CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College Call of Duty: Warzone team is playing in their fifth straight national championship game on April 26, 2024, after defeating Missouri State University – West Plains on Wednesday afternoon in the national semifinal in straight matches 28-9, 24-15, 24-14.
"I've been super impressed with their play this season and their ability to adapt to what's going on in the game and what's happening with each other," Head Esports Coach John Kershaw said of his Warzone team. "They have the unique ability to take on entire teams solo while always knowing what is going on with everyone else and being able to support when needed."
The win is their third of the season over the Grizzlies.
It opened with a dominant performance in the opening game with LCCC rolling to the win after West Plains ended up with several early deaths. This comes despite the Golden Eagles only leading by several kills in the opening minutes, but their teamwork helped to lead them to the win.
The Golden Eagles kept up their run of double digit kills for each player in the postseason. Isiaha Ahrens led the duo with 16 kills and Dimitrous Chronopoulos added 12. The high kill counts have come from the duo knowing they can be more aggressive on the maps due to game updates and a new map that has been pushed out.
"Me and Isiaha have a good handle on how everything works so we know how to play the game," Chronopoulos said. "Now that the rebirth island has been out, playing on the big map means there aren't as many really good people as there used to be because they are playing on the other map right now. We just try to take advantage of that."
Game two was a stronger start for LCCC and they moved out to a quick 10-3 lead when both Grizzlies were eliminated in quick succession. The Golden Eagles kept on playing and that brought about a jail break with LCCC leading 16-3.
From there West Plains did make a rally but LCCC held them off to win comfortably 24-15.
Chronopoulos finished with 10 more kills and Ahrens added 14 in another display of balanced teamwork.
Going for the sweep, the Golden Eagles faced their toughest start from the Grizzlies, trailing through the opening minutes until they were able to tie the match at 12 all. That brought the best out of LCCC's pair, and they outscored them 15-2 the rest of the way through the match on the way to the 27-14 win.
Ahrens picked up another 15 kills to finish the match with 45 total kills in just three games. Chronopoulos wasn't far behind with 12 more to finish with 34.
"I don't know if this was our best game of the year, but maybe one of our most consistent ones," Chronopoulos said. "To play three games and have all three come out on top, we have just really found that consistency in this round."
That clinched their fifth straight trip to the national championship and their first at the Tier One or Premier level.
"This is definitely the best they've played, but I think they are going to be putting on a clinic on Friday in the national semifinals," Kershaw added.
"I think we sent a pretty big message to everyone in the league going 3-0 in the semifinals. It gives us the right mindset and momentum to go into next week," Chronopoulos said. "There is a good chance for us to keep it rolling and we are in a good mood going into next week looking for our third ring, but God first and we will see."
The championship match will be held on April 26th at 4:00 pm against the winner of Central Community College (NE) and Dallas College – North Lake. More information for that match including streaming details will be posted at www.golccc.com.