CHEYENNE, WY – A pair of teams for the Laramie County Community College esports teams were in action on Wednesday night in the fall NJCAAe Postseason, with Super Smash Bros Ultimate and defending National Champion Call of Duty: Warzone getting their runs started.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate
The postseason began for Michael Sones of the Laramie County Community College esports team on Wednesday with three matches to open his Super Smash Bros Ultimate campaign for a national title.
The opening match squared Sones off with the 32nd seed from Eastern Arizona College and was a tough opening.
Sones would fall in straight games 3-0 and dropped to the elimination bracket of the double elimination tournament where he faced the 96th seed from Iowa Western Community College.
This would be a much better match for the Golden Eagles, as Sones quickly figured out the strategy of the Reivers player and took the opening two games to get a 2-0 lead. After a change in characters, Iowa Western got back into the game with a win, but Sones quickly countered in the fourth game to round out the win and advance in the elimination bracket 3-1.
The third round pitted the Golden Eagle against the Borough of Manhattan Community College Panthers who entered seeded 54th in the field.
The run for Sones ended with a very tough 3-0 loss to BMCC but was on the edge of winning in all three games.
“I certainly could have done a lot better,” Sones said, “but I think I did pretty well. I at least finished ahead of one fourth of the competition that got eliminated ahead of me.”
“You could go through a game and get lost in the shoulda, woulda, coulda’s all day long, but for his first semester playing, he exceeded my expectations,” Head Coach Cindy Benites said. “What he has accomplished so far for LCCC esports, no one has gone to this school and gone as far as he did.”
Sones nearly made it to the final 64 in the nation and the furthest run in LCCC history and he said he is looking forward to the spring season for a chance to use the lessons as an chance to get deeper into the tournament field.
“I’m definitely going to have to practice more and I’m thinking of picking up a couple more characters,” he said. “Just have to get more experience and practice.”
Call of Duty: Warzone
The defense of the Laramie County Community College esports team’s national championship in Call of Duty: Warzone began on Wednesday night as the Golden Eagle entered the postseason as the 13th seed and faced Hinds Community College in the opening round of the single elimination tournament.
The opening round ended in a tie with Hinds making a longer run as a team to take the early edge 1-0 in the best of five match.
Sam Devine and Isiaha Ahrens would rally in round two with a 12-9 win in kill count to even the match at one all.
Round three was the closest yet, as both teams made long runs, and the Golden Eagles would once again play to a 12-12 draw with Hinds Community College getting the edge going into the final round of the best of five.
The Golden Eagles forced it to a fifth and deciding round by once again getting to double digits to win by two and even the match at 2-2 and keep their title defense hopes alive.
The tight rounds continued into the final match and this one was decided by just one kill, with the Golden Eagles coming up short with five kills to the six from HCC.
“They came into the season with high expectations for this one so of course there’s nothing else to be but disappointed, but they played really well and played to their strengths and I’m happy as a coach,” Benites said.
The loss ends the year for the Golden Eagles in the first round of the postseason, but they will look to rebound in the spring season when the game converts to Call of Duty: Warzone 2.