Northeastern Technical College’s Warzone teams wrapped up the season with winning records with both squads eliminated in the postseason tournament.
Trailblazers Victor Barrington and Ethan Jones making up Team Green finished the regular season with a 4-1 record entering the playoffs in fourth seed with Team Black’s Luke Byrd and David Hancock ending with a 3-2 record with an 11th overall seed.
ROUND 1
NETC Team Green faced off against Northeastern Junior College of Sterling, of Colorado, in a best-of-5 Warzone series with the winner being decided in Game 5 with NETC coming out on top and winning the series 3-2.
NETC Team Black matched up against the 6th seed, Shelton State, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, eliminating them quickly 3-0.
Both teams advance to the quarterfinals.
ROUND 2 QUARTERFINALS
After a nail-biting 3-2 victory in Round 1, NETC Team Green came out ready to play, eliminating Southwest Wisconsin Technical College 3-0. Team Black lost a series of close games 3-0 against Northwest College of Powell, Wyoming.
ROUND 3 SEMIFINALS
NETC Team Green matched up against Catawba Valley Community College, of Hickory, N.C., in the semifinals match. CVCC would win Game 1, but NETC would quickly bounce back, winning Game 2 to tie the series 1-1. CVCC jumped out to a 2-1 advantage after winning a close Game 3. However, NETC would respond with a 14-13 win in Game 4, tying the series again at 2-2. It all comes to Game 5, with the winner advancing to the Championship match.
“Game 5 was by far one of the most entertaining matches, with both duos combining for over 50 eliminations,” said NETC Esports Head Coach Tyler Nolan.
Late in Game 5, the two CVCC players were eliminated with a lead of 26-21. Both NETC players were still standing and there were just enough enemies left in the game to tie the score, they just had to get all 5 remaining eliminations.
Quickly, NETC got 3 eliminations, bringing the score to 26-24, with only 2 remaining enemy players.
In the NCJAA Esports rules, if a game ends in a tie, the last standing team wins the game. If NETC gets the 2 remaining eliminations, they would win due to this tie breaker rule.
“Throughout the game of Warzone, the playing area gets smaller and smaller due to a circle of gas. This gas causes damage to the player which forces into the ‘zone,’” Tyler said. “This is an important note as this played a role at the end of the game.”
Down by 2, with 2 remaining players, NETC would pick up 1 elimination bringing the score to 26-25, just needing 1 to tie.
As the two NETC players search to find the last player to tie, that player died to the gas, ending the game.
“This was a very unfortunate ending to what would have likely been an easy elimination to tie the game and send NETC to the championship,” Nolan said.
NETC Team Green lost in the semi-finals 3-2, however advanced to the third-place match.
ROUND 4 – THIRD PLACE FINALS
After a heartbreaking loss in the semifinals, NETC Team Green matched up against the same Northwest College that previously eliminated NETC Team Black in Round 2. The Trailblazers avenged their fallen squad with a quick 3-0 victory clenching the third-place spot in the Warzone Playoffs. Catawba Valley CC would go on to win the Championship match 3-0.
NETC Esports Teams play under the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). Northeastern Technical College athletes must maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average and 12 credit hours for the semester. Under the NJCAA rules, there are no age caps for participation.
