The Ocosta High School Knowledge Bowl team won its second straight meet, continuing its domination of the competition, in a competition at Grays Harbor College on Friday, Dec. 9. The Wildcats outscored second place Naselle 97-74 in preliminary rounds, then beat them again in the finals 11-4.

Ocosta’s second team placed third, missing out on second place in a tiebreaker.

First team never behind

For the second meet in a row, the team of Sam and Daniel Quinby, Drake and Teal Mitby and Hunter Hatton never trailed through a written round, four oral rounds and the finals.

This time they had a narrow lead over Naselle after the written round, 31-30. They increased the lead to five, 51-46, after the opening oral round and to 63-56 after round two. Ocosta then buried the Comets over the next two rounds, moving ahead 77-63 before ending with a 97-74 difference.

The team slowly built a lead in the finals before winning the competition 11-4-4.

Second team battles

Ocosta’s second team, meanwhile, was in a battle with Hoquiam for third and fourth place. The Wildcats had a single point lead after the written round, 28-27, then trailed by one after the first oral round, 41-40.

Ocosta built a 52-48 advantage over the Grizzlies at the halfway point of the oral rounds. Hoquiam wouldn’t give in and regained the third place spot in the next round, 60-59.

In a day of lead changes, Ocosta had the final lead 67-66 to notch the final spot in the finals.

The second team lost a playoff round for second place, falling to Naselle, 3-1. Members of the second team include Grant Reid, Zach Allton, Joe Wardlow and Gerrick Sweet.