The Oak Grove Panthers and Lincoln Cardinals ended trophy droughts for their academic teams after this weekend’s MSHSAA State Scholar Bowl Championships in Columbia.

The Panthers took a lead in the second half of their Class Four, third-place game against Clever, holding off the BlueJays with a 330-310 victory Saturday, May 10. Senior Jean Quivoron said the game was tense.

The hero of the match was Chase Rinehart, who claimed four tossups in the second half to lead Oak Grove. Clever had the stronger bonus conversion, averaging 14 points out of 30 per each set to Oak Grove’s 12.50. The BlueJays had a chance to force overtime by answering the last tossup, but the first part of the last bonus rebounded to Panthers. Oak Grove answered it correctly to lock up third place in their first appearance at state since 2008. Oak Grove had dropped their round-robin matches to Clever as well as Bayless of south St Louis County and Fulton, to end up in the third-place match. Fulton fell to Bayless 470-220 in the Class Four championship.

The NCMC and MRVC both had teams competing for the Class Five title. Mexico overcame a round-robin loss to New Heights Christian of Joplin to tame the Cougars 590-210, winning the Bulldogs their program’s first state title. Center fell to Webster Groves in the third place match 560-140. The Class Six title went to St Joseph Central, who dislodged defending champions Lindbergh 390-380.

Lincoln brought home fourth place in Class Two on Friday, coming up short against Brentwood in the third-place match 230-170. Captain Thomas Rose had five tossups in the contest, and credits his teammates for a successful season.

Lincoln last appeared at state in 2001, when they finished second in Class Two to Richland. The Cardinals dropped their three prelim games to Brentwood as well as Schuyler County and Weaubleau. The Tigers of Weaubleau went 4-0 on the day to win the Class Two title, defeating Schuyler County 330-220.

Skyline surprised Columbia Independent with a 360-220 victory in the Class Three title game, making Hickory County the first county outside Saint Louis to have multiple scholar bowl state champions in the same year. Meanwhile, Schuyler County’s conference compatriots North Shelby were denied a return to the top of Class One, as North Andrew pulled away with a 250-230 win.