BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University esports teams continued competition this week in NACE, NECC and ECAC. Rocket League finished third in the CRL East qualifier and won every match for the remainder of the week in NACE, AVGL and ECAC play. FIFA and Madden made huge statements this week outscoring their opponents by big amounts. Valorant Scarlett found another win this week and Valorant Navy almost completed a huge comeback.
FIFA
- Austin Pantaleo made some adjustments after last week's loss opening defeat.
- He faced Hartford in a best of three series for the ECAC and wasted no time as he took a 4-0 lead going into halftime.
- Hartford had no answer in game one as Pantaleo took the game 7-0.
- In game two Pantaleo slowed down a little bit moving into the second half ahead 2-0.
- But after a few speed adjustments he scored seven unanswered goals in the second half to win the game 9-0 and take the series 2-0.
- This win moves him to 1-1 in ECAC league play.
MADDEN
- Drayton Virgo faced Bay State this week in a best of three matchup for the ECAC.
- In the first game Virgo went into halftime with a 24-7 lead with no incomplete passes.
- He would finish the first game with double the yards of Bay State and a 52-10 win.
- In game two Bay State made some defensive adjustments and held Virgo to a field goal in the second quarter.
- Bay State gave up an interception late in the second quarter, setting Virgo up for a 10-0 lead going into halftime.
- Early in the third quarter Virgo forced a fumble to set up for another Tornado touchdown and continued to gain momentum from there.
- He takes the series 2-0 and the final game 38-7 to move to 2-0 in ECAC play.
ROCKET LEAGUE
- This week in NACE league play Matthew Bilbruck, Sam Calini and Rory Johnsen faced High Point University taking the series 3-1 and moving to 3-0.
- In ECAC play Rocket League A composed of the above players met up with Missouri Baptist where they showed no mercy whatsoever taking the series 3-0.
- Rocket League B also began ECAC competition this semester after missing the first week.
- Rocket League B is formed by Jarrett Joles, Virgo and Andrew Wade aka BIG WADE.
- They struggled in the first two games against Robert Williams and found themselves down 2-0 in the best of 5 series.
- After some rotational adjustments they took the next two games by one point.
- In the final game they completely unleashed taking the game by 4 points and the series 3-2 to move to 1-0 in ECAC league play.
- Rocket League A also competed in the second East CRL qualifier of the semester and took third in their pool after dropping matches to Oakland and St. Claire.
- The last bit of action for Rocket League this week was in the AVGL league.
- Calini, Johnsen and Wade played Florida State in week one finding some great chemistry in the process.
- They took the best of five series 3-0 to start the AVGL league strong.
VALORANT
- Valorant Scarlett continues to wreak havoc in the NECC.
- In their first regular season match they met up with Clark University and took the first six matches on Bind.
- They would go into defense ahead 8-4 by round and take the first match 13-9 as Clark mounted some momentum in the middle of the round.
- Top frags were Wade at 23/13/7 and Joles at 21/13/6.
- In match two the teams would fight it out at Haven.
- This matchup was not as competitive as King takes a 10-2 lead going into the switch.
- They take the match 13-2 to move to 1-0 in NECC league play.
- Valorant Navy is still working out some kinks as they complete their first week of NECC league play against Finlandia College.
- The first map was Icebox and after six rounds the score was tied 3-3 but Finlandia started to gain some momentum as they take an 8-4 lead moving into the switch.
- They made some great adjustments on attack as they cut the lead to 8-9 but Finlandia would take the first round 13-8.
- Top frags were Bilbruck at 26/18/3 and Virgo at 22/18/7.
- In match two the map chosen was Split and King struggled on attack as they fell 7-0 before taking a round.
- But Valorant Navy soon after went on a seven match win streak to tighten the score at 9-8.
- Finlandia did a good job managing their lead as they escaped with a 13-11 win in round two to take the best of three series.
- Top frags were Pantaleo at 26/16/6 and Virgo at 17/20/7.
UP NEXT
- Saturday and Sunday FIFA will compete in the NACE Star League FIFA Spring Cup #1.
- Monday FIFA competes in the ECAC at 8:00 p.m., Rocket League competes in NACE play at 6:00 p.m. and both Valorant teams will compete in the NECC.
- Wednesday Rocket League will compete in the ECAC at 8:00 p.m.
- Thursday Madden will compete in the ECAC at 8:00 p.m.
