For the second time in three years, Crescenta Valley High School won the GUSD Scholastic Bowl on Thursday night. 

The Falcons, coached by CV English teacher Amanda Lyons, dethroned Hoover High, which was aiming to win its second consecutive Scholastic Bowl and fourth in eight years. 

Crescenta Valley — whose team featured seniors Prashanth Bhaskara, Daniel Gamboa, Michelle Kim and Lindsay Thomas and junior Sofia Magdaleno — finished with 120 points. Glendale was second with 109 points, Hoover took third with 108 points and Clark had 83 points. 

Due to current pandemic restrictions and social distancing regulations, the event was streamed virtually with no live audience. The students, proctors, and staff attended the event at Glendale High School, and were distanced throughout the school in separate rooms. 

The Armen Demirchyan-coached Hoover team — which had seniors and third-year participants Max Meltzer and David Ramazyan, along with juniors Garo Kapouytian, Noemi Mesropian and Emily Terkazaryan — began the competition in first place, with 37 points from the essay portion. 

However, as the competition progressed through the group questions, Crescenta Valley passed the other schools and remained in the lead for the rest of the night. Hoover had a second-place lead until the final question, where they fell short by just one point.

Each member of the Crescenta Valley team won a $500 prize. Second place took $250, third place won $150 and fourth place brought home $100 each.