OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Esports Overwatch 2 team completed a dominant postseason run in the NACE Starleague Varsity Plus West-Central 2 Championship match as the Evangels were able to sweep West Texas A&M in three-straight game modes on Tuesday night.
With the victory, MACU captured both the West-Central 2 regular season and tournament championships after winning its conference with a 6-1 league mark, holding the tiebreaker in the three-way finish at the top of the conference between West Texas A&M and Guam.
MACU notched its second season and tournament championship in back-to-back springs as the Evangels captured the East 6 regular season and tournament titles last year after going 7-0 during the regular season and defeated Manchester (Ind.) 3-1 in the championship match on Apr. 18, 2023.
Opening the championship on Control mode, the Buffs managed to secure the control point first and held it for the full duration despite a strong contest by the Evangels with the point 99-percent secured. After an extended overtime period, WTAMU managed to eliminate three Evangels players within the zone to complete the 100-0 zone secure.
In the second round of Control, it was the Evangels that made a sensational initial push in the control point and pushed the Buffs off of it to secure it first. During WTAMU's first contest, the Evangels narrowly missed team-wiping the Buffs as a kill apiece for Exiledmex (James Orquiz) and SpicyGhost (Rushell Herrera) to go along with a pair of eliminations for Ponyboy1221 (Tristin Barton) caused West Texas A&M to regroup. After a failed second try, WTAMU did manage to pull off an elimination on its third push, but YoungZPlayin (Bobby Young) knocked out a pair of Buffs players to go with a Ponyboy1221 kill to once again hold the zone down to a 99-0 lead before WTAMU made a sensational push in overtime to team wipe the Evangels and grab control.
After an unsuccessful first overtake, MACU made its move on its second push as Exiledmex, YoungZPlayin and SpicyGhost eliminated three Buffs before PonyBoy1221 terminated the last two WTAMU players holding down the zone to recapture the point and secure the 100-74 win to tie Control mode up at 1-1.
The third and final round of Control was as nail-biting of a finish as one could possibly ask for. After completing a team wipe before the control point unlocked, the Evangels secured the first advantage before narrowly missing a team-wipe on West Texas A&M's first push as a Ponyboy1221 kill and three YoungZPlayin eliminations caused WTAMU to regroup once again. Getting the point control up to 99-percent once again, the Buffs made a strong final push to team wipe the Evangels and secure the objective in overtime.
Despite being team wiped on their first and second retake attempts, MACU's third and final push resulted in a winner-take-all overtime period with both teams holding 99-percent control. Following a kill-trade between SpicyGhost and WTAMU's Omegadragon, the Evangels successfully wiped out the Buffs as two PonyBoy1221 kills and a pair of Immortal (Aaron Dodson) eliminations allowed the Evangels to complete a thrilling 100-99 final point secure to secure the early match lead with the 2-1 victory.
While Control Point was as close as a contest that could be, the Escort mode ended up being a complete domination by the Evangels. Tasked with defending the payload first, MACU successfully team wiped WTAMU's first major push to capture as PonyBoy1221 eliminated three Buffs with YoungZPlayin and Exiledmex also taking out a player apiece. On the Buffs second charge, they managed to grab 37.9-percent control of the payload secure before the Evangels managed to push WTAMU off the point.
West Texas A&M tried to make one more strong push, getting the payload capture up to 67.3-percent, but the Evangels narrowly missed team wiping the Buffs once again as two more Ponyboy1221 kills and a termination each for Exiledmex and YoungZPlayin completely thwarted WTAMU's capture attempt as the Evangels defended the payload for the full four minutes, putting the Buffs at a major disadvantage.
With MACU's turn to secure the payload, the Evangels wasted little time as MACU needed just 43 seconds to capture the payload. Exiledmex came up huge during the push, eliminating three WTAMU competitors while SpicyGhost and YoungZPlayin also coming up with a kill to complete the team wipe, securing the payload for the dominant MACU victory and putting the Evangels in-front 2-0 for the match.
Needing just one more win, the Evangels would battle the Buffs in Flashpoint in what would be a "must-win" round for West Texas A&M.
On the first flashpoint, Mid-America Christian captured the objective first as a pair of YoungZPlayin kills and a kill each for SpicyGhost and PonyBoy1221 allowed the Evangels to hold control until WTAMU managed to overtake MACU with the Evangels capturing 93-percent. MACU was unable to knock the Buffs off the zone as West Texas A&M captured the first flashpoint, 100-to-93.
The Buffs won the first fight for the second flashpoint, but after holding the zone up to 54-percent, the Evangels executed a pair of eliminations to take control of the point. With WTAMU regrouping to try and take the zone back, MACU eliminated four Buffs in succession with SpicyGhost taking down a pair while PonyBoy1221 and Exiledmex also each defeated a Buff. West Texas A&M tried to make one last push to capture the point, but was unable to get there in-time as MACU secured the 100-54 win to tie it up at 1-1.
The Evangels managed to capture the all-important third flashpoint immediately upon unlocking and with an immediate contest from WTAMU, MACU eliminated four Buffs right off the bat with PonyBoy1221 taking out two while Exiledmex and YoungZPlayin each knocking out a player. Despite holding the point down up to 79-percent, West Texas A&M managed to break in and push the Evangels out for the capture but after both teams traded a pair of kills, eliminations by PonyBoy1221, SpicyGhost and Immortal allowed the Evangels to take the point back and win it 100-30, putting the Buffs on the brink of elimination on the 2-1 lead.
Prior to the fourth flashpoint unlocking, the Buffs took out four MACU players to capture the early control. However, the Evangels didn't take long to wrestle control back as a complete WTAMU team wipe off of three Exiledmex kills and a pair of PonyBoy1221 terminations allowed MACU to win control after a 66-percent capture by the Buffs. West Texas A&M tried to make a push to take back the point and even though it was able to eliminate two MACU players, a pair of kills from PonyBoy1221 and YoungZPlayin completely thwarted the Buffs chances as MACU secured the 100-66 win to wrap-up both the Flashpoint round 3-1 and the final with the 3-0 sweep.
For the Evangels, it was the final game for one of their co-captains in Tristian Barton (PonyBoy1221). Barton wraps up a stellar MACU career as a two-time NACE Starleague regular season and tournament champion, serving as the Overwatch 2 team's tank for the last three years. Barton also competed on the League of Legends team as well as the Super Smash Bros. Red team during the 2024 spring season.
