The CCHS eSports Team has had a banner year, making it to the playoffs this week in two of its games.
The team competes in Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Splatoon and HearthStone. Only Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart qualified for playoffs. The Super Smash Brothers team plays at 5 p.m. against Trinity and the Mario Kart team plays tomorrow at 5 p.m.
The eSports Team gathers in its gaming room on the second floor of the high school and competes against teams from all over the Commonwealth. Super Smash Bros. is a team of three players but they are a one-on-one competition. Splatoon is a team of four versus four in a game that is a lot like paintball. In Mario Kart, teams of four compete in a racing game. HearthStone is a card game featuring three person teams that compete one-on-one.
The eSports team has had a lot of success this year, including a Mario Kart victory at the Second Annual Bellarmine Open tournament held at Bellarmine University last month. Team member Jaden Lark was named MVP of that tournament as well.
Chris Malo, a freshman who is on the team, competed at the Bellarmine tournament. “I enjoy the games,” he said, noting he plays Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart. Teams engaged in friendly matches as well as competitive ones so they got to meet some of their peers from other counties.
“A lot of the super strong Smash players were there,” said Coach Rob Martin. “I wanted them to have the experience of playing strong players and playing in front of a crowd.”
Most of their games are played virtually so it’s a new experience when they meet in person. If the team makes it to the state tournament, it is played in person.
“They took to it really well. It was fantastic to watch the interaction and exchanges,” he said of his team.
The CCHS team excelled in its Mario Kart competition at Bellarmine. “We dominated the match and set the tone,” Martin said. The young team is poised to become an eSports powerhouse if it keeps on this trajectory. “Not only are we young, our young players are really strong,” Martin said.
Austin Marshall, also an eSports coach, said the players are hard-working and their dedication is paying off through success. Both coaches challenged the incoming freshman class to beat them in Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros., their individual specialties.
The team is also looking for shoutcasters who commentate throughout the matches and run the live stream. Players do not compete while shoutcasting.
The players include:
Super Smash Brothers: Mason Hinkle, Chris Malo, Adam Freeman, Joey Massey and Asriel Aguazul
Mario Kart 8: Troy Jackson, Jaden Lark, Chris Malo, Joey Massey and Billy Burgess
Hearthstone: Logan Clifton, Jaden Lark and Brenna Mefford
The eSports team’s matches can be watched on Twitch at this link https://twitch.tv/cc_panther_esports.