IHSSBCA Kickoff

The IHSSBCA Kickoff is a high school tournament held at several sites across the state of Illinois, usually in mid-November. This tournament is the traditional beginning of the Illinois Scholastic Bowl season, although since its inception, several tournaments have taken dates before Kickoff.

For several years, some sites divided teams into "large" and "small" school divisions, however, this division was left strictly to the host, and was quite arbitrary, often putting schools' A and B teams in different divisions. In particular, it did not follow the IHSA Class A (small)/Class AA (large) division system.

Excepting IHSA Regionals and Masonic Sectionals, this tournament is the most-attended (as with the others, when sites are combined) of any high school tournament in Illinois.

For the first few years of the tournament, questions were written by Triad, a company founded by Martin Stroup and two of his friends who played for Illinois in the early 1990s. The questions were in IHSA format and distribution but were significantly more pyramidal than other questions generally used at that time. Several question providers were used over the years, including a few times when the questions were written by Sister John Baricevic. Starting around 2008, the format started changing away from IHSA format.

Illinois hosted a fall tournament in 1995 directed by Martin Stroup. MacArthur defeated Quincy for the Championship, and Latin defeated Niantic-Harristown for Third Place. Stroup had played for Tom Durbin at MacArthur, and they worked together the next year to have IHSSBCA sponsor the tournament when IHSSBCA was formed and Durbin became its first Chair. Ever since the Kickoffs have gone to multiple sites, the central coordinator has been David Riley.

Results

1996 (35 teams)

• At Illinois: 1. Quincy; 2. Fremd; 3. Woodruff; 4. MacArthur

1997 (30 teams)

• At Loyola: 1. New Trier; 2. MacArthur; 3. Wilmington; 4. Moline

1998 (68 teams)

• At Loyola (60 teams): 1. Loyola; 2. IMSA; 3. New Trier; 4. MacArthur
• At Fairfield (8 teams): 1. Quincy; 2. Mascoutah; 3. Centralia; 4. Breese Mater Dei

1999 (106 teams)

• At Loyola (42 teams): 1. New Trier; 2. IMSA; 3. Loyola; 4. Stevenson
• At Sterling (24 teams): 1. Auburn; 2. Boylan; 3. Byron; 4. Stillman Valley
• At PORTA (28 teams): 1. Quincy; 2. St. Teresa; 3. Peoria Notre Dame; 4. Warrensburg-Latham
• At Fairfield (12 teams): 1. Salem; 2. Fairfield A; 3. Robinson (IL); 4. Fairfield B

2000 (96 teams)

• At Loyola (32 teams): Wheaton North over Stevenson in the large schools division (16 teams); Downers Grove North over Lake Park in the small schools division (16 teams)
• At Sterling (24 teams): Auburn over Streator in the large schools division (12 teams); LaSalle-Peru over Moline in the small schools division (12 teams)
• At PORTA (30 teams): Springfield Southeast over MacArthur in the large schools division (18 teams); Warrensburg-Latham over Dunlap in the small schools division (12 teams)
• At Fairfield (10 teams): Salem over Robinson

2001 (110 teams)

• At Loyola (36 teams): Downers Grove North over Fremd in the large schools division (18 teams); Latin School over Lake Forest in the small schools division (18 teams)
• At Sterling (32 teams): Streator over Sterling in the large schools division (16 teams); Marian Central B over Coal City in the small schools division (16 teams)
• At St. Teresa (30 teams): Springfield Southeast over University (Normal) in the large schools division (15 teams); Bloomington Central Catholic over Sullivan in the small schools division (15 teams)
• At Fairfield (12 teams): Carterville over Highland

2002 (120 teams)

• At Von Steuben (47 teams): Wheaton North over Stevenson in the large schools division (18 teams); Downers Grove North over Crystal Lake South in the small schools division (29 teams)
• At Sterling (30 teams): Rockridge over Richmond-Burton in the large schools division (15 teams); Stillman Valley over Boylan in the small schools division (15 teams)
• At Springfield (27 teams): MacArthur over Quincy in the large schools division (13 teams); Bunker Hill over Rossville-Alvin in the small schools division (14 teams)
• At Fairfield (16 teams): Fairfield over Litchfield

2003 (103 teams)

• At Von Steuben (46 teams): Wheaton North over Marist in the large schools division (22 teams); Rufus King (Wisconsin) over St. Ignatius in the small schools division (24 teams)
• At Sterling (24 teams): Auburn over Winnebago
• At Springfield (25 teams): MacArthur over Bunker Hill in the large schools division (10 teams); Pittsfield over Meridian in the small schools division (15 teams)
• At Wayne City (8 teams): Carterville over Fairfield

2004 (112 teams)

• At Von Steuben (40 teams): New Trier over Stevenson in the large schools division (20 teams); Stevenson B over Von Steuben in the small schools division (20 teams)
• At Sterling (30 teams): Auburn over Bettendorf (Iowa) in the large schools division (18 teams); Byron over Morrison in the small schools division (12 teams)
• At Unity (27 teams): MacArthur over Morton
• At Wayne City (15 teams): Carbondale over O'Fallon

2005 (120 teams)

• At Wheaton North (46 teams): Fenwick over Deerfield
• At Sterling (34 teams): Auburn over Moline in the large schools division (18 teams); Morrison over Auburn in the small schools division (16 teams)
• At Bloomington (30 teams): Quincy over Springfield
• At Wayne City (10 teams): Carbondale over Fairfield

2006 (128 teams): Questions by Aegis Questions

• At Wheaton North (54 teams): St. Ignatius over Maine South
• At Sterling (24 teams): Auburn over Morrison
• At Bloomington (42 teams): Springfield over Bloomington
• At Wayne City (8 teams): O'Fallon over Fairfield

2007 (128 teams): Questions by Aegis Questions

• At Wheaton North (54 teams): Wheaton North over New Trier
• At Sterling (26 teams): Byron over Bettendorf (Iowa)
• At PORTA (24 teams): Bloomington over PORTA
• At O'Fallon (20 teams): O'Fallon over Carbondale

2008 (124 teams): Questions by Aegis Questions

• At Wheaton North (54 teams): Auburn over Loyola Academy
• At Sterling (26 teams): LaSalle-Peru over Moline
• At PORTA (32 teams): Springfield over Warrensburg-Latham
• At Carbondale (12 teams): Carbondale over Marissa

2009 (136 teams): NAQT IS-88

• At Wheaton North (60 teams): Loyola A over Auburn A
• At Sterling (26 teams): Geneva over Bettendorf (Iowa)
• At PORTA (30 teams): Litchfield over Glenwood
• At Carbondale (10 teams): Carbondale over Charleston A
• At Greenville (10 teams): Althoff over O'Fallon

2010 (156 teams): NAQT IS-98

• At Wheaton North, in the "Competitive Division" (24 teams): Auburn A over Stevenson A; third place Oak Park-River Forest; fourth place IMSA A
• At Wheaton North, in the "Learning Division" (42 teams): St. Viator A over Naperville Central; third place Fenwick A; fourth place Lake Zurich B
• At PORTA (26 teams): Glenwood over Macomb; third place Richwoods; fourth place Quincy
• At Greenville (16 teams): Carbondale over Greenville A; third place O'Fallon B; fourth place Marquette
• At Sterling (24 teams): Belvidere North A over Guilford; third place Marian Central; fourth place Byron
• At Centennial (24 teams): Rolling Meadows over Normal Community; third place Centennial; fourth place Streator