Loy Norrix takes home the gold: Esports team has dominant showing at state championship

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Credit: Jeffrey Pickell

The Loy Norrix “Overwatch” team poses with their trophy after a first place victory.

Jackson Kiino-Terburg, A/V Editor
December 11, 2019

Last weekend, Loy Norrix showed Michigan that it has the strongest Esports team in the state.

The Loy Norrix “Overwatch” and “Smash Brothers” Esports teams both took home trophies at the MiHSEF state finals last Saturday, December 7th. The “Overwatch” team got first place, while the “Smash Brothers” team got third.

The tournament took place at Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. The “Smash Brothers” team took an unexpected early loss but then had an impressive run-back through the loser’s bracket to just fall short of making it to grand finals. The “Overwatch” team had a dominant performance, winning every match without dropping a single point all the way through grand finals, with an uncontested 4-0 to take number one.

“Everyone, even the Overwatch team really rallied around the ‘Smash’ team when they had to clutch it out. Everyone really supported Gabe,” said Esports coach Patrick Greeley.

The day after the event, the Overwatch team played a match for their national NASEF league’s playoffs with yet another victory. This places Loy Norrix in the top 8 in the US for “Overwatch” at the high school level. They play again this week to make the top 4 and get the chance to compete in Irvine, California for the national title. Watch it live on twitch.tv/esportsfed at 4:30 pm on Wednesday the 11th.

“It felt really good to show that a girl could be really good at esports, and it felt good to be able to represent women in Esports and win,” explained co-captain of the “Overwatch” team, junior Sophie Decker.

The “Smash Brothers” team continues to practice for their future to-be-determined competitions. They plan to take home the gold next year at the MiHSEF state finals. Even after their defeat in losers finals, they keep looking forward, seeing it as an opportunity to grow.

Jeffrey Pickell
Loy Norrix “Smash Brother’s” team captain Gabriel Vroman and Adam Ismaili-Alaoui receive their third place trophy.

“There are losses that I feel bad about and there are losses I feel good about. I felt good about that loss because I knew that the teams were well-matched, and we could have gotten first. It was a good game,” said captain of the “Smash Brothers” team, senior Gabriel Vroman.