OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Esports program will have an expanded outlook with the addition of a Valorant team as the Evangels are ready to start another fall season. The newly added Valorant team and the League of Legends team will be competing in the NECC while the Rocket League, Overwatch 2 and Super Smash Bros. squads will compete in the NACE.

The Evangels officially begin their regular season this week as the Valorant squad opens against Clark (Mass.) at 8 p.m. tonight, the Overwatch 2 and League of Legends teams open with contests at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. against Northwestern Michigan and Central Methodist (Mo.) on Tuesday, the Super Smash Bros. teams start play on Thursday with 6 p.m. matchups against Jamestown (Va.) and North Texas with the Rocket League team getting their campaign underway at 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 30 against Park (Mo.).
 
Valorant
Mid-America Christian is introducing a Valorant team for the first time since the establishment of the Esports program. Serving alongside team captain Lantis Wolfe (Mantis) are Myles Garcia (NoBueno0718), Joshua Waller (OKghost86), Emma Garland (Emmathedilemma17), Malcolm Roberts (Mj), Justin Collins (Zoldyklap52), Irving Mejia (IrvingPro002) and John Gia (Yohon).

The Evangels saw their first competition last week in the NECC Placement Tournament and after getting off to a strong start against Pace in their first ever match, holding an 8-6 lead at the midway point, MACU struggled to slow down the opposition as they fell in a 13-9 contest. In their second match against Missouri State, MACU was unable to slow down the Bears it dropped a 13-5 decision.

At the end of placements, the Evangels were placed in the NECC Phantom Division IX league for their first semester of competition.
 
Overwatch 2
Coming off a sensational spring where the Evangels captured the NACE Starleague Varsity Plus West-Central 2 Championship, MACU will be looking to run it back once again behind a highly experience roster.

With the return of team captains Rushell Herrera (SpicyGhost) and Aaron Dodson (Immortal) along with another experienced player in Hayden Linville (Golden), the Evangels will be looking to continue to build forward with the additions of Irving Mejia (IrvingPro002), James Ramey (Crewdog), Lantis Wolfe (Bug) and Emma Garland (Bunny_Egg002).

Last spring, the Overwatch 2 squad wrapped up the regular season with a 6-1 record during conference play before sweeping a pair of 3-0 victories over Kansas City in the Semifinal and getting a revenge sweep in three against West Texas A&M in the championship match after falling 3-2 to the Buffaloes during the regular season.
 
Rocket League
Likely the most experienced of all of MACU's Esports teams, the Evangels are running back the dynamic trio of Javier Cerillo Soto (Cl0ver), Jadon Maxwell (Brainz) and Luis Reyes (S0l) with Mason Kilpatrick (1256) serving as a key reserve.

Last fall, the trio put together a stellar run through the NACE Starleague Varsity Plus East 6 division as the Evangels captured the regular season championship with a perfect 7-0 mark in conference play before coming away with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Messiah (Pa.) in the championship match.

Competing in the East 5 division in the spring, the Evangels struggled in the early season as MACU dropped the first two matches of the season without S0l in the lineup. In his return, the Evangels turned their season around in a big way as MACU went 5-0 the rest of the way to enter postseason play with loads of momentum. The Evangels once again advanced to the East 5 championship game and faced a Kettering (Mich.) team that it was able to defeat during the regular season. Unfortunately, the Evangels came up just a bit short as MACU fell 4-0 in the title tilt.

The Evangels moved up a division for the 2024 fall campaign as MACU will play in the East 4 division.
 
League of Legends
With a mix of experience and incoming talent, the MACU League of Legends team will be looking to build upon its success. Along with team captain John Gia (Yohon) and returners Tristan Barton (Ponyboy1221), James Orquiz (Exiledmex) and Christian Martinez (FlyingXyzan), the Evangels added some strong additions with Enzo Nogue (Noguetti), Alanna Winston (Airyn) and Jorje Rios (Thoricfish).

After taking the spring season off, the Evangels are coming off a fall campaign that saw the LoL squad go 4-1 in NECC Emergents West A conference play.
In the West playoffs, the Evangels picked up a 2-0 win over Omaha in the quarterfinal round and a 2-1 victory over Montana State in the semifinal. MACU put together a great fight in the championship contest before dropping a grueling 3-2 defeat to Hawaii-O'ahu (Pueo Gaming) in the title tilt.

This season, the Evangels will be competing in the Division VII West B division.
 
Super Smash Bros.
For the second-straight season, the Super Smash Bros. squads will be running two teams with a Kings team and a Knights team. Competing in the NACE Varsity Plus East 4 division, the Kings will be captained by James Orquiz and will compete with some experienced players in Joshua Waller and John Gia along with a pair of newcomers in Malcolm Roberts and Austin Kyle.

Meanwhile, the Knights will be led by team captain Hope Walker and she will be joined by Elijah Bates, Aaron Dodson, Jack Search and Cesar Stokes. The Knights team will compete in the East 7 division for the 2024 fall campaign.

The Evangels will be looking to build upon last season's results after playing as a Red team that competed in the NACE Starleague Varsity Plus East 6 division and finished with a 3-4 record while the Black squad went 0-7.