MIDWAY, Ky. - A night after two of their Esports counterparts received championship rings for divisions titles won during the 2023-24 school year, members of Midway's Call of Duty squad came up with a creative solution while they wait for the prize they earned on Thursday.

Moments after the Eagle Call of Duty team completed a perfect fall with a 3-0 win over Sacramento State (Calif.) in the Playfly Mixed 2 Conference Championship, Ethan Schott emerged from an adjacent room with a bag of candy ring pops he distributed around the room.

"That'll do for now," teammate Brandon Goins said of the temporary solution. "But the real prize is in the spring."

The spring will present Midway with an opportunity to qualify for the national tournament, and if the Eagles play at the level they did in the fall, they'll will be formidable against any opponent.

Midway didn't drop a single game during a 7-0 finish this fall, winning six times by the mark of 3-0 and once by forfeit.

Though Call of Duty had success last season, going 28-14 and qualifying for the Southeast Region Playoffs in the spring, the group took a big step forward this season, which Goins says was a result of a change in approach.

"We really went hard on just having fun with it instead of taking it so seriously," Goins said. "Treating it like it's a game instead of being like a job."

The group's confidence was on full display Thursday, as the Eagles disposed of their championship foe in just over half an hour.

Call of Duty is the third Esports team to win a title in the last calendar year. Rocket League won a Mideast Conference title last fall, while League of Legends captured a Southeast Region championship in the spring.

Both teams were awarded championship rings at halftime of Midway's women's basketball game against Georgetown Wednesday.

Coach Alyssa Tinker now has a third championship team, with the success creating understandable excitement about the further ascension of the program.

"A lot of my teams are more confident than I am," Tinker said. "I like to be cautious in my approach. Most of my teams are very confident in themselves. And this team is another one (of those).

"There was no doubt in their minds since game one that they were going to win the whole thing. That proved in our record."