They were last night named winners of year 5 and 6 section of the Otago Daily Times Extra! current events quiz, having dropped just two points from 100 in the rapid-fire competition.
Schoolmates crowded the stage soon after they got their prizes, some telling the by-now blushing boys that, in the world of general knowledge, "you rock".
Archie Buissink said the team read newspapers and took mock-quizzes to prepare for battle in the Macandrew Intermediate School hall.
He and William Brundell said they found most of the quiz easy, until teammate Asher Quin reminded them the questions were only "easy" because they trained for them.
Fifty-one teams from 18 Dunedin and East Otago schools competed in the grade, with another 62 teams from 17 schools in the year 7 and 8 grade.
The Tahuna Normal Intermediate team, of Nathaniel Otley, Stuart Caird and Evan Hinds, won the year 7 and 8 title in a playoff against John McGlashan College pupils Rafe Duncan (12), Nic Taylor (13) and Ronald Poon (13).
The third "tie-break" question - "Who is Australia's new Foreign Affairs Minister?" - broke the deadlock in Tahuna's favour, much to Evan's relief.
"I would have felt so bad if I got that wrong," he said, as Nathaniel and Stuart called him the super man of their top-performing team.
"It was a very nerve-racking moment but it was a great quiz."
The editor of Extra! and quiz organiser Ivan Behrnes said the quiz also attracted a great standard of current affairs-watching pupils. Ten teams in the year 5 and 6 competition scored 90 or more - an unprecedented result.
The year 9 and 10 competition will be held at John McGlashan College tonight.
The Otago Daily Times Extra! current events quizzes are part of the newspaper's Class Act project, which celebrates the excellence of young people.
Extra! is a monthly educational publication produced by the newspaper for senior primary, intermediate and junior secondary school pupils.