STANWOOD – It may not have been their first rodeo, but it might have been their first rodeo question.

M-P, despite being in last place after the first round of the regular season, scrambled back to earn a playoff berth and then outpointed Meadowdale and Lynnwood in one semifinal. The Monroe Bearcats, defending 2017 Hi-Q champions and fourth in the regular season, worked past Archbishop Murphy and Marysville-Getchell in the other semifinal.

The finals of the high school quiz contest were Monday morning at Stanwood High School.

After getting an art history question right, M-P had 20 points, compared with league-champion Stanwood with 24 and Monroe with 16.

For its team choice selection, it picked geography. The question was about a huge rodeo in Canada. No one on the Tomahawks knew about the Calgary Stampede

After M-P’s miss, which was answered correctly by Stanwood, the Spartans cruised to victory with 39 points, compared with 25 for Monroe and 23 for M-P.

From then on, M-P only answered one question right for three points in world history. The first half the match was extremely close. At one point is was 13-12-10 after all three correctly answers questions regarding Literature.

Competing for M-P’s team were seniors Fatima Al-Rikabi, Nate Novy, Deacon Mongar, Sarah Turral, along with freshmen Esperanza Gonzales and Isabelle Santos. Their advisor is Amy Armstrong.

Stanwood will compete in a web-based national Hi-Q championship against champions from Pennsylvania, Alabama and Wisconsin/Michigan April 13.