this time we did. We are very proud of our accomplishments, everyone is moving on to regions and we’re very proud of that.”

Congratulations to the following:

 Quick Recall District Champions

—Team included Logan Ball, Micah Brown, Ellis Croshaw, Sam Hackworth, Jacob Kirchner (captain), Daniel Leber, Jada Maples, Desmond Rapp

Future Problem Solving District Champions

—District team included Frances Chatham, Campbell Johnson, Emery Herron, Emma Taylor

Individual Results:

Math

Micah Brown - District Champion

Desmond Rapp - 2nd

Logan Ball - 3rd

Science

Ellis Croshaw - District Champion

Daniel Leber - 4th

Social Studies

Sam Hackworth - District Champion

Ellis Croshaw - 4th

Clara Cooley - 5th

Language Arts

Daniel Leber - District Champion

Jacob Kirchner - 2nd

Kathryn Lewis - 5th

Arts & Humanities

Jacob Kirchner - District Champion

Jada Maples - 2nd

Written Composition

Luisa Sanchez - District Champion

Kathryn Lewis - 4th

Finn Strand - 5th

The Rebels next competition will be Regionals on February 8th!

This October on the 26th, Boyle County’s Academic Team participated in the Berea Academic Tournament where they came in 1st winning the Tournament championship. The A team consisted of Sam Hackworth, Jacob Kirchner [captain], Daniel Leber, and Jada Maples. 

Boyle County’s B Team placed 3rd overall in the tournament. This team consisted of Ellis Croshaw [captain], Desmond Rapp, and Charlotte Rodocker. 

Individually, the Rebels had 5 players rank among the top ten: 

Desmond Rapp - 2nd overall with 51.88 points per game

Sam Hackworth - 3rd overall with 49.38 points per game

Jacob Kirchner - 4th overall with 48.75 points per game

Ellis Croshaw - 8th overall with 40.00 points per game

Daniel Leber - 10th overall with 36.25 points per game

The next Academic Team Tournament will take place on November 16th.