The Blinn College esports team competed in three matches Friday and finished the night with a 1-2 mark.
The Buccaneer Rocket League team battled through two NJCAA Esports (NJCAAe) East Conference 2 matches, defeating Mineral Area College 3-0 before dropping a 3-1 decision to Daytona State College.
Competing for the Bucs were Xavier Johnson, Bradyn Cox, and Jabria Price.
“We went into our first match against Mineral Area College with a lot of information on their playstyle, as they tend to over push and leave themselves vulnerable in the transition,” Blinn assistant coach and Rocket League manager Kyle Murto said. “Off of this information alone and some great individual play, we were able to effectively dismantle their defense and take a quick victory.”
Murto said he and his team expected a tough tilt against Daytona State, and the Falcons delivered.
“Daytona State has a pretty solid starting lineup, however, I believe we are the better team,” Murto said. “With that being said, we fumbled the bag against them. We had every breakdown imaginable, which handed them the win on a silver platter. We had communication issues which led to several double commits and missed rotations, too much of a focus on individual play rather than passing plays, and just way too many missed opportunities at the net. Hopefully this was just an off night, and we will pull things back together next week.”
Blinn Rocket League is now 3-1 overall. The Bucs’ next two NJCAAe matchups will pit them against Madison College at 5 p.m. and Tallahassee Community College at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23.
The Buccaneer Overwatch team was also in action Friday and came up short in a 3-0 loss to No. 6 Fisher College in a National Association of College Esports (NACE) tilt.
Haluk Tanriseven, Donnivan Straight, Dhruv Pandrangi, Jaden Cornett, and Matthew Hutchings competed for Blinn, which is now 1-2 in NACE Super Conference play.
“We came into the match with some new team compositions to catch our opponents by surprise, and while we lost the matchup 3-0, it was a much closer outcome than it appears,” said Murto, who also oversees the Overwatch squad. “In every map, we went down to the wire, going 99% and into overtime multiple times over the course of the series. Fisher is one of the best teams in the nation, as are most of the schools we are playing in NACE, so to be going this close with the sixth-ranked team is a big deal. We are working every week, toiling over film, scrimmaging, and practicing relentlessly in order to eventually take these teams down.”
Blinn’s next NACE Overwatch bout will see the Buccaneers take on Maryville University at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 45 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
