In a spectacle befitting a high school state championship, Lafayette and Shelby County defended their respective “esports” crowns last Thursday at the University of Kentucky’s Gatton Student Center ballroom.
It had all the makings of a first-class event in a burgeoning high school sport: lightning fast new computers provided by UK, live streaming with engaging expert commentary from KHSAA partner PlayVS, and a fan area where the drama played out on a big screen in a room adjacent to the players.
“Before, we did it in our school library, so it didn’t feel like ‘Oh, wow, we’re in the finals,’ it just felt like we were in the school library,” said Lafayette’s Sean Reardon, aka “Milky Way.” “Now, we’re at UK, and it actually felt like an official final game.”
The KHSAA has had three esports seasons. The first “League of Legends (LoL)” championship was held at Martha Layne Collins High School last February. The second included an “LoL” title match at Lafayette and also a “Rocket League” title match where each team, Shelby County and Graves County, competed remotely from their schools.
This year marked the first unified championship site for both and included player introductions and trophy presentations like every other KHSAA sport. The players said they could hear fan cheers during the games despite the partition between their areas. They’re separated because the video feed lags a couple of minutes behind actual game play.
“This is a whole different level and this is the way esports is heading, so I’m glad KHSAA and UK are doing this to respect it and grow it,” Lafayette co-head coach Grant Stringer said.
Kentucky’s high school esports participation has grown from 12 schools and 140 players last winter, to 38 schools and 528 players last spring, to 47 schools and 629 players now.
Thursday’s contenders marveled at the UK set up. The university has jumped wholeheartedly into esports and reached out to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association to be a part.
“The computers in that room are better than my set up at home,” said Lafayette’s Oscar Lin, aka “óWó.”
Most importantly, however, the championships featured two thrilling matches decided by clutch plays in crucial moments.
‘Milky Way is a hero!’
Things didn’t look good for Lafayette early in Game 1 of its “League of Legends” best-of-three title match against Elizabethtown.
“LoL” is a multiplayer online battle arena game developed by Riot Games. Teams consists of five players, each of whom has a specific roles named “Top Lane,” “Jungle,” Mid-Lane,” “Bot Lane,” and “Support.”
“LoL’s ultimate objective is essentially a “capture the flag” military-style game, except with magical beings, spells, minions and dragons. Because “LoL” involves a kill and respawn cycle for players during the action, the KHSAA required parents and administrators to sign an acknowledgement form that they are all aware of the game’s cartoon violence.
Players engage in battles against each other and can gain points and gold from opponent kills and from destruction of enemy turrets and certain beings in the game, including dragons. More gold means the ability to purchase more items and power. Slain players continually respawn until the final objective is reached, but getting wiped off the board, even if it’s only for a few seconds, can leave your territory defenseless and give your opponents time to seize the advantage.
Elizabethtown’s team put Lafayette on its heels early, gaining a substantial 17-10 kills advantage, a 3-0 edge in “dragon souls” obtained and a modest lead of about 1,000 in gold.
A crucial fight developed 26 minutes into the action around an attempt to get the game’s fourth dragon. If Elizabethown destroyed it first, the Panthers team would likely level up, gain more gold for more weapons and healing power and potentially steamroll to a Game 1 victory.
“The fight is over! Only the jungler left alive as Lafayette are in shambles!” exclaimed PlayVS play-by-play man Trevor “Audio” Goodrich as the Generals’ Sean “Milky Way” Reardon (Lafayette’s jungler) escaped a devastating Elizabethtown onslaught and his teammates sat waiting for their characters to respawn.
But Reardon did not run away. Despite being low on health, he pivoted back at his foes and took the fight to Elizabethtown against 3-1 odds in a desperate try to stall the Panthers and obtain the dragon for his team.
“My heart was pounding,” Reardon said. “I don’t even remember it. My heart was pounding, my vision was blurry. It was just lucky, I guess.”
Lucky or not, his maneuver provided the game’s turning point. He took out two Elizabethtown players in one blow.
“The double takedown! Oh my word! Milky Way is a hero!” Goodrich screamed in disbelief as Lafayette’s fans cheered.
From there, although still behind, Lafayette regrouped and began focusing on the strategy that helped them win their first esports crown back in May. Ten minutes after Reardon’s heroics, Lafayette toppled Elizabethtown’s nexus, the game’s ultimate goal. The second game was a rout — Lafayette ended Game 2 in a blazing-fast 22 minutes.
“It was absolutely nerve-wracking,” said Lafayette co-coach Stringer. “Ultimately, they hung in there the first game … They knew what their strategy was to win. They made a couple of mistakes, but they were able to bounce back from that.”
Reardon and his teammates founded Lafayette’s esports team. The sports’ growth and the support from their classmates has surprised them.
“When we first started an esports team, we first thought that nobody was going to care. It was like just your school’s chess club,” Reardon said. “But now they’re like, ‘Let’s go esports gamers!’”
Rocket League
After blowing a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven “Rocket League” series, Shelby County erupted with four goals in a decisive Game 7 to secure the Rockets’ second esports crown, both of them coming over Graves County.
“Rocket League,” a Psyonix game best described as soccer using high-flying, rocket-powered cars, pits two teams of three gamers each against one other in five minute games in which the most goals wins. There are shots off the posts, explosions to clear out opponents, great assists and spectacular goals.
The championship series brought the intensity, “especially when the tide started changing and they were starting to come back,” said Shelby County’s Gavin Prewitt, aka “Primal,” who scored three goals in the Rockets’ 4-2 Game 7 win. “We started scoring those goals in the last game and it felt really good getting the lead again.”
Nick Mack, aka “Nicholiss,” who assisted on one Primal’s goals and scored the other, said his team probably got too confident after going up 3-1 in the series and sitting during the extended break period between Games 4 and 5.
“After the intermission that we had, it just kind of threw us off,” Mack said. “We just had to calm down and be like, ‘We got this.’ We know how we play as a team.”
What’s next
“This is amazing,” Shelby County Coach Scott Siemen said. “The only thing that would make it better is to have them (the players) on stage, and I’m sure they’ll have that next year.”
To do that, there will still need to be some technological advancements, although UK’s setup helped cut the gameplay to livestream lag from about five minutes to two minutes, according to observers.
But there’s no doubt esports will continue to grow. The spring season begins in two weeks.
“It’s something for the students who oftentimes don’t get involved in other types of sports, and that for me is probably the most rewarding part of it,” said Boyle County Coach Damian Layman, whose Rebels won the inaugural “LoL” championship and was a semifinalist this season. “I probably maybe on average get about an email once a week, at least, from other schools that are like, ‘Hey, we’re getting ready to start an esports team. What can you tell us? What do we need to do to get started?’ It’s really starting to take off.”
