The University High School Academic Team made school history last week when they won, for the first time, the White River Academic League (WRAL) championship.
Seniors Alex Brinkman, AJ Johnson, Jay Maturi, Jack Paganelli, and Tom Plant represented the Trailblazers in a four-team tournament of WRAL division winners on Thursday, Feb. 15. The Trailblazers won the Northwest division in the regular season with a 7-0 record, and the team was seeded #1 for the tournament as a result. Other teams were #2 seed North Central High School (Northeast division winners), #3 seed Center Grove High School (South division winners), and #4 seed Noblesville High School (Far Northeast division winners).
In the semifinal round of the WRAL division winners tournament, the Trailblazers faced Noblesville High School. The scoring was back-and-forth throughout the first round, with the score tied at 14-14 at the end. The second round saw the Trailblazers take control of the match. Paganelli scored on the first two toss-ups, while Johnson scored on the next two, so University controlled all four bonus categories. This put the overall score at 38-14. In the 60-second round, the teams were even in their scoring after the first two categories. However, University swept its second category, while Noblesville only got six points on theirs. The Trailblazers headed in the fourth round with a 57-28 lead. University scored on five of the first ten questions to put the match out of reach and ended up with a 75-37 win.
The Trailblazers advanced to the finals to face North Central High School, creating a rematch from the previous weekend’s WRAL League Tournament. The Trailblazers took command early, outscoring North Central 22-8 in the first round. North Central whittled almost all of this lead away by taking the first two toss-up questions in the bonus round and outscoring the Trailblazers by six in the corresponding bonus categories. The lead was down to 24-20 in the middle of the round. In an important turnaround for our team, Maturi and Paganelli scored the next two toss-up questions, and the Trailblazers outscored the Panthers by eight on their corresponding bonus categories. The score stood at 38-22 going into round three. The Trailblazers did well in the 60-second round, outscoring North Central 18-11. The scoring heading into the last round of the championship match was 56-33. North Central cut into this lead by scoring on two of the first four questions, but the Trailblazers responded by scoring on nine out the next ten questions! As a great show of team depth, all five players scored in this final round! University High School, for the first time, earned the championship of the White River Academic League, with a final score of 83-39 over North Central!
This victory is a major accomplishment for the Trailblazers. The WRAL is the largest academic league in the state, with 34 teams (more than 50% of all academic teams in the state are in the WRAL).
Next up for the Trailblazers is the state tournament on Saturday, March 17. Good luck to the team!