OKLAHOMA CITY – The MACU Esports programs wrapped up their most successful spring of competition with yet another tournament championship as the Overwatch 2 team captured the NACE Varsity Plus East 6 title with a 3-0 victory over Manchester on Tuesday.
Between the Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Valorant, League of Legends and Super Smash Bros. teams, the Evangels amassed an incredible cumulative record of 29-12 between the five squads that were in their first season that was exclusively in NACE.
Overwatch 2
Despite finishing in a three-way tie for the NACE Varsity Plus East 6 division regular season championship with a 5-1 record, the Overwatch 2 team had more of an uphill climb in the postseason tournament as the Evangels didn't have either tiebreaker to grab one of the two first round byes.
Mid-America Christian was matched up with Olivet Nazarene in the quarterfinal round on Mar. 25, facing the Tigers twice in a two-week period and once again took care of business with a 3-1 win to advance to the semifinal.
The Evangels faced one of their toughest challenges of the season in the semifinal round on Apr. 1 as MACU had to square off against one of its fellow league regular season champs, Cottey College. Even though MACU handed the Comets their only loss of the season back on Feb. 11, the Evangels found themselves in a massive hole when CC captured the Control contest in Round 1 and Escort mission in Round 2, putting MACU on the brink of elimination.
In the Flashpoint mission in Round 3, the Evangels captured the first point in dramatic fashion, team-wiping the Comets in overtime and then winning another battle to hold the flashpoint to ultimately capture the first point with no late contest by Cottey. After capturing a 2-0 lead after the second flashpoint, MACU seized the third flashpoint right away and ran it up to 99-percent before Cottey captured its first control of the point. With both teams controlling the point to 99-percent, it was a tightly contested battle in overtime, but Rushell Herrera (SpicyGhost), Lantis Wolfe (Bug) and Hayden Linville (Golden) each tallied a pair of kills in the battle to wipe Cottey off the point and win the Flashpoint round 3-0.
With the Evangels trailing just 2-1 now entering the Push round, the Evangels dominated the all-important Round Four as the Evangels out-pushed the robot 124.54 meters to only 71.56 meters for Cottey to tie the match up at 2-all.
With game five coming down to another Escort round to decide the winner, the Evangels started out on defense as Cottey managed to escort the payload to the first two checkpoints before being stopped 8.14 meters into the third leg.
With MACU getting the turn to escort the payload, the Evangels came up with an enormous team-wipe around the second checkpoint as James Ramey (Crewdog) tallied four of MACU's five kills and pushed the payload past Cottey's 8.14-meter mark to win the semifinal with a dramatic 3-2 victory to advance to the championship match.
Taking on the top-seeded East 6 co-champ in Manchester (Ind.) in the title tilt, the battle-tested Evangels won the Control round by capturing two of the three control points to make it a 1-0 MACU lead.
The Escort round in Round Two provided the biggest challenge for the Evangels as Manchester was credited with the initial escort and reached the first two checkpoints and nearly pushed to the end at 62.27 meters. However, the Evangels came up clutch by getting the payload to the second checkpoint in overtime. With another 90 seconds to push the payload farther, MACU was briefly pushed off at 34.74 meters, but came up with an enormous near team-wipe in with Golden notching three of MACU's four kills to push the payload farther in overtime. With one last contest with MACU approaching Manchester's mark, the Evangels team wiped the Spartans to push past their mark and grab the 2-0 lead in the match.
With Flashpoint making up Round Three, the Evangels seized the first flashpoint and didn't look back as MACU captured the first three points in dominant fashion to get the 3-0 victory and win the team's third NACE Tournament Championship.
The spring has been the dominant season for the Overwatch 2 team historically as MACU won the East 6 title in 2023 before capturing the West-Central 2 Championship in 2024.
The Overwatch 2 team this past spring season consisted of captains Rushell Herrera (SpicyGhost) and Aaron Dodson (Immortal) as well as Hayden Linville (Golden), Lantis Wolfe (Bug) and James Ramey (Crewdog) and finished the year with an incredible overall record of 8-1.
Rocket League
The Rocket League trio of Jadon Maxwell (Brainz), Javier Cerrillo Soto (Cl0ver) and Luis Reyes (S0l) continued to be one of the most dominant trios over the course of the season after the team won the NACE Varsity Plus East 4 regular season title with an undefeated 7-0 mark.
Facing off against a primed Missouri Western squad in the semifinal on Mar. 31, the Evangels faced a tough test from the Griffons as three of the four rounds were decided on overtime golden goals. MACU captured the first on Cl0ver's score 57 seconds into OT and MWSU in round two before the Evangels cruised to a dominant 4-1 win in round three.
In the fourth round, MACU and MWSU put together an epic battle that saw the Griffons score the tying goal with eight seconds left to force overtime. In the extra session, the two teams grinded out an incredible 8:43 stretch before Brainz punched in the golden goal off of Cl0ver center to seal the 2-1 win and the 3-1 victory overall.
