MADISON – Scholar’s Bowl students in seventh-/eighth-grade teams at Discovery Middle School competed with 18 teams representing 12 schools at the Russellville Middle School Invitational on Jan. 5.

“Our A team earned third place, losing in a close semi-final match and winning decisively in the consolation round,” sponsor Dave Sippel said. Sippel teaches life science and elective classes for medical detectives and Scholar’s Bowl at Discovery.

“I wanted to coach the Scholar’s Bowl team because of the great kids I get to work with. I also observed Buckhorn past Scholar’s Bowl coach, Matt Dean, while I was getting my master’s degree. It looked like a lot of fun,” Sippel said.

Students with the highest averages earn a spot on Discovery’s top level ‘A’ team.

A’ team members are Miriam Dotson, Puja Chopade, Neha Chopade, Matthew Stern, Colin Bruyns and Elaine Bao. ‘B’ team includes Alexander Stern, Colby Sheehan, Abram Carlson, Ashwin Prabhakar, Thais Arslanbekov and Parx White.

C team members are Evan Brazeal, Kathleen Stephens, David Parker, Milind Brijesh and Alex Herrin.

The competition uses two four-member teams. The moderator reads a tossup question, and the first student to buzz in and answer correctly earns 10 points. Two bonus questions follow, worth 10 points each.

During the bonus, all four players can consult and answer in 10 seconds. A match has two periods plus a ‘worksheet’ section with 20 questions and 100-point, fill-in-the-blank questions.

“The difficulty depends on the player,” Sippel said about trying to place team members with varying strengths together.

An example of an easy question: “This spin-off of ‘Match Game’ debuted in 1976. Since 2010, comedian Steve Harvey has hosted this show. ‘Survey says’ is a catchphrase on what daytime game show in which two groups of relatives compete?”

An example of a difficult question: “In which Shakespeare play does the Earl of Gloucester attempt to jump off a cliff after the Duke of Cornwall has blinded him? The title character witnesses the execution of Cordelia, his youngest daughter.” (Answers appear below.)

Discovery Scholar’s Bowl team will compete in the Middle School Melee at Hoover High School on Jan. 19.

Answers: “Family Feud.” “King Lear.”