Auburn Knights Scholastic Bowl team wins IHSA 2A State Title

NORMAL, Ill. (WIFR) - We have another state champion in Rockford.

Auburn High School defeated Barrington High School 430-390 Saturday afternoon at Heartland Community College in Normal, Ill. to win the IHSA Class 2A State Title. This is the Knights’ third title in program history and first since the 2014-2015 season. The Knights defeated Dunlap High School (490-310), Aurora Illinois Math & Science Academy (560-320) and Hinsdale Central High School (460-280) in pool play before facing Barrington in the state championship.

“When we got into the last couple of questions, it was like, we knew what we had to do to win. we had to get two of the last three. So once we got the second one it was a lot of relief. I was really happy that we finally won,” says senior captain Sinecio Morales.

The first official season of Scholastic Bowl at Auburn was in 1994-1995 under Head Coach Linda Greene. Greene finished with a 1316-219 overall record in 21 seasons at Auburn High School, including 16 straight Class AA regional and sectional titles between the 2001-2002 and 2016-2017 seasons. The team also qualified for the state finals in each of those years, including Greene’s final season in 2016-2017.

Auburn won two Class AA state titles under Coach Greene: 2007-2008 and 2014-2015.

In Elisabeth Zorn’s lone season as the Knights’ Scholastic Bowl coach in 2017-2018, the team claimed a Class 2A regional and sectional titles en route to a 2nd place team finish at state. The went 82-11 on the season.

Nevagay Abel took over for Zorn in the 2018-2019 season and has been the Auburn Scholastic Bowl head coach since then. The Knights claimed an 18th straight regional and sectional titles in Abel’s first season along with a 2nd place team finish in Class 2A. The team also qualified two years later with another regional and sectional championship.

“I think a lot of it has to do with the original coach Linda Greene who’s actually our assistant coach. She started the program and they weren’t successful when they first started but every year they got better and better and it’s just kept that program going... plus it helps having the middle school feed into our high school,” says Coach Abel.

Saturday’s win marked the 4th trip to state and first state championship under Coach Abel.

You can learn more about Auburn’s history in Scholastic Bowl by visiting the IHSA’s website.

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