This fall season was hard fought amongst MC’s E-Sports teams.

Under Mr. Dominic Scheuring, the moderator of E-Sports, all teams except for JV Rocket League made the playoffs. The varsity Rocket League team, consisting of seniors Aidan McGovern, Conor Dukes, and Angel Tate, won 4-0 in the first round against Tennessee Connections Academy. In the second round they lost 0-4 against Hampton-Dumont High School from Iowa, eliminating them from the playoffs. Varsity captains Tate and Dukes led the Overwatch team into playoffs against Sycamore High School of Illinois, but lost 0-3. Captains Aiden Correa and Angelo Correa led the new Smash Brothers Ultimate team against Southland College Prep Charter School of Illinois, but lost 5-8 in a no-holds-barred game.

“I think we had a more-than-solid year,” Mr. Scheuring said. “We had two teams that met expectations, and two teams that exceeded expectations.”

During their playoff game, one of the Rocket League team’s greatest strengths was their accuracy. 

“Dukes hit an aerial [scored a goal from midair],” said McGovern. “Angel had two goals where he shot a perfectly left sided net where nobody could get it, and I had a lot of power shots that go top right off the crossbar.”

On the other hand, one of their weaknesses was their defense.

“We just could not get out of defense at all,” Tate said. “I feel like I was fighting for my life. As last man, I’d just be on the goal line trying to defend our shots, and they just kept coming.”

Similarly, the Overwatch team’s greatest strength was their offense, which consisted of Tate and senior varsity player Mason Harpur.

“I think Angel Tate and Mason Harpur really put in great, solid work for the team,” Dukes said. “They got a lot of damage off of kills and picked off players who were killing me.”

Even though the team had a strong offense, keeping calm communication during the playoffs was challenging. As the team heads into the spring season, Dukes wants more focus on positivity and communication.

“If you see your teammates down, you lift them up,” the team captain said. “Don’t cast stones if you live in a glass house, because everyone is accountable.”

One of the strengths on the Smash Bros. team is the fun-loving environment they created.

“We can be serious on Wednesday [gameday], but the main thing is having fun,” Aiden Correa said. “I’m trying to teach them [junior players], but I want to have a low stress environment.”

The team is still learning the mechanics of the game, so competing in the playoffs was a challenge. Nevertheless, for the first season, Aiden is proud.

“Honestly, we did amazing,” he said. “We blew Mr. Scheuring’s expectations out of the water. We went to practice every day, and we won most of our matches.”

To prepare new members for their next season, McGovern has advice.

“Put time in every week,” he said. “Especially for freshmen, by the time you are juniors you are going to be a champ. If you put in time every week you’ll see improvement, you’ll be good.”

Mr. Scheuring has a final reflection on the E-Sports team’s performance this fall season.

“I think there are certain matches where we may have performed below our expectations,” Mr. Scheuring said. “Overall in the season, given where we started and the personnel that we had, we did about as good as we could have.”