RHS’ It’s Academic team placed third out of 81 teams in the D.C. Metro Finals after being defeated by Montgomery Blair High School (MBHS) and Sandy Spring Friends School (SSFS) 565–455–360 May 18 at NBS studios in D.C.

This is the first time in nine years RHS has made finals since winning the Metro Championships in 2010. Until recently, the furthest RHS’ It’s Academic has gotten was to semifinals three years ago.

Although the RHS team had a good run during the final game, MBHS ultimately outdid both SSFS and RHS. MBHS has won the It’s Academic Superbowl for the past three consecutive years.

“When you’re watching [the game] you sort of have your heart in your throat,” coach David Goodrich said. “I mean, we had come back so many times during the course of the season including in our playoff match and in our semifinals. I was thinking ‘well, maybe we got a shot at it’ […] but clearly Blair was the better team.”

Although the team was disappointed they did not make the Superbowl, they were still proud of how far they had come.

“The finals is something very hard to get to,” captain Jack Sobel said. “To be one of the final three and to make it all the way to the D.C. finals for the first time in nine years is really something I’m proud of; it’s really a testament to how much time we’ve put in and how much time our coaches dedicated to help improve us.”

For winning third place, the RHS It’s Academic team was granted $2,500 in scholarship money and will be receiving a plaque to put in the main office.

The finals’ taping was also the last time It’s Academic would be filming in their studio of over 50 years at NBC4, after the station announced they would be moving locations. While the announcement prompted panic within the program as members feared they would no longer be able to tape and compete on television, their letter writing campaign, aimed to demonstrate the importance of the show, and social media posts helped them find their new studio, World Media Net, Goodrich said.

“I’m really excited the show is still going to keep going on,” sophomore member Alexia Moser said. “I would really like to [hopefully] be on the show my senior year.”

For now, the RHS It’s Academic team awaits future practices that will begin over the summer as well as assigning new positions, Goodrich said.

Two out of the three television members are seniors, and are consequently leaving the team, but they still hope it will continue improving.

“Even though it’s going to be something very hard that I’m going to leave behind, I have no doubt that what the seniors and I are leaving is something that is going to be the envy of teams in the D.C. area,” Sobel said.