Akron STEM Eagles

Posted on 06/01/2022

The Esports Ohio Northeast regionals were set at the University of Mount Union May 14-15. Thirty teams from around northeast Ohio competed live to see who were the best teams in Valorant, Rocket League, Fortnite, Overwatch and Super Smash Brothers.

Overwatch
Maddox Graham(c)
Riley Melvin
Sam Erisey
Will Sacha
Jesse Wallis
Elijah Reidinger
Casey Renner (b)
Isabella Fitzpatrick (b)

After making playoffs in the fall and finishing runner-up at regionals, they again made it to the finals at the spring regionals. Over the weekend, they had to play two games in order to qualify for states and reach the grand finals. They beat Barberton in the first round and then faced off with undefeated Easton Canton in the semi-final, beating them as well. They again played Shaker Heights in the grand finals but lost again, this time having three very close games. The team feels like they can beat anyone going into the state finals!

Fortnite
Rico Johnson
Julius Simon
Nathan Edwards
Fernando Ramirez Martinez
Cory Rosenthal
Marcel Daley
Jemone Daniel (b)

Fortnite had a similar route as Overwatch did this year. They made it to the finals in the fall but got runner-up. In the spring, they ended up dropping a match in the regular season to Barberton. There were just four teams at regionals and, with being second in their group, they had to face off against undefeated Shaker Heights. They beat Shaker in a 2-1 comeback and faced off with Barberton in the finals. They fought Barberton tough but lost that series 1-2. The team is excited to show what they can do at states!

Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Noah (Olivia) Bitecofer (c)
Dove Jackson
Trevahn Seward
Colin Langston
Johnathan Dixon

Smash did not make playoffs in the fall, so they set a goal to make it during the spring. They ended up finishing second in their group with one loss during the regular season, giving them their first taste of playoffs. At regionals, they won their first matchup against second seed Avon in the first upset of the day. Next, they were faced off against Louisville, who they lost to in the regular season. They almost had a comeback but ended up losing the series 1-4. Louisville went on to win the entire regional. The team was sad but were glad to get one win and their first opportunity to play at regionals!

Rocket League
Spencer Desberg (c)
Ryder Hammelman
Julian Fleming
Michael Slaton (b)

Rocket League did not make playoffs in the fall and also set a goal to try and reach playoffs. They also ended the regular season in second place in their division, earning a spot at regionals. They had a tough matchup to start regionals and went out in their first game, but the kids were excited to play on stage!

Valorant
Cole Diefendorf (c)
Cameron Curto (AEC)
Julius Villanueva
Damien Cromwell
Subason Rai
Prince Sarbuja (b)
Anamol Thulung (b)

Valorant ended their spring season tied for second place, with a play-in for the playoffs. They played a tough series against Shaker Heights but fell 1-2 and barely missed out on regionals.

Finally, a shout-out one more student -- Noah Bechtel. Noah volunteered at the regional and ended up running the entire Fortnite tournament for us. I contracted COVID the day of regionals, so I was unable to attend and run the event. The director of Esports at Mount Union said that, if Noah was not there, the Fortnite tournament might not have happened. Noah has proven time and time again to be a leader and someone to depend on.