Sharks 5 - Ghana Christian Int. High vrs St Thomas Aquinas SHS

Ghana Christian International High and St. Thomas Aquinas SHS rekindled old flames in The Sharks Quiz.

St. Thomas Aquinas SHS and Ghana Christian International High were the first schools to appear at the grand finale of Senior Sharks Season 1.

In that epic grand finale, Ghana Christian High got the better of St. Thomas Aquinas SHS to become maiden winners of the prestigious Senior Sharks.

As fate would have it, their paths crossed once again at the preliminary stage: contest 2, episode 4, of Senior Sharks Season 5.

Will Ghana Christian Int. High flourish again or will St. Thomas Aquinas SHS exact their pound of flesh like Shylock?

According to proceedings, Ghana Christian High’s sterling resume in The Sharks Quiz apparently did not intimidate St. Thomas Aquinas SHS a wee bit.

The sons of St. Thomas Aquinas- the 13th century Italian Dominican philosopher and theologian also known as “angelic doctor" emphasised the primacy of their intellect.

Round 1

Ghana Christian High started this round after the ground rules had been read out by Quizmistress Madam Evelyn Agyepong.

Against the backdrop of their wealth of experience in The Sharks Quiz, forty(40) points in the ‘Right Corner’ round may be deemed insufficient.

St. Thomas Aquinas SHS took their turn and tackled their questions on two planes.

First, Frederick Opoku, a General Science student was thrust with the responsibility of answering the Social Literacy centred questions.

But when he appeared to run out of steam, Lennox Tawiah, a General Arts student took over and chauffeured St. Thomas Aquinas SHS to safety, missing only one question.

That smart strategy worked out nicely for St. Thomas Aquinas as they ended the first round with a respectable sixty(60) points.

Round 2

To maintain the momentum gained from the first round, Michael was introduced by St. Thomas Aquinas SHS to replace Lennox.

The Cantonments, Accra-based school started the round also and nailed the first three questions on proverbs.

Fully appraised of the strength of their old friends, Ghana Christian Int. High did not slack, as they also nailed their questions on proverbs.

The questions switched up and took on adjectives related questions.

Again, St. Thomas Aquinas SHS did not miss any of their questions and even added Ghana Christian High’s bonus question, in a manner that impressed Quizmistress greatly.

In the arithmetic, St. Thomas Aquinas SHS took the first question correctly on the stroke of the bell to pile more pressure on Ghana Christian Int. High.

Jeanette-Marie Akpaloo, Jason Acheampong, Morgan Tawiah and  Neena Zachariah, representing Ghana Christian Int. High were reeling under intense heat from the Old Toms, an affectionate term for St. Thomas Aquinas SHS.

Ghana Christian Int. High ended the round with thirty(30) points but the sublime St. Thomas Aquinas SHS were the better side with fifty-five(55) points.

Round 3

With their back against the wall, Ghana Christian Int. High threw in Timothy to lead them on redemption street.

On the reading of the first question, St. Thomas Aquinas SHS risked it all and buzzed with an answer, but the answer was inadmissible.

Ghana Christian Int. High waited till the full set of clues was read out and buzzed with the right answer.

The ‘Old Toms’ learnt a lesson from this and exercised a little more caution on the subsequent questions.

At the end of the Third Round, St. Thomas Aquinas was becoming a lovely spectacle as an all-round performance earned them another fifty-five(55) points.

Ghana Christian High were trailing again with thirty(30) points going into the home stretch of this contest.

Round 4

St. Thomas Aquinas SHS, the only day school to win the National Science and Maths Quiz in 2013, were in cruise control at this stage.

They were going to lose this truly entertaining contest by their own election.

In the One-on-one round, Jason and Asiedu stepped forward as experts for Ghana Christian Int. High and St. Thomas Aquinas SHS respectively.

Jason’s fervent sign of the cross supplication summarized the dire state the Hwiremoase, Ashanti- school found themselves.

And perhaps that was an honest admission that divine intervention, rather than human exertion could secure victory for them.

Asiedu was however unruffled at all by this open display of religiosity.

He buzzed quickest to spell the word “sacrilegious” for ten(10) points.

Both attempted the second word, but narrowly missed it.

Up next were Morgan and Michael representing Ghana Christian Int. High and St. Thomas Aquinas SHS respectively as the Math dons.

Michael hit the buzzer, but his answer was double the value of what the correct answer was, while Morgan got belled out.

Michael was not to be denied on the second question as he buzzed and delivered to loud cheers.

The Science specialty brought out Timothy and Mensah for Ghana Christian Int. High and St. Thomas Aquinas SHS respectively.

Striking a fine modulation between buzzing midstream and allowing the full set of clues to be read is an art that only a few contestants can master.

Mensah found himself in this conundrum when he risked and buzzed before quizmistress could land, but he was met with a “no I hadn't finished”.

Even though Timothy was left to figure out a solution after question was fully read, all the time he had at his disposal amounted to nothing.

Mensah was still adamant of his abilities and buzzed again on the second question to correctly bag home ten(10) points.

Lastly, Social Literacy experts were Jeanette and Opoku for Ghana Christian Int. High and St. Thomas Aquinas SHS respectively.

Time elapsed on the first photo up for identification, as both contestants stood in oblivion.

Young lady Jeanette, was probably not born at the height of UK-based Ghanaian band, Osibisa.

But she impressed quizmistress with her correct identification of Osibisa's song to bring a praiseworthy contest to a close.

Round Four scores had St. Thomas Aquinas SHS with thirty(30) points while Jeanette’s only answer in the General Knowledge segment gave Ghana Christian Int. High ten(10) points.

At the end of contest, St. Thomas Aquinas SHS had scored two hundred(200) points, being the second highest total points in Senior Sharks Season 5.

God is an Old Tom, indeed!

Scores at a glance( See infographics below)

The Senior Sharks Season 5 is headlined by Kellogg’s and supported by Indomie, Vivo, Fortune Rice and Schweppes.

Academic sponsors are Academic City University College, Ashesi University, Family Health University College, Lewis University, University of the Free State, Moringa School.

Media partners of The Sharks Quiz Season 5 are supadupanews.com, TV3, 3news, Pulse Ghana, Kwadwo Sheldon and High Schools Society.

The Sharks Quiz is part of the Academic Talent Development Program (ATDP) Foundation.