The 2013 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championship Tournaments ended the twenty-seventh State Championship Series conducted in Scholastic Bowl by the IHSA. It was the twenty-second season in which there were separate State Championship Tournaments held for small schools (Class A) and large schools (Class AA). For the seventeenth year, both tournaments were held at the Peoria Civic Center. The tournaments were held on a Friday, March 15.
The tournament was hosted by Farmington (responsible for providing scorekeepers and timers, as well as arranging for set up at the facility). Equipment was furnished by Buzzersystems.com.
Advancement
Teams were assigned to one of eight sectionals within each class. Coaches then seeded the top 8 teams in their sectional. The IHSA then assigned the seeded teams to one of four regionals (1 with 8, 2 with 7, etc), with the remainder of the teams assigned to a regional geographically. The winners of the regionals would advance to their respective sectional tournaments, where they would play a three match round robin to determine a winner. The determination of the geographic boundaries of the Sectional was arbitrarily decided by the IHSA Office.
Tournament Format
Each round was comprised of 24 toss-ups and accompanying bonus questions.
In the State Championship Tournament, teams would be randomly assigned to pools of four, and play a three match round robin. The winners of each pool would advance to the Championship Match, and the runners-up in each pool would advance to play for third place. Ties were broken by head-to-head results or total points scored among tied teams (in the event of a three-way tie).
The top four teams earned trophies and medals for team members, coaches, principals, and activities directors.
CLASS A
POOL #1
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Carterville |
290 |
Notre Dame (Quincy) |
150
|
|
Cumberland |
200 |
Carlinville |
170
|
| 2 |
Carterville |
320 |
Carlinville |
150
|
|
Notre Dame (Quincy) |
240 |
Cumberland |
200
|
| 3 |
Notre Dame (Quincy) |
180 |
Carlinville |
160
|
|
Carterville |
230 |
Cumberland |
150
|
POOL #2
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Keith Country Day |
350 |
University (Chicago) |
170
|
|
Peoria Christian |
320 |
Decatur Lutheran |
110
|
| 2 |
University (Chicago) |
390 |
Decatur Lutheran |
120
|
|
Peoria Christian |
250 |
Keith Country Day |
230
|
| 3 |
Keith Country Day |
210 |
Decatur Lutheran |
150
|
|
Peoria Christian |
340 |
University (Chicago) |
280
|
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Keith Country Day |
120 |
Notre Dame (Quincy) |
70
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Peoria Christian |
220 |
Carterville |
170
|
CLASS AA
POOL #1
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Auburn |
460 |
Homewood-Flossmoor |
150
|
|
IMSA |
460 |
Carbondale |
310
|
| 2 |
IMSA |
430 |
Homewood-Flossmoor |
170
|
|
Auburn |
400 |
Carbondale |
240
|
| 3 |
Carbondale |
550 |
Homewood-Flossmoor |
70
|
|
IMSA |
450 |
Auburn |
240
|
POOL #2
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Fremd |
290 |
Bloomington |
270
|
|
Loyola Academy |
370 |
Macomb |
320
|
| 2 |
Loyola Academy |
520 |
Fremd |
230
|
|
Macomb |
450 |
Bloomington |
240
|
| 3 |
Loyola Academy |
490 |
Bloomington |
200
|
|
Macomb |
360 |
Fremd |
340
|
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Macomb |
300 |
Auburn |
210
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| IMSA |
380 |
Loyola Academy |
370
|
Notes
- During question review and editing, it was discovered that some questions consisted almost entirely of exact quotes that could be found on the internet. When David Reinstein reported the problem to the IHSA, the IHSA fired him (see IHSA plagiarism scandal). The scandal led to at least two moderators quitting in protest, and at least two schools refusing to host IHSA Scholastic Bowl tournaments through at least 2018.
- Noah Prince became the fourth coach in IHSA history to record three first-place finishes, and the third to record them in successive years. His assistant coach, Greg Dzuriscko, became the first to win 2 first place medals for playing different roles on different teams, one as a player and the other as an assistant coach.
- Brad Fischer became the first person to win 2 third place medals, one as a player and the other as an assistant coach. Brad also became the first person to medal with three different teams (Winnebago as a player; IMSA and Keith Country Day as assistant coach).
- Matt Laird became the first person in Illinois history to return to his alma mater (Loyola), and guide that team downstate, and to a top-4 finish. It was Loyola's highest finish ever.
- Auburn extended its own record to 12 consecutive years placing in the top 4.
- Macomb accomplished the rare feat of finishing in the top 4 for four consecutive years; a feat made somewhat more impressive in that the run was split in half by the transition from Class A to Class AA.
- The Class AA final match between IMSA and Loyola came down to the last bonus, which was computational. IMSA entered the final question with a 10 point lead. Loyola earned the Fine Arts tossup late, and then picked up the first part of a math bonus for the lead. Loyola was unable to come up with the second part, which IMSA rebounded to restore the tie. On the final bonus part, Loyola neglected to complete a final step of a computation, allowing IMSA to take the final part and the match.