The Blinn College esports Rocket League team settled for a third-place finish in the NJCAA Esports (NJCAAe) Central Super Regional tournament Friday.
The Buccaneers fell to Heartland Community College 3-0 in a best-of-five match.
The good news for Blinn is the Central will send three teams to the NJCAAe national tournament, with the Bucs representing the third seed from their region. The Bucs went 2-2 in the double-elimination tournament.
Iowa Western Community College, which defeated Heartland in the championship match Friday, earned the top seed out of the Central, while Heartland is seeded second.
Competing for Blinn on Friday were , Braeden Pomeroy, Travis Stansberry, and substitute player Edward Tejada.
Rocket League combines elements of soccer with fast-paced car mechanics. Teams of three players use rocket-powered vehicles to hit a ball into the opponent’s goal. Teams with the most goals during a five-minute match win.
The Hawks earned the win over the Bucs by scores of 6-4, 4-0, and 4-3.
“We came out flat and missed open shots, mistimed rotations, and struggled with basic mechanics,” Blinn head coach and Rocket League manager Kyle Murto said. “Heartland capitalized on every one of our mistakes, and while we kept it close in the first and third matches, we never looked fully in sync or confident in our play. It was a disappointing way to end regionals, especially after the fight and progress we had shown earlier in the bracket.”
The Bucs will have a chance to get back on track on the big stage. Blinn will be among eight teams vying for a national championship. Two teams from the NJCAAe East and West regions will fill out the field. The double-elimination tournament begins Friday, April 18. Match times and matchups have yet to be finalized.
“We have a lot to clean up if we want to make a real impact at nationals, and our team knows our performance tonight wasn’t acceptable,” Murto added. “We’ll be putting in the work to make sure that when we show up on the national stage, we play the Rocket League we’re capable of. I believe in this team’s ability to bounce back, and nationals is still ours to fight for.”
