Irvington

Irvington High School
Location: Irvington NY
Coaches	Lawrence Fata Holly Koester Michèle Cella (hosts tournaments)
National Championships	1995 Texaco Star Academic Challenge
National Appearances	1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011
Program Status	Active
School Size	554
NAQT Page	link

Irvington High School, the 1995 Texaco Star Academic Challenge winner, is located in the suburb of Irvington, NY, in Westchester County just north of New York City. The team participates in local WACKO and MACC league competitions, as well as other tournaments, including the National History Bowl, The Challenge and others.

History

Irvington High School's early years in Academic Challenge were always as an underdog, one of the smallest schools (300 students) in WACKO competition, so it was a surprise that tiny Irvington would make a run in the 1992 Texaco Star Academic Challenge, ultimately losing to Rye High School in winning the $12,500 second prize, split equally among its four starting players and two alternates. When the team was founded in ~1990, it was coached by Latin teacher Michèle Cella, who would always make sure that, in televised appearances, each team member mentioned Latin in some form in their player introductions. Like most schools in Westchester, Irvington fielded both an "A" team and a "B" team, the equivalent of a JV and Varsity, in all tournaments.

In 1994, Irvington would finally win its first tournament, but, because of a various absences of its team members, Irvington would not be able to field that same winning team until the Texaco Star Academic Challenge in March 1995. Irvington High School still had only 300 students and was considered a large underdog to the much bigger White Plains High School and others. After winning the first four matches of the tournament easily, Irvington faced its first big test in Ridgefield High School (CT), ultimately winning on the final question when Irvington's leading scorer, "Super Frosh" Joseph Adelman, '98, answered a 15-point question as time expired. Irvington outclassed Ridgefield 295-290 to win in one of the most exciting moments in Academic Challenge history (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfZ4mt955vA). After a 370-270 route over New Rochelle High School, another favorite, Irvington squared off with Saunders Technical High School from Yonkers, NY.

In that final on April 1st, 1995, David Brazil and Keith Berman, both '96, scored 105 of the team's 120 points in the final quarter as Irvington overcame a late 30-point deficit, running away with a 340-280 victory and the $25,000 scholarship first prize. In what was a rare, balanced team effort throughout the televised rounds, no Irvington player ever broke 100 individual points in a match, with each of the four teammates scoring at least 20% of the team's points, a testament to the steadying influence of captain Emily Gold, '95. That final can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emDMnvYDjI4.

From that point forward, the Academic Challenge team was overrun with aspiring members crowding into Michèle Cella's classroom for lunchtime and afterschool practices, something that became a source of interest for articles in the school newspaper. The leadership became generational -- after David Brazil, Keith Berman and Joseph Adelman would all go on to captain the team, so would Keith's brother Jeff and Joseph's brother Michael, both of whom can be seen in the footage of the 1995 Texaco Star Academic Challenge. During this period of time, Irvington would qualify for four national tournaments in a row, 1995 - 1998.

Unfortunately, 1995 was the last year of the Texaco Star Academic Challenge, but subsequent teams would compete at the National Academic Championship (Irvington would make the top 16 in 1996), and win the local Omar Q Beckins tournament multiple times. Irvington's team played almost exclusively on Questions Unlimited style questions until 2010, when the team placed second overall at the Tri-State History Bowl, the pilot for the National History Bee and Bowl. Ever since, the team has participated in increasingly many pyramidal tournaments, including the HHHW Invitational, the National History Bee and Bowl, and the Long Island Fall Tournament. Outside of Texaco Star, the teams accomplishments include 13th at the 2003 NAC, 14th place at the 1995 NAC and 2005 NAC, 20th at the 2011 NAC, 24th at the 2006 NAC, 28th at the 1998 NAC and 2004 NAC, and both 13th and 16th place at the inaugural National History Bowl.

Tournaments

Irvington High School hosts four tournaments each year for the MACC tournament league, which are short tournaments hosted on Saturdays using Questions Unlimited questions, consisting of three rounds of preliminary play in both Varsity and JV divisions, after which the top four teams in each division participate in single elimination playoffs.