PHS ESports wrapping up exciting season
PHS esports is wrapping up an exciting second season. We started last year with just two titles and have expanded to five this year. Students are competing against other Michigan schools in Splatoon 3, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Valorant. We also have a Fortnite: Zone Wars team that competes regionally against the entire Eastern Time Zone.
Coach Joel Cross said, "I was really amazed at how well our teams did in their first year! We have student/athletes that have been dedicated to their sport way before we ever offered it. Several of them showed me their accounts have put thousands of hours into their game."
Here is a breakdown for each title and their players:
Valorant is a five player first person shooter game. We had several players rotate through the team this season. Some players tried a game and got hooked, while others had to finish another sport before they could join the team. Overall we had 10 players compete in at least one match. Issac Milhomens, Michael Graft, and Alex Trowbridge subbed in and were key in keeping us going when we were short a player. Our main team was Nolan Schneider, Joey Ballard, Will Roof, Zachary Roof, Matthew Simon, and Keagan Stair. They all played pretty evenly. However, the team really found its stride when Gage Larson finished tennis and joined the team. We finished 4-4 on the season and in 21st place in a 37 team league. Unfortunately, this just barely missed getting us in the playoffs.
Splatoon 3 is a four player game on the Nintendo Switch. Teams compete to paint as much of an arena while completing different missions. I'll be honest. After a season of watching the game, I'm still not sure I understand it. The team sure did though! They finished with a 6-2 record and in 5th place of 34 teams. They will start their run in the playoffs on December 2. The team stayed pretty consistent and was made up of Noah Pohl, Logan Hanson, Arturo Hanje, and Ayden Hoort.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate is a three player game where players use beloved Nintendo characters to fight each other. The team competes in a best of five format where each player plays a best of three match. Logan Hanson and Noah Pohl have played in every match for us. While Nolan Schneider, Joey Ballard, and Zachary Roof have been sharing the third spot. Logan is kinda our star player and even won the school's first even tournament of champions in the spring. We finished with a strong showing and had a 5-3 record. This put us in 23rd place out of 107 teams. They'll start their playoff run November 20.
Fortnite: Zone Wars is a mini version of Fortnite where teams of two compete to eliminate the other team 10 times first. This is a best of three format. Games are fast and fun to watch. The team was anchored by Keagan Stair and he had several partners join him throughout the season. Alex Trowbridge started off, but we had Ben Andres join us late in the season when he found out we were offering this as an option. He's a very accomplished player and really added to the team. Fortnite is a new title to our league and unfortunately was plagued with some new team issues. We had two teams rage quit on us and two teams didn't show up in the 8 match season. Our bye week also counts as a win. This helped us finish 6-2 for the season and we qualified for the playoffs in 12th place out of 150 teams. They will start their run on November 18.
Our last title is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Almost everyone knows this game. Teams compete 4 on 4 to score as many points as possible in four races. The higher you finish in a race, the more points your team gets. We had a very consistent team of four students playing for us. Sora Schneider, Matthew Simon, Ayden Hoort, and Arturo Hanje played in almost every match. They are pretty incredible players and any one of them can win races. Matthew seemed to take a lead role though and really showed everyone quite a few tricks that helped us. The team finished 6-2 on the season and 8th out of 78 teams in the league. They will start their playoff run November 25.
We have broadcast all of our matches this season. You can watch the playoffs or catch up on old matches on YouTube. Just search for Portland High School Esports. All matches start at 4PM or sometimes a little earlier when both teams get in the server.
