The Carl Albert State College Vikings Esports team entered the NJCAAE Call of Duty national playoffs at seed #13 out of 16 teams. Being a low seed, the team’s first match was against the #4 seed, Northwest College. “Our team felt confident going into the match, knowing that the last game we had played prior to playoffs was against #5 seed, Northeastern Oklahoma College, whom we had narrowly bested 3-2,” said Randy Armstrong, Coach. “We also knew that only three teams out of the 12 seeded above us had a tougher schedule during the regular season than we did, so we believed the seeding may have been skewed slightly.”
However, in the first playoff game against Northwest College, the Vikings won the match 3-0 to advance to the
Quarterfinals, where they would face the #12 Seed Trinity Valley Community College. Trinity Valley had
just barely defeated the #5 seed NEO 3-2 in the first round. “We didn’t let their low seeding fool us into
thinking this would be an easy match, as they seemed very similar to us in that moment,” said Armstrong. “Fortunately, we were able to win that match 3-0 as well, meaning we would advance to the Semi-Finals.”
The semi-final match would be against the #1 seed Catawba Valley Community College. CVCC had only lost a single map in all of the nine matches they had played to this point. They were 27-1 overall, with eight 3-0 wins and a single 3-1 win. They would easily be the toughest opponent the Vikings had faced, and likely the best team in the league/nation.
Unfortunately, the Vikings, like almost every other team, fell 0-3 to Catawba Valley Community College, who went
went on to defeat the #2 seed, Missouri State University, 3-0, and win the National Championship.
In the meantime, the Vikings still needed to determine third place, and their opponent for that match would be
the # 6 seed, Dallas College: North Lake. Dallas College had won against the #3 seed, Barton Community College. Barton CC was the team that took a map from #1 seed Catawba in round 4 of the regular season, resulting in CVCC’s only 3-1 match in an otherwise perfect run. The Vikings knew it would be a difficult match.
The third-place playoff match was easily one of the closest, most exciting matches the Vikings had played all season.
Each win or loss was an absolute nail-biting battle! The Vikings came out on top after a 3-1 victory over Dallas to secure their third-place position in the Fall 2023 NJCAAE Contender Series National Championship.
“For an all-freshman team, I could not possibly be more proud or more excited for what’s to come,” said Armstrong. “We are losing two of our players next semester, but have some new talent coming in. We will also be switching
to MWIII for competition rather than MW2. I believe this team has the potential to snag that #1 spot
and finally give CASC Esports their long-sought NJCAAE National Championship win!”
“The Esports team faced some extremely tough competition and came out on top,” said CASC President Jay Falkner. “On behalf of our entire campus community, I want to congratulate them on a well-deserved third-place national finish and for completing a tough season without giving up. We are proud of you!”
###
