I am a pretty hardcore nerd but also played alot of sport and was up to alot of no good as youngster. Everyday I had the other weaker nerds send a distress call over the schoolyard grapevine and I would come with a few of my mates to sort the offenders out. Most of the time, being smarter caused them to wittily reply to their comebacks and enrage them because they couldnt top it.
So my advice is make friends with the schoolyard hard ass and get him to go sort them out or just ignore it. Despite what teachers say, talking it out etc gets nowhere.