New Hampshire Quiz Bowl League
The New Hampshire Quiz Bowl League is the Granite State's official championship tournament. It is run by Hanover High School coach Bill Murphy and was founded in the 1996-97 school year.
Tournament structure
The NHQBL finals are held in early April and feature eight teams that qualify through regional competitions. The teams play a round robin and the team that finishes with the best record is declared the champion. In case of a tie for first place, a tie-breaker match is played for the title.
The qualifying tournaments are held in the late winter in five geographic regions, Lakes, Merrimack Valley, North Country, Seacoast and West. The events are open to all teams, from New Hampshire or not, and all teams play 10 matches at each. The highest-finishing intra-regional team at each tournament qualifies for the state finals, as do the three non-regional winners that amass the most combined victories from all the regional events.
History
Murphy founded the NHQBL to give all New Hampshire schools a reason to compete every season. New Hampshire Public Television's Granite State Challenge predates the league by more than a decade, but the television tournament allows only 32 teams to participate so rarely will any particular school compete more than every other year. The NHQBL has helped shrink the number of the teams that disappear during their non-TV seasons.
Hanover has been dominant team in the NHQBL's 12-year history, winning nine championships -- including six in a row from 2001 to 2006. Oyster River and Manchester West are the other teams that have won the title.
| YEAR | CHAMPION | RUNNER(S)-UP |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Hanover | NA |
| 1998 | Hanover | NA |
| 1999 | Oyster River | NA |
| 2000 | Oyster River | NA |
| 2001 | Hanover | Colebrook and Salem |
| 2002 | Hanover | Oyster River |
| 2003 | Hanover | Phillips Exeter |
| 2004 | Hanover | NA |
| 2005 | Hanover | NA |
| 2006 | Hanover | NA |
| 2007 | Manchester West | Hanover |
| 2008 | Hanover | Phillips Exeter |
Panasonic Academic Challenge
The NHQBL is used to pick the all-star team that represents New Hampshire at the Panasonic Academic Challenge. Each regional champion is entitled to one player on the team, with sixth member and the squad's coach typically coming from the state championship team.
The New Hampshire team has never reached the playoffs at Panasonic. The 2007 team, made up primarily of players from Manchester West, came the closest, losing both of its matches on protests.