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Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School, South River, hosted a College Bowl trivia match for the first time March 16. The competition, which brings together yeshivas from the tri-state area for a "Jeopardy"-style quiz match, is a treasured extracurricular activity at New Jersey Jewish day schools.

Torah Academy of Bergen County won the tournament.

MAYHS held the tournament at the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County because they needed additional space and to keep the MAYHS building orderly while the tournament occurred during school hours, explained Rabbi Avraham Krawiec, MAYHS dean of students.

"It's a big deal -- it's a lot of people," said MAYHS senior and boys' team captain Michael Ahdout. "If you win, there's a lot of pride. It's fun to be able to say that we know all this random information and that we're an intelligent school."

Seven area schools with eight teams participated in the match, the third and final one of the school year. Hillel Yeshiva, Deal; RTMA, Elizabeth; Ma'ayanot, Teaneck; Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC), Teaneck; The Frisch School, Paramus; and Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, Livingston joined the MAYHS girls and boys teams in six lively rounds of trivia that quizzed students in standard secular academic subjects as well as pop culture.

"We played all the teams," said Adin Rayman, a high school junior at Frisch and the school's college bowl team captain. "This is the last match of the regular season, so we're just here to have fun."

This is the first time that MAYHS hosted a tournament, which is usually held in Teaneck at TABC, the previous year's division college bowl champions. Chaim Metzger, a high school senior at TABC and a member of the college bowl team, told The Jewish State that coming to MAYHS was a good change of scenery and a great opportunity to visit central New Jersey.

"MAYHS hosting is a pretty big deal," Metzger said. "It's normally around the Teaneck area, so for once, it was nice to come out here." Metzger explained that all trivia is fair game in a college bowl tournament.

"The big deal about college bowl is that they quiz you on essentially everything," Metzger said. "It incorporates everything that you learn in school -- math, history, science. You can't quite prepare for it -- it's essentially an assortment random knowledge, basic trivia questions. It's kind of like Jeopardy -- you have to know a lot of stuff about nothing in particular...it's a mixed bag."

"It's random information that you may have learned in school or not," Ahdout added. "They ask you things about history, math, science, and all these different subjects."

Tuesday's tournament had six rounds spread out across four rooms, where each team had the opportunity to compete against each school. Ahdout explained that a reader, usually the college bowl team faculty advisor, would administer the questions, and the teams would answer them. If a member of a team answered the question correctly and in a timely manner, they enter a bonus round, where the entire team could collaborate for a limited amount of time on the answer.

"If you answer a question and you're wrong, you lose a point," Ahdout explained. "Afterwards, the other team gets a chance to answer the question. If they get it right there's a bonus question, and the entire team can collaborate on it -- they have 20 seconds to get an answer."

Metzger told The Jewish State that the social aspect of college bowl -- being able to meet participants from other schools and build friendships with them -- is a motivator for college bowl team members.

"You get to meet people from all over the state," Metzger said. "You meet every couple of months, [and it's] a great chance to interact."

Despite his school's loss, MAYHS junior Yossi Alter of Edison came with the team to substitute for a player if necessary -- and to show support for his school.

"I'm reading some of the questions, they're a little hard, but I'm excited for my school," Alter said.