Past Glory

1994-1995

In 1994-5, Valencia repeated as FCCAA state champions, with the same core of players contributing: captain Laura Quinton, Stephen Weichsel, and Cory Edwards, who was also the state tournament MVP (high scorer). This year they were joined by Chris "Kentucky Boy" Burchett. This was the year the FCCAA rearranged the state's regional configuration, moving Valencia to the West Central Region with west coast teams like Hillsborough C. C., Pasco-Hernando C. C., and St. Pete Junior College, among others. In the new configuration the top two teams qualified for the state championships, and Valencia's program was deep enough that it filled both slots from the region. That year's second team, featuring captain Joe Locey, Chris Connelly, Sam Saleh, Kenel Morancy, and Kirby Ramlackman, finished second in the region and won three matches in the state tournament. That year will remain infamous for the incident in which second-team player Chris Connelly was left behind at an IHOP restaurant while the team went on to the regional matches. The "A" team closed the year by defending its title at the Berry Invitational, winning a nail-biter against Oxford College (a two-year college within Emory University) in the championship playoff match when Weichsel shocked the world by correctly guessing "Carson McCullers" for 30 points on the match's last bonus.

Accepting the state trophy from 1995 FCCAA state Brain Bowl representative Jeb Blackburn and Gulf Coast reader John Holdnak are Burkett, Weichsel, Edwards and Quinton.