OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Esports teams closed out its fall 2023 season this week as the Rocket League team won its second straight NACE Starleague Varsity Plus East Championship on Monday while the League of Legends team put up a valiant effort in the NECC Emergents West Championship match, but dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to Hawaii-West O'ahu on Wednesday.

Rocket League

The Rocket League team once again finished at the top of the NACE Starleague Varsity Plus East pack after wrapping up its regular season with a 12-2 overall record, won the East 6 regular season title after going 7-0 in conference play before winning the conference tournament title in dramatic fashion with a 4-3 victory over Messiah on Monday.

In the championship match, the Evangels found themselves in an early hole when Messiah pulled out a 2-1 win in the opening game and trailed game two 3-2 with less than 30 seconds left. However, Jadon Maxwell (Brainz) netted the equalizer with 26 seconds left off a failed clearance into the left side of the goal to force overtime. 55 seconds into the overtime period, the Evangels executed a great piece of offense when Javier Cerillo Soto (Cl0ver) executed a well-timed demo to open up some space on the left side, setting up Luis Reyes (S0L) to deflect a pass off the left corner to center the ball for Brainz to slot the golden goal into the left side for the 4-3 win to bring it even at 1-1.

The third game produced a similar result as MACU was once again able to force overtime on Cl0ver's incredible aerial goal into the top left corner with 36 seconds left just seven seconds off the kickoff from Messiah's go-ahead goal. Only eight seconds into the extra session, Cl0ver once again executed a phenomenal demo along the right way and went aerial on the dribble, setting up S0L, who came flying in for the right-side punch-in to seal the 3-2 win and put the Evangels in-front 2-1 in the match.

Messiah tied the match back up with a defensive 1-0 win over MACU in game four, but MACU put the Falcons on the ropes in game five when Cl0ver came flying in with the aerial off a failed clearance to punch it into the open top left corner before Cl0ver once again made a sensational driving dribble through the midfield before pressuring on the momentary takeaway to tap in the game-winner with 27 seconds left to seal the 2-1 win.

Game six turned out to be a thriller as MACU held a 1-0 lead for most of the match before scores from Messiah with 1:08 left and 48 seconds left put the Falcons in-front 2-1. The Evangels had some chances in the final minute as Cl0ver had his potential equalizer with 21 seconds left saved on the line before Cl0ver's desperation last second open shot deflected off the left post, sending it to a decisive game seven.

Messiah captured the early 1-0 lead in the final game, but the Evangels would not be denied as three unanswered MACU scores, a pair by Cl0ver and a goal by S0l sealed the 3-1 victory and the second consecutive championship for the Evangels.

League of Legends

The League of Legends team came nail-bitingly close to winning the NECC Emergents West Championship this fall after going toe-to-toe with Hawaii West-O'ahu in the championship match, but Pueo Gaming rallied from MACU's 2-1 lead to hand the Evangels a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat, ending MACU's season with an 8-4 overall record while going 4-1 in Emergents West B Division play.

The Evangels got off to a strong start in the championship match as MACU dominated from start to finish, allowing the Evangels to aggressively push into Pueo's base 33 minutes into the match, setting up a huge final fight that allowed John Gia (Yohon) to be the sole survivor to take out the enemy base and seal the victory for the Evangels.

In game two, it was a close battle through most of the match, but a hard-fought fight by both teams trying to defeat the dragon stemmed the tide for Pueo gaming as Hawaii West-O'ahu was able to complete a team wipe of the Evangels. After building up enough buffs through farming, Hawaii was able to invade the Evangels base and take it to even the match up at 1-1.

The third game was another tight battle as a four-on-four fight at the dragon went the Evangels way, but Alex Shell (walmart evolved) was able to invade Pueo's base during the battle at the dragon, wreaking havoc on most of Pueo's inhibitors and turrets in the base and while Pueo was able to claim the dragon, the Evangels were able to team wipe Hawaii-West O'ahu to allow the Evangels to destroy the Pueo base and re-take a 2-1 lead.

Game four set up for a dramatic finish as MACU invaded Pueo's base 41 minutes into the match and do significant damage, but Pueo completely flipped the game by successfully defending the base with a pentakill and due to a long cooldown, Pueo was quickly able to counter, invade MACU's base and take it down before the Evangels could respawn in, allowing the contest to go to a decisive game five.

The final game was another close, nail-biting fight, but unfortunately, the Evangels were unable to successfully stave off a late Pueo push as MACU's base fell, allowing Hawaii-West O'ahu to claim the 3-2 victory.

Overwatch

Even though MACU's Overwatch team had a bit of a rough regular season, going 2-4 in NACE Starleague Varsity Plus East 9 play, the Evangels put together a strong postseason push.

After being swept 3-0 to Harding (Ark.) back on Oct. 3, MACU faced off against the Bisons in the quarterfinal round of the East 9 Tournament and after trading the first two games, Mid-America Christian stunned the Bisons by taking the next two to advance to the Semifinal Round.

Unfortunately, MACU saw its season come to a tough end against top-seeded Missouri State as the Evangels were swept 3-0, ending their 2023 fall campaign with a 3-5 overall record.

Super Smash Bros.

The MACU Super Smash Bros. team put together a 2-5 season in NACE Starleague East 9 play, picking up wins against Independence CC (Mo.) and Cottey (Mo.) to qualify for the East 9 Tournament. However, the Evangels were unable to overcome Ozarks Tech (Mo.) as the Evangels fell 2-0 in the quarterfinal round on Nov. 16, wrapping up the year with a 2-6 overall record.