May 21—Philip Harrington knew fairly quickly that the Tenino High School “Rocket League” esports team could be a championship contender.

After all, he understands what it takes to build a championship team. Harrington came to Tenino last year from Oklahoma, where he developed multiple state and national championship-winning esports programs.

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His vision for the Tenino squad was ultimately correct.

The quartet of freshman captain Dawson Williams, eighth grader Weston Frank, eighth grader Nathan Pye and junior Eric Bowe Jr. took home the top prize in “Rocket League” at the Washington state Scholastic Esports Association High School State Championships on Sunday at the Lynnwood Event Center.

The Beavers competed in three different best-of-five matches through the playoffs for a total of 13 games to claim the trophy. Tenino swept Silas in three games, outlasted Selah in five games and triumphed over reigning back-to-back champion Kennedy Catholic in five games.

“They are organized, motivated self-starters,” Harrington said of his team. “Skill and talent will only get you so far. Dedication, teamwork and cooperation are what win matches. More often than not, we won against players this weekend who are, on paper, better than us.”

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In his sixth year as an esports coach, Harrington said he had never seen dedication from a student athlete like Williams, who created a spreadsheet in the dawn of the regular season to track competitive rankings of all the players he could find information about.

“He wanted to scout ahead and see what opposition we had coming up so they could better prepare for each weekend,” Harrington said. “This is my sixth year as an esports coach, and I’ve had very few students over that time that would have, on their own, gone and made an organized spreadsheet. He’s one in a million.”

Williams knew the competition would be stiff throughout the season, but the Beavers had a hardworking bunch that had put in many hours of practice at school and late at night in pursuit of glory en route to a perfect 10-0 record.

“After I saw everybody’s rankings with the spreadsheet I made, I figured out that we were one of the best teams. All of our starters were all top 10, and Eric wasn’t too far behind,” Williams said.

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Each teammate credited Pye for their interest in playing “Rocket League” as Pye is the top-ranked player in the state.

“Nathan is sort of the reason all of us are in ‘Rocket League.’ He helped teach me how to play ‘Rocket League’ early on, which made it more fun for me to continue on,” Williams said.

Bowe, the team’s alternate, said Frank and Williams passed on what they learned from Pye, and the starters praised Bowe for his contributions during the state playoffs.

“Dawson and Weston put me through the ringer and sat with me for almost three hours just grinding ‘Rocket League’ and showing me what I need to learn and what I should do,” Bowe said.

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The Beavers were motivated during the state competition by their friends and parents in attendance cheering them on, especially in the championship-clinching match. With so much on the line, the players enjoyed the experience playing alongside each other at the highest level.

“It was an awesome experience. There was a lot of pressure, but because of Dawson’s spreadsheets, we knew they had some pretty good players,” Pye said.

Harrington was proud of how his team handled the pressure and communicated efficiently through the ups and downs of the long day of competition.

“In the middle of a match, what you’re thinking about is the plays going on in the match in front of you and literally nothing else. There’s no room in your head for nerves,” he said. “We’ve drilled really hard that the play that just happened is over and move on. We just focus on the now.”

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The young team is hungry for more trophies to add to their collection and instill fear in opposing teams.

“We’re going to have to do so much grinding over the summer,” Frank said.

Harrington’s goal with the program is to push the players competitively and give them opportunities to pursue not only competition in the state and across the country but also potentially at the collegiate level.

“I want schools to be like, ‘Oh no, Tenino is here. We’re going to have a hard time winning,’ but I also want them to be like, ‘Oh great, Tenino is here. They’re a bunch of great people and great sportsmen,'” Harrington said. “I want us to have both a feared and loved reputation: feared as competitors and loved as young people and student athletes.”

Centralia High School’s “Super Smash Bros: Ultimate” team placed third at the state championships, bouncing back from a shutout loss to Southridge in the semifinals to beat Nooksack in the third-place match.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FLA — The fifth-seeded Flagler Saints upended fourth-seeded North Georgia 4-0 to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA women’s tennis national championships on Thursday morning at Sanlando Park. With that win, the Saints (23-5) will meet top-seeded Barry in the national semifinals on Saturday at 9:00 am with a ticket to the national finals on the line.

