Bluffton took home top honors at the 2023 Northwest Conference Scholastic Bowl Tournament held Friday, December 15, at The Ohio State University at Lima. Van Wert County rivals Crestview and Lincolnview tied for runner-up in the varsity division. Spencerville won the junior varsity division and Lincolnview took home runner-up.
The winning varsity team from Bluffton included Cole Bowers, Asa Clingerman, Caitlyn Couch, Carly Hannum, Alyssa Hoffman, Liam Jordan, Avery Kinn, Ethan Nickel, Tesa Stricklen and John-Paul Yoder. The team finished with a 7-1 record to win the tournament. The runner-up varsity team from Crestview finished with a 6-2 record and included Sam Boroff, Jacob Pawlick, Quinn Tomlinson, Saxton Short and Levi Ludwig. The Lincolnview team also finished with a 6-2 record and included Clayton Priest, Lindsey Hatcher, Ashley McKenzie, Siska VanWynsberghe and Evan Elling.
The winning JV team from Spencerville included John Holtzapple, Nathan Hemker, Beau Kyler, Ayden Briggs, Max Wiss and Noah Eutsler. The team finished with an 6-1 record. The runner-up JV team from Lincolnview included Delana Rank, Kendall Hoffman, Abby Dannenfelser, Olivia Moonshower, Ella Elling, Abby Jones, Zach Newell, Gavin Priest, Grace Custer and Tyler Eddy. Their record was 5-2.
The Bluffton coaches are Brigette Hoff and Scott Hoff. Lincolnview coach is Deb Stetler, Crestview is Aimee Bassett and Spencerville is Joshua Vasquez.
The Northwest Conference Scholastic Bowl All Tournament Team was chosen by the coaches and made up of one member from each school. The 2023 All Tournament Team members are Dakota Gossman from Ada, Ransom Holman from Allen East, John-Paul Yoder from Bluffton, Simon Zimmerly from Columbus Grove, Sam Boroff from Crestview, Charlie Wagner from Delphos Jefferson, Gavin Bryan from Leipsic, Clayton Priest from Lincolnview, and Ashton Peters from Spencerville.
High school teams went head-to-head in the round-robin scholastic bowl tournament. Varsity and junior varsity teams from Ada (Gary Wells), Allen East (Kristin Dixon), Bluffton (Brigette Hoff and Scott Hoff), Columbus Grove (John Vennekotter), Crestview (Aimee Bassett), Delphos Jefferson (Rebekah Dubey and Marie Groch), Leipsic (Robb Cupp), Lincolnview (Deb Stetler), and Spencerville (Joshua Vasquez) competed. Coaches’ names are in parentheses.
The competition is hosted and sponsored by The Ohio State University at Lima.