The MTA varsity and JV college bowl teams attended their first meet of the season on Thursday, November 9, at Heschel High School. The varsity team entered the meet having just missed the championship last year and were determined to come through early this season. Team members include captain Baruch Schwartz, Joseph Friedman, Akiva Poppers, Zach Gurwitz, Zevi Cohen, Moshe Hecht and Noam Putterman. In their first match, they decimated Magen David 31-3. In fact, the team started on a 17-0 run, only to be broken by Magen David’s first correct guess. Next, the team faced an imposing Heschel squad—the home team—whose members wore intimidating hats and were just coming off a win against SAR. But the MTA team was not afraid, and they absolutely obliterated Heschel, winning 40-21. The last match proved to be the most difficult, as Ramaz and MTA seemed to be very evenly matched. MTA held numerous advantages, but a few mistakes by the reader helped Ramaz win 27-23. However, the team was not disheartened, as their 2-1 start puts them in a tie in what is by far the toughest college bowl division.

The junior varsity team lost many players to varsity this year, but the new additions were ready to show that they are up for the challenge. Unfortunately, the team lost their first game against Ramaz despite a valiant effort, with a final score of 29-21. However, the team pulled through and won its next game with a score of 31-15 over Flatbush. They went on to crush Magen David 25-3. The team, captain Benny Mermel, Zakkai Notkin, Yedidya Schechter, Yosef Flamenbaum, Jonathan Sherman, Binyamin Fox and Noam Steinmetz, hope to sustain their momentum and advance to win it all this year. Both teams are furiously studying and practicing. With the next meet in February, we will have to wait and see if their efforts bear fruit.

By Akiva Poppers (‘18) and Zakkai Notkin (‘19)