A Tale of Two Academic Teams

Chapter 19: Debate's Last Stand

The Venomous Agendas play their second playoff game against Darien, and win handily, 510-230. Going into their third playoff game, nothing seemed to stop the Venomous Agendas on their path to victory.

But Detroit Country Day, DCC's perennial rivals on the buzzer and on the debate floor, proves too much for the Venomous Agendas, and the result of their game against Detroit Country Day is crushing, as the moderator announces them:

"And that's the game. Detroit Country Day wins, four hundred sixty to three hundred"

Whoa! That was my worst game all tournament! Sadie ruminates while realizing she didn't score nearly as much against Detroit Country Day vs even Bellarmine, Whitman or Boston Latin. There isn't much time left before their next game begins, and Sadie bursts into tears upon seeing the playoff bracket on the HSNCT companion application. In front of dozens of observers.

"Sadie? Are you all right?" Anna asks Sadie, suspecting her poor performance against Detroit Country Day to be the reason.

"The higher we go, the more pressure we feel, and I certainly do" Sadie answers, while she keeps crying.

"No matter what happens, we're in the top-twenty. That's already a lot for us without Imélie" Anna tries to calm Sadie down.

At this moment, Kelsie, as well as her LD teammate, Chloe, and other people that appear drawn to Sadie because of some kindred spirit based on their speech and debate experience, congregate around the Imperial Ballroom A. The Venomous Agendas are set to play TJHSST A next in this room.

"Now that Bellarmine is eliminated, there are no other debaters left; you now represent the entire debating world on the buzzer!" Chloe starts this chorus of howls, directed at Sadie, and Bellarmine's tournament being over, having lost their game against TJHSST A.

"Show them that your successes on the debate floor don't drag you down on the buzzer!" Kelsie shouts from behind Chloe.

The entire group of debaters only makes up a portion of people in the Imperial Ballroom A for that game. Maybe 15-20 players total. But as they advance through the rounds, the more people fill up the rooms that remain in use for playoff games. A stark contrast that makes compared to prelim games, which were mostly played to a handful at most.

"This is round twenty-five of the playoffs of the 2026 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament. This game pits the eight card against the twenty-six card. From Virginia we have Thomas Jefferson Science and Tech A and from Louisiana, we have..." Hector announces to the crowd in the room.

It's the third year in a row we play TJHSST at the HSNCT. By now we're bitter rivals with them on the buzzer as well as in the mathletic arena, Warren thinks while the team gets seated for the game. Sadie, in particular, seems to be shaking in her seat before the game even starts. I can kind of feel like Sadie is going to implode at some point.

"Tossup number one: this kind of event..."

The tossup then goes on to describe specific instances of what the answer is. But the players are dumbfounded early on. Yet, as the third clue starts...

"It's not a war of succession, but..." Hector reads at a rate that's a bit faster than conversational but not fast enough to amount to spreading as understood by policy and progressive LD players.

Of course! If it's not a war of succession, and the events described before seem to imply elite infighting... Sadie reflects before pressing the buzzer like a syringe, narrowly missing the power mark.

"Palace coup" Sadie answers.

"Ten. For ten points each..."

They lost Imélie; she was a fantastic science player. How are we not going to lose this game? The Colonials' coach muses, upon seeing that past games against the Venomous Agendas were close but what seems to have changed is the VAs no longer being as strong in science as they used to. Notwithstanding that, in both previous games, TJHSST lost on the last tossup, scored by the VAs' debaters.