Facing off against a very strong Northwest Missouri State team in the championship match on Apr. 7, The Evangels and Bearcats put together an epic battle that saw NWMSU win round one 2-1, before MACU bounced back to tie it with a 2-0 win in round two.
After the Bearcats scored the game-winning goal with 13 seconds left to capture the 3-2 win in game three, the Evangels put together a solid bounce-back. By getting a 2-1 win in overtime on Brainz's golden goal 22 seconds in, MACU put the Bearcats against the ropes with a downright dominant 8-1 victory in round five to take the 3-2 lead in the series.
Unfortunately, MACU struggled to get any momentum against NWMSU's feisty defense in round six as the 2-0 win for the Bearcats sent the matchup into the decisive round seven for all the marbles.
The seventh round proved to be one of epic proportions as the two powerhouses battled to a scoreless draw in regulation to force title to be decided on a golden goal. Unfortunately for MACU, the game was decided on a midfield shot by the Bearcats that just barely got in-between Cl0ver and S0l retreating on defense to attempt the save as Northwest Missouri State got the 1-0 win to hand the Evangels a tough 4-3 defeat.
Despite the tough result, it was another great season for the Rocket League team as they end their year with an 8-1 overall record, marking the fourth-straight season that the trio has notched six or more victories in a season while getting 8-plus in three of those four seasons.
Valorant
Following a tough debut season in the NECC during the fall, the brand new Valorant team saw a complete turnaround in the spring by making its NACE debut in the East 7 division.
With team captains Lantis Wolfe (Mantis) and Joshua Waller (Okghost) along with Myles Garcia (NoBueno) returning to the squad in the spring, the Evangels made two strong additions to the team in the spring with the additions of Lucas Webb (Mcflurried14) and Cooper Robinson (Minicooper78) to the starting lineup.
As a result, the Valorant team made an incredible run through East 7 play, finishing the regular season with a 5-1 record and earning the No. 2 seed in the East 7 tournament.
Facing off against No. 3 seed St. Andrews (N.C.) in the Semifinal round, the Evangels put together a downright dominant 13-4, 13-5 performance to complete the 2-0 sweep and advance to the championship on Apr. 9.
Facing off against the regular season champ Landmark (Vt.), the Evangels went toe-to-toe against the Sharks as the attacking team, outscoring LC 7-5 before switching sides to the defending team. Unfortunately, MACU struggled to slow down Landmark in the defense as the Sharks successfully won eight of the next nine points to secure the 13-8 win to capture round one.
Mid-America Christian completely flipped the script on Landmark in round two as the Evangels once again were on the attack first and completely dominated at 11-1 before switching sides in defense. MACU and LC split the next two points before Mantis scored an incredible individual ace by killing all five of Landmark's attackers to secure the match point for the 13-2 victory.
With Split being the final map in round three, the Evangels struggled to get the attack going against Landmark as the Sharks went 9-3 in defense before switching sides. MACU got off a stellar start in defense, scoring the first three points to close it to a 9-6 game, however, Landmark rebounded by scoring the next four to win 13-6 and hand MACU a tough 2-1 defeat.
Still, it was a great season for the Valorant team in their NACE debut, wrapping up the season with a very strong 6-2 overall record.
League of Legends
Also making the transition from the NECC in the fall to the NACE West-Central 2 division in the spring, the League of Legends team consisting of captain John Gia (Yohon) along with Alanna Winston (Airyn), James Orquiz (Exiledmex), Enzo Nogue (Noguetti) and Jorge Rios (Thoricfish) put together a decent regular season by finishing with a 3-3 conference record.
Entering West-Central 2 postseason play as the No. 4 seed, MACU squared off against a Long Beach City-Black team that it received a forfeit win against back on Mar. 11. In the Mar. 25 quarterfinal matchup, the Evangels were downright dominant from start to finish, cruising to two dominant wins to secure the 2-0 victory.
The Evangels ran into a tough matchup in the semifinal as MACU had to square up against the undefeated West-Central 2 champion in Tulsa and the Golden Hurricane ended up coming away with the 2-0 win.
On the whole, the Evangels wrapped up their first NACE season with a solid 4-4 record despite coming off a bit of a rebuilding season in the fall with many members of last year's team graduating heading into the fall of 2024.
Super Smash Bros.
Mid-America Christian's Super Smash Bros. team consisting of team captains Elijah Bates and James Orquiz along with Cesar Stokes, Joshua Waller, Austin Kyle, Jack Search and Hope Walker rounded out the year of competition competing in the West-Central 2 division with a 3-3 record in conference play to lock up the No. 4 seed.
Unfortunately, in taking on the No. 5 seed Long Beach City-Red team, the Evangels ran into some tough luck. LBCC rallied back to win a nail-biter in round one as the final match came down to the final stock before ending it in round two by taking 12 of MACU's stocks to just nine for the Evangels to secure the 2-0 result and advance to the semifinal.
The Evangels closed out their season with a 3-4 overall record.
