The South Central Scholastic League tournament Saturday December 1st in Hillsboro was a day-long affair with a dramatic ending. To begin the day, Bond County #2’s Varsity finished preliminary rounds with the following scores:
Greenville = 340 Carlinville = 230
Greenville = 410 Mater Dei = 90
Greenville = 300 Gillespie = 120
Greenville = 380 Carrollton = 40
Greenville = 280 Metro East = 100
Greenville = 270 Granite City = 160
Greenville = 100 Southwestern = 430
After the preliminary rounds where the varsity was dominant in history, literature, and science, all-tournament awards were announced. Joel Nord (Varsity 2nd), Emma Nord (JV 5th), and Eli Borwick (JV 3rd) all received medals for outstanding performances and were in the fifteen highest point earners in their divisions with Joel Nord being outpaced by a single tossup for the number one position.
In championship play, Greenville scored as follows:
Greenville = 370 Staunton = 140
Greenville = 230 Metro East = 120
And finally, in a dramatic upset, Greenville beat a key rival, Southwestern, for the championship with 310 to 190.
Junior Varsity play was bound to be even more exciting. With scores in the preliminary rounds as follows, the JV was keeping solid pace with the varsity:
Greenville = 220 Metro East = 100
Greenville = 210 Southwestern = 180
Greenville = 160 Carlinville B = 70
Greenville = 230 Bunker Hill = 60
Greenville = 310 Carrollton = 0
Greenville = 220 Granite City = 160
Greenville = 230 Litchfield = 150
Championship play was as follows:
Greenville = 230 Mater Dei = 100
Greenville = 250 Carlinville = 180
The final round was easily the most thrilling of the day. During the bonus for tossup number 18, preparing to hear the question that would determine whether Southwestern could come from behind and win, tornado sirens went off requiring the game to stop immediately and students to seek shelter in restrooms. However, players kept their spirits high, singing songs at the top of their lungs from restrooms on opposite ends of the junior high with Bohemian Rhapsody being a crowd favorite.
After releasing so that play could begin again, the sirens very shortly sounded once more. The final match was played while locked down in a classroom with no windows where the Greenville JV won in a match watched by an oversized and captive audience. Fortunately, the storms bypassed the tournament at Hillsboro and Greenville’s teams came away victorious.
