Webb Team A claims PBS Scholars Bowl championship
While the airing started Monday, June 9, with L&N STEM vs. West Ridge A Team, the championship round showdown, when Webb School of Knoxville’s Team A won against Jefferson County High School, will air Aug. 28.
“I’m thrilled and really, really proud,” said the team’s coach and Latin teacher Jenny Fields. “They worked really hard.
“This particular team really wanted it; they put the work in, and it paid off,” she added. “But it’s also sometimes really a matter of luck … we’ve had some good teams in the past — it’s a single elimination tournament — and so if you lose a match, that’s the end of your season.
“So, I’m really, really pleased for them to win — and humbled.We’ve had teams in the past we thought could take it all the way and then something goes wrong. They have an off day or another team just brings a little bit more to the table.
In short, “Anything can happen,” Field said.
In the championship round, “it did come down to the one final question,” the Webb coach said. “That’s how close of a margin it was.
“The other team, Jefferson County, had an excellent team, really strong players, and they played a good game,” Fields added. “We were ahead by one question, really.
“It could very easily had gone the other way, but they kids just dug in and fought for every point, which is what you have to do.”
She said the school’s B team also “did very, very well,” labeling them “fierce competitors.”
Scholars Bowl “is designed that any school that has two or more teams in the tournament, that eventually those two teams (from the same school) have to play each other before it goes into the Smart 16 round,” Fields said. “It’s impossible for a school to have two teams in the championship.
“That game the A and B team played was very close, too,” she added.
As for history, “I think (Webb has) had a team since the ’80s,” Fields said. “I’ve been the coach since 2017.
This season, “Our (A) team has six kids, but only four can play at a time — four starters and two alternates,” the coach said.
With Webb having A (varsity) and B (junior varsity) teams, she had 12 students who participated.
“It’s up to the coach if we want to make any substitutes (with the alternates during the game),” Fields said. “I usually try to put the alternates in just so everybody can play.
‘”I think it’s good for everybody to be on TV at least once,” she added.
However, “it’s nerve-wracking,” Fields said. “It’s very different when we’re practicing in the classroom with the buzzers and things, and then when you get with the lights and the cameras and all the sound guys in there, it’s a lot more stressful to the kids than they show on TV.”
Still, “they do a good job with it,” she added.
FHS, HVA tie for fifth
Elsewhere in Scholars Bowl, Farragut High School’s team tied for fifth place with Hardin Valley Academy’s Team A.
