(From left) Shahna Barrett, Shannelle Cole, Joniel Gyles, Khadine Blake created history by making it to this year's final. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer

Kingston College's demolition job in the finals of Television Jamaica's Schools' Challenge Quiz has raised questions about whether an all-girl team has the gumption to triumph in the battle of wits.

Ardenne High, a co-educational school located in St Andrew, fielded an all-girl team which was blown out of the water 42-14 by repeat champs KC.

The Rev Glen Archer, coach of Ardenne, said the war of wills that has come to characterise the competition put his team on the back foot this year.

"It was not because the girls were not brighter, as statistics over the years had proven that girls outperformed the boys," Archer said, "but because the girls were more intimidated, and tend to be more quiet, and less aggressive, why KC won."

Archer, many-time champion coach in The Gleaner's Children's Own Spelling Bee, said the hype and enormous pressure in quiz could cause teams to rise to the occasion or collapse. The Purples came, saw and conquered. Ardenne crumbled.

The Ardenne quartet was the first all-girl team to make the final since inaugural champions St Hugh's High in 1969-70.

While conceding that the Fortis four was more battle-hardened, Archer said the ego frenzy that inspired boys gave them the edge.

"Schools' Challenge Quiz is a fast and furious game that requires a certain level of aggression, and you will find that more boys are driven by aggression and ego (which enable them) to get ahead," Archer told The Gleaner Thursday.

Winning coach Valmore Stewart, who has been dishing out instructions from the bench since 2001, agreed that his boys were more aggressive and experienced.

He said his charges' Achilles' heel was a lack of composure, a weakness they eventually overcame to come up trumps.

"It might be that the girls were easier to settle down, but they were not aggressively driven to pursue the game to win," Stewart said.

Stewart said he had heard coaches admit that girls' teams were more difficult to lead, as they often lacked motivation, unlike boys who are very prize-oriented.

However, he suggested that if all-girl teams were to win the competition in the future, coaches would have to find a quartet which was fiercely competitive.

Archer, who has coached quiz since 1992, said schools needed to craft psychology-intensive programmes which would sharpen girls' killer instinct and train them to be more accurate in the final-stretch buzzer section.

Michael Gonzales, producer of Schools' Challenge Quiz, competitions told The Gleaner, that while gender played a role in the balance, preparation was critical to the result.

He highlighted teamwork, confidence, quick recollection of information as competition touchstones that helped KC successfully defend their title.

"The game was a game of choice ... . The better team proved the capabilities to win," Gonzales said.

Do you believe girls are at a disadvantage in quiz competitions? Email saturdaylife@gleanerjm.com