Washington County Enterprise-Leader
The Answer Is ...
Coleman Warren, captain of Farmington’s Academic Competition in Education team, answers a question during the final round of the ACE championship Thursday at Bentonville West High School. His teammates include Matt Everett (from left), Alexy Oslica and Jayden Goff. Bentonville won the championship, with Farmington in second and Gravette in third.
CENTERTON — The championship for the Academic Competition in Education 2017 season came down to the last question with all three schools — Farmington, Gravette and Bentonville — in contention for the title.
The championship match was Thursday in the Performing Arts Center at Bentonville West High School in Centerton.
Going into the last question, Farmington was in the lead with 33 points. Gravette was one point behind with 32 points and Bentonville had 31 points, as the teams waited on moderator Larry Driver with Northwest Arkansas Cooperative Educational Service to ask the final question, a toss-up that any team could answer for four points and the win.
The final question was from art history: “Name this 17th century French artist who often used a lone candle to light the subjects in his paintings, a technique exemplified in ‘Magdalene Smoking Flame.’”
Bentonville buzzed in first before Driver finished the question and correctly answered “Georges de La Tour” giving the team four points and the first- place trophy with an unofficial 35 points. Teams are allowed to challenge answers after the match and the official score for the round ended up as Bentonville, 38 points; Farmington, 33; and Gravette, 31.
The top three teams also receive money awards. Bentonville scored $2,000. Farmington’s ACE team will receive $1,500 and Gravette, $1,000.
ACE is an academic competition involving nine Northwest Arkansas schools. Teams accumulated points over the season and the seven teams with the most points advanced to semi-final and final matches.
Farmington came into the championship round with a bye as the No. 1 seed. Farmington won all three of its matches throughout the year and had a total of 157 points, for an average of 52.3 points per game.
The other six teams competed in semi- final rounds Thursday morning with the winner of each advancing to the championship game.
Prairie Grove’s ACE team, seeded sixth with a total of 106 points for the season, competed against Bentonville, seeded second, and Bentonville West, seeded seventh, in the first semi-final match. Bentonville won the match with 41 points. Prairie Grove was second with 33 points, while Bentonville West had 27 points.
In the second semi-final match of the day, secondseeded Gravette defeated Shiloh Christian and Lifeway Christian.
After the championship match, Driver commended all students for their diligence in studying for ACE matches and thanked coaches for the challenges they made.
“This is how it’s supposed to work,” Driver said. “Your coaches did what they could to squeeze out all the points they could for you.”
Coleman Warren, Farmington’s ACE captain, said the team started practicing in October, showing up at 7:20 a.m. each morning before school. The team opened the season with its highest score, 63 points.
Farmington had seven seniors and three juniors on its team, with most of the students first-time players.
Senior Matthew Everett said he didn’t really know anything about ACE before his senior year. After learning more about it, Everett said he decided to try out for the team.
Warren, a junior with two years’ experience, said he believed this year’s team had good chemistry and worked well together because many were already friends.
Donna Mitchell, ACE coach for Prairie Grove High School, said her students worked hard to prepare for ACE competitions. They met before school, participated in review sessions and studied on their own.
“They struggled a little throughout the season to perform at the level they were wanting, but they brought their A-game for the final competition, just barely missing the opportunity to play in the final game by a couple of questions,” Mitchell said. “I am very proud of the dedication these kids give to learning.”
Other schools involved this year were Greenland and Siloam Springs.