MIDWAY, Ky. - A swift turnaround produced a Southeast Region Championship for Midway's League of Legends eSports team.
The fourth-seeded Eagles completed their unbeaten run through the tournament with a 3-0 win over No. 6 Catawba Valley (N.C.) in the championship round region competition on Wednesday.
This marks the second postseason title for an Eagle eSports team this season, after the Rocket League squad won the Mideast Conference championship in December. And while that team's undefeated run in the fall ended where many expected, the success of League of Legends was far less certain.
After going just 5-13 last season, Midway had an improved, but still unspectacular fall, finishing 5-4 without earning a playoff berth.
It's been a much different story in the spring semester, where the Eagles have put together a 7-1 record, their confidence only growing with each win.
"They believed from week one they could win the whole thing," head coach Alyssa Tinker said following Wednesday's win. "As a coach, I'm always a little more skeptical, but they did it. They have knocked it out of the park every time."
Some of the success has come from the addition of new talent, with Tinker and several players crediting the mid-season addition of Gabriel Plata to the squad. The team has also benefitted from improved chemistry, which has continued to build over the course of the long season.
"Our communication, I think it really grew," freshman Cody Griffith said. "We really solidified what we can do and how we can work together. We just had to lock in and find the things that worked."
Having already completed such a quick turnaround, Eagle players aren't taking modest expectations into nationals.
"I want to take it home," Griffith said. "That's the plan. If I'm going I'm going for the gold."
Both League of Legends and Rocket League are expected to play in nationals, though Tinker said Wednesday she wasn't sure when brackets would be released.
CALL OF DUTY 2 SEASON ENDS
Midway's Call of Duty 2 team had its season end with a 3-0 loss to CSUM (Calif.) in the second round of the Southeast Region Playoffs Tuesday.
The Eagles entered the match having won six in a row, including a 3-0 win over Neumont (Utah) in its postseason opener. COD 2 closes out the spring with a record of 6-2.
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