AMHERST —  With only two spellers left standing, it looked like the end was near Tuesday night in the 2008 Preliminary North District Spelling Bee at Amherst Junior High School.

Yeah, right.

It wasn’t until 11 rounds later — the longest, head-to-head spell-off in the regional competition’s history — that Eric Moenich, 14, of Avon was declared the winner and Thomas Camp, 12, of Sheffield Lake was the runner up.

It usually only takes the final two challengers about four words before one buckles, said Jim Hartline of the Educational Service Center of Lorain County, who helped run the bee and confirmed the match’s place in bee history.

But not Tuesday.

The two rivals juggled words back and forth until Thomas fumbled “glycerol,’’ leaving eric to clean up with “metalloid.’’

“I was afraid I wasn’t going to make it very far,’’ said Eric, who was sick during last year’s bee and couldn’t compete. “I was just up there thinking I had to get the next one or I was done.’’

Thomas said he was terrified, and he panicked a little each time his opponent scored a tough one.

Both boys said they were glad to have extra time to study for the event when they were shut in during the weekend’s snow storm. Some of the words that felled students Tuesday night? “Concomitant,” “osteitic’’ and “gerrymander.’’

The top 16 finishers from Tuesday’s bee will go against the top 16 from the South District Preliminary at the regional finals starting 7 p.m. Friday at Northwood Junior High School in Elyria.

The winner will represent the region at the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 29 and 30 in Washington, D.C.

Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.

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