The 2019 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championship Tournaments ended the thirty-third State Championship Series conducted in Scholastic Bowl by the IHSA. It was the twenty-eighth season in which there were separate State Championship Tournaments held for small schools (Class A) and large schools (Class AA). For the twenty-third year, both tournaments were held at the Peoria Civic Center. The tournaments was held on Friday, March 13.
This state series was the second to be written under the guidance of head question editor Brad Fischer.
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. Regional tournaments were held on Monday March 2, and Sectional tournaments were held on Saturday March 7.
Tournament Format
Each round was comprised of 24 toss-ups and accompanying bonus questions.
In the State Championship Tournament, teams were randomly assigned to pools of four, and played a three match round robin. The winners of each pool advanced to the Championship Match, and the runners-up in each pool advanced 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 |
Chicago Christian |
420 |
Winnebago |
180
|
|
Gibault Catholic |
210 |
Riverdale |
180
|
| 2 |
Winnebago |
450 |
Gibault Catholic |
170
|
|
Chicago Christian |
600 |
Riverdale |
60
|
| 3 |
Winnebago |
290 |
Riverdale |
110
|
|
Chicago Christian |
560 |
Gibault Catholic |
90
|
POOL #2
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Southwestern |
350 |
Robinson |
190
|
|
Williamsville |
420 |
Tri-Valley |
150
|
| 2 |
Tri-Valley |
340 |
Robinson |
180
|
|
Williamsville |
440 |
Southwestern |
200
|
| 3 |
Williamsville |
480 |
Robinson |
190
|
|
Southwestern |
320 |
Tri-Valley |
210
|
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Southwestern |
220 |
Winnebago |
200
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Chicago Christian |
270 |
Williamsville |
260
|
CLASS AA
POOL #1
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Stevenson |
420 |
Oak Park-River Forest |
360
|
|
Auburn |
580 |
Carbondale |
210
|
| 2 |
Stevenson |
800 |
Carbondale |
60
|
|
Auburn |
610 |
Oak Park-River Forest |
260
|
| 3 |
Auburn |
480 |
Stevenson |
380
|
|
Oak Park-River Forest |
550 |
Carbondale |
290
|
POOL #2
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Sandburg |
350 |
Springfield |
290
|
|
UIUC Lab |
460 |
IMSA |
380
|
| 2 |
UIUC Lab |
590 |
Sandburg |
290
|
|
IMSA |
700 |
Springfield |
160
|
| 3 |
IMSA |
570 |
Sandburg |
360
|
|
UIUC Lab |
760 |
Springfield |
80
|
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| IMSA |
430 |
Stevenson |
370
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| UIUC Lab |
430 |
Auburn |
390
|
Notes
- Auburn continued its streak of consecutive top-4 finishes to 18 straight years.
- Stevenson continued its streak of consecutive top-4 to 11 straight years.
- For the second consecutive year, Auburn lost the AA Championship by the exact score of 430-390.
- UIUC Lab would follow its IHSA Championship with a 2nd place finish at HSNCT and 3rd place finish at NSC, the best ever combined finish by an Illinois team at nationals.
- This was the first state championship for Chicago Christian.
- This was the third straight year to feature Williamsville in the Class 1A championship match.