The 2023 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championship Tournaments ended the thirty-seventh State Championship Series conducted in Scholastic Bowl by the IHSA. It was the thirty-second season in which there were separate State Championship Tournaments held for small schools (Class A) and large schools (Class AA). This was the second year both tournaments were held at Heartland Community College in Normal, Illinois. The tournaments were held Saturday, March 18th.
This state series was the sixth to be written under the guidance of head question editor Brad Fischer.
The tournament was hosted by Elmwood with equipment 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 6th, and Sectional tournaments were held on Saturday, March 11th.
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
Southwestern swept through their pool going 3-0. Johnston City went 2-1 to advance to the 3rd place match.
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Johnston City |
360 |
Eureka |
120
|
|
Southwestern |
390 |
Pleasant Plains |
230
|
| 2 |
Southwestern |
390 |
Eureka |
70
|
|
Johnston City |
290 |
Pleasant Plains |
110
|
| 3 |
Pleasant Plains |
290 |
Eureka |
80
|
|
Southwestern |
330 |
Johnston City |
130
|
POOL #2
Uni-Lab swept through their pool going 3-0. Winnebago went 2-1 to advance to the 3rd place match.
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Winnebago |
330 |
Francis Parker |
300
|
|
Uni-Lab |
640 |
Cumberland |
40
|
| 2 |
Francis Parker |
470 |
Cumberland |
140
|
|
Uni-Lab |
550 |
Winnebago |
150
|
| 3 |
Uni-Lab |
550 |
Francis Parker |
200
|
|
Winnebago |
350 |
Cumberland |
160
|
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Winnebago |
220 |
Johnston City |
200
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Uni Lab |
390 |
Southwestern |
200
|
CLASS AA
POOL #1
Auburn went 3-0. IMSA went 2-1 to advance to the 3rd place match.
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Auburn |
490 |
Dunlap |
310
|
|
IMSA |
430 |
Hinsdale Central |
230
|
| 2 |
Dunlap |
350 |
Hinsdale Central |
340
|
|
Auburn |
560 |
IMSA |
320
|
| 3 |
IMSA |
570 |
Dunlap |
150
|
|
Auburn |
460 |
Hinsdale Central |
280
|
POOL #2
Barrington went 3-0. Bloomington went 2-1 to advance to the 3rd place match.
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Barrington |
630 |
Sandburg |
160
|
|
Bloomington |
310 |
Carbondale |
220
|
| 2 |
Barrington |
520 |
Bloomington |
230
|
|
Carbondale |
350 |
Sandburg |
330
|
| 3 |
Barrington |
540 |
Carbondale |
110
|
|
Bloomington |
390 |
Sandburg |
290
|
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| IMSA |
480 |
Bloomington |
130
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Auburn |
430 |
Barrington |
390
|
Notes
- Auburn continued its streak of consecutive top-4 finishes to 20 straight tournaments
- Auburn's championship gives Auburn its third championship in three decades (2008, 2015, 2023)
- This was Francis Parker's first State finals appearance
- After 9 previous appearances at the State Finals, this was Bloomington's first top-4 finish
- This was University of Illinois Lab's third-straight State championship in either class since 2019, its fourth overall