Esports

With year two nearly in the books, the Forester esports program continues to make a name for itself in the esports world with a long list of accomplishments in 2022-2023 to add to their accolades from last spring’s inaugural season.

For the second straight year, HU earned a bid to the NECC National Tournament that will wrap up next month.

To date, the Overwatch team successfully made it out of the group stage of the tourney as the second seed in their division. Competition for this squad will pick up again June 12. The Smash Crews team won their opening round earlier this week and will continue to play the rest of the week to determine if they move on.

Alex Anderson and Caleb Cook, competing as individuals, both pre-qualified for the bracket stage of nationals, which is slated to begin in the middle of June.

The road to nationals began this past fall. Craig Campbell, director of esports, started the year with 11 members (10 male and 1 female). HU competed in the NECC regular season with two teams (Overwatch and Smash Crews) and two players competing as individuals for Smash Singles. Both squads and Alex Anderson qualified for the fall regular season play-offs in their respective division.

The second semester saw the program add another Overwatch team, a JV squad, and two more individuals competing in singles action to accommodate their growing roster of 20 team members (16 male and 4 female).

All three teams as well as all four individuals qualified for the regular season play-offs this spring.

Last spring, the Foresters made a deep run in the national tournament. Huntington was the 2022 Navigators Division: National Runner-Up on the big stage, having gone 2-1 over the course of the three-day tourney, winning eight of 14 maps.

“I am so blessed to have the opportunity to work as the director of esports at HU,” said Campbell. “Watching these students compete week to week and come together as a team has been wonderful. I have been blown away by their work ethic and encouraged by their passion for esports. Grabbing an invite to nationals in all three games just reinforces how committed the program is to success.

“Even above that accolade, I am most proud in watching Christ become the central focus for our team. From student-lead prayer before matches to weekly team devotionals, you can feel God’s presence in our clubroom. That is why I am so excited to see the esports program continue to grow.”

THINGS TO NOTE:

NECC: The National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) began sponsoring esports in the fall of 2020. The conference currently sponsors both regular season competition and championships to over 300 colleges and universities throughout North America representing all divisions (NAIA, NCAA DI, DII, DIII, junior college and community colleges).

OVERWATCH 2: HU’s video game of choice, Overwatch, received a new sequel this year in the form of Overwatch 2. As a sequel and replacement to the 2016 hero shooter Overwatch, the game intends a shared environment for player-versus-player (PvP) modes. A major change in PvP modes was to reduce team sizes from six to five. Each player selects from a large roster of characters, known as “heroes,” with unique abilities and powers. The goal is to put together the right crew to accomplish the multiple objectives within a given map.

OVERWATCH VARSITY TEAM MEMBERS: Zachariah Lail (ProZach) [Captain], Derek Harper (TrashBoat), Josiah Gold (Jynjer), Ericka Whitman (doxic), David Dowling (xMychal), Tim Fleming (tim0thy) [Sub]

OVERWATCH JV TEAM MEMBERS: Tim Fleming (tim0thy) [Captain], Kayla Metzger (Rat), Carissa Guffey (summerbubble765), Evan Shaner (Tent), Dylan Rowlander (Basic), Hudson Winters (HuddyTheBuddy) [Sub]

SMASH CREWS: Smash Crews is a team-based competition for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Teams of four compete against each other, one player at a time. In the crew battle format, each team starts out with the same number of stocks, divided equally among team members. Players take turns fighting in 1v1 matches. Once a player has lost all of his stocks, another player from that team comes in to face the opposing player who had just defeated his teammate. The process repeats until one team has had all of its players defeated, crowning the opposing team as the winner.

SMASH CREWS VARSITY TEAM MEMBERS: Alex Anderson (Bungy Fungi) [Captain], Evan Shaner (Tent), Josiah Reichard (Tostata), Chad Smith (Chadingo), Caleb Cook (chef_cook) [Sub], Sam O’Roark (HurtTrout) [Sub]

SUPER SMASH BROS. ULTIMATE SINGLES: Alex Anderson (Bungy Fungi), Caleb Cook (chef_cook), Evan Shaner (Tent), John Thomas (Papa John)

MAPS: A map is the physical location where a match is held between the two competitors/teams. Each map, also referred to as a level, has a different location, layout and ambiance, but the objective of the game does not change. Each map garners different strategies that both the offense and defense come up with.