On Saturday, March 11, the Scholar Knights entered the round-robin IHSA Class 2A Sectional, held at Mt. Vernon High School, with the hopes of earning a second straight trip to the IHSA State Tournament.  In round one, against the O’Fallon Panthers, Ethan Schumacher set the tone early by answering the first two toss up questions.  The Knights held a 220-30 lead at half time, which they extended to an impressive 400-180 final score. In round two, the Knights faced the Alton Redbirds. After eight questions, the Redbirds held the lead; but the Knights seized it at question nine and did not relinquish it again, winning 430-120.  Mater Dei’s final opponent was the Carbondale Terriers.  With the teams tied after four questions, a run by Carbondale resulted in the Terriers leading 230-140 at halftime.  The Knights, trailing by as much as 120 points at one point, staged a comeback and cut Carbondale’s lead to 290-280 with six questions remaining.  While the match was still in reach prior to the final question, Carbondale converted to defeat the Knights 360-290.

Ben Logullo led the team with a total of sixteen toss ups, followed by Ethan Schumacher (10), Nick Toennies (8), and John Hund (5).  Jaden Meadows and Drew Potthast also contributed to the efforts.

With the loss, the Scholar Knights and coach Mr. Scott Timmermann finished their season with an impressive 69-5 record.