Blue Mountain High School won the Schuylkill County Academic Competition on Monday for the fourth year in a row.
The team won with a score of 100 to 80 against Pottsville Area after the championship match.
Junior Quentin Moyer, 17, a member of Blue Mountain's team, gave credit to coach Steve Zimmerman and volunteer assistant coach Richard Tomko, a former teacher at Blue Mountain High School.
"They're fantastic teachers and excellent role models," he said.
Zimmerman said all the members of the team complement each other. The team will now go on to compete in the state competition May 3 in Harrisburg.
Monday was the 21st year for the Schuylkill County Academic Competition for students in grades nine through 12. Ten schools participated in the competition held for the first time at the Schuylkill County Courthouse.
Commissioner Gary Hess said, "this is great that we could move it to the courthouse," something that might happen again in the future.
The schools that participated were: Blue Mountain, North Schuylkill, Mahanoy Area, Pine Grove Area, Nativity BVM, Pottsville Area, Schuylkill Haven Area, Tri-Valley, Shenandoah Valley and Williams Valley. Last year, seven schools participated and the competition was held at the Pine Grove Area High School.
All the students received a certificate and first, second and third place each were awarded medals, said Evelyn Wassel, supervisor of technology integration and district support consultant for Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29.
Questions ranged from current events to facts in history books.
For example, one of the questions was, "Who was the last pope to resign from office before Pope Benedict XVI?"
The answer is Pope Gregory XII.
More than 100 students took part in the competition. To start the event, they all met in Courtroom No. 1. The students sat on the benches and chatted among themselves.
Shenandoah Valley coach Mike Elchisak said his students were prepared for the event.
"I think we'll do well," he said.
Students from Blue Mountain were humble about how they might do in the competition.
"We're just happy to be here," said Steve Beres, 18, a senior.
Tomko said the event is a chance for students to show what they know to the public.
"It's anybody's game," he said.
Theresa Kozura, special programs assistant for the IU 29, welcomed the students and others to the four-hour-long event.
Students then went to their respective courtrooms, either 1, 4 or 5, to begin the competition. Four students sat at each table to answer questions from a moderator. Points were given for correct answers.
At the 5:30 p.m. intermission, Blue Mountain was in the lead with 250 points, followed by Pottsville with 240 points, Schuylkill Haven, 200, and Mahanoy and Nativity BVM, tied for fourth with 150.
At the end of the night, Pottsville Area took home second place, Schuylkill Haven placed third and Nativity placed fourth.
Commissioner George Halcovage Jr. said he was impressed with the students' knowledge.
The commissioners later took the students up to the clock tower in the courthouse for a tour.
"There's actually people from 1913 that have signed on here," Halcovage said about a wooden enclosure for the clock mechanism.
Traci Moyer, 17, a Schuylkill Haven School District student, said she enjoyed the visit.
"I thought it was pretty awesome. Most people don't' get the chance to do this," she said of visiting the tower.