The all-Peach Belt affair was a rubber match between the two, who met for the first time at the ITA Indoor National Championships in February with North Georgia winning 4-3. Flagler returned the favor with a 4-3 win on the road in their regular-season matchup in March.

On Thursday, the two teams began battling from the first serve with Flagler edging out the doubles point. The #1 team of Dana Heimen and Anastasia Nikolova defeated UNG’s Angelina Linnikova and Carolina Reis 7-5. UNG’s Emily Bush and Linn Goerdes beat Flagler’s Laura Jepescu and Adela Latalova 6-4 at second doubles, leaving the deciding match at #3.

The third doubles set was tied at 6-6, forcing a tiebreak. Flagler’s Sofia Balsera and Eryka Kruk picked up key points and defeated Ashley Moinard and Vasiliss Kupriyanova 7-5 in the tiebreak to take the point.

Boosted by their doubles performance, the Saints picked up three quick points in singles to put the match away. Nikolova swept Moinard 6-3, 6-0 at second singles while Balsera beat Reis 6-2, 6-3 at fifth singles. Flagler got their final point at #4 singles where Kruk defeated Goerdes 6-1, 7-5.

The Rochester High team celebrates after winning the Rocket League state title.

Photo provided by Abby Goosen, MHSEL

The Farmington High team poses after winning the state title for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Photo provided by Abby Goosen, MHSEL

ROCHESTER/FARMINGTON HILLS/FARMINGTON — Oakland University hosted the semifinals and finals for the 2025 Michigan High School Esports League Spring 2025 Championships on May 10, where both Farmington High School and Rochester High School took home state titles.

There were five events throughout the weekend, and five different schools took home state championships.

The racing game Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was won by Richmond High; the car soccer game Rocket League was won by Rochester High; the shooter Fortnite was won by Detroit Catholic Central High; and the fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was won by Farmington High, at the high school level, and Pierce Middle School, at the middle school level.

“The turnout for this year’s event was really awesome,” said Nicholas Bank, the esports coach at Rochester High. “There was a lot of cool people that were just spectating. There were a lot of schools that played out of their minds.”

The Rochester team that took home the Rocket League state title included Elijah Watson, Ty Keller, Andrew Taylor and Alex Crum. The team had a perfect season last year before falling short of a state title, and this year made it a mission to have another perfect year but finish the job.

“We were going into the tournament last season as the No. 1 seed, but unfortunately lost in the finals to Hartland,” Banks said. “Going into this championship with again a perfect season, and this time with a chip on our shoulder. … We’re taking this home.”

That they did. The growth this group has experienced together has been a huge reason for the team’s success.

“There was a lot of synergy between the team members,” Banks explained. “They were always on the same page. That’s what I think set them apart.”

The contest for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also saw a team out for revenge in 2025, with Farmington High taking home first place after falling short a season ago.

“I was extremely stressed. … I was really looking forward to this, though. Super fun,” said Jason Kazensky, a senior and team captain at Farmington High. “We got it done, and I’m glad I got to do it with some of my really good friends.”

One of the biggest motivators for Farmington High was the fact that the team members were all seniors. Kazensky, Madison Doctor, Delano Marinelli and Sean Campbell will all go out with a state title.

“Going into the first set, we were all pretty confident. But our main goal was basically to win at all costs because it’s our last year. We’re all seniors,” Marinelli said. “We just wanted to take home the title and bring home something to our school. End esports for us on a good note.”

The year for Farmington High was not without its ups and downs, however. The team fought through some rough patches of the regular season to get to this point, which makes it even sweeter.

“We had a lot of challenges with the regular season,” Doctor said. “But we united as a team and were able to strategize. … We were able to take out Novi and get the finals.”

Ultimately, the group left an everlasting mark on the program and will be a team that the next generation of esports players at Farmington High can really look up to.

“This is not something that’s just a fun thing for them. They’re learning leadership skills and learning to train our junior varsity team,” said Lauren Kendall, the coach at Farmington High. “Seeing them take home the gold was just a really impressive feat. … They do their best to make sure that their … esports team and club will carry on after they’re gone, and it’s really just amazing to see.”

The turnout and the results for this year’s MHSEL were fantastic, and the league is headed in a great direction. This year showed that the market and stigma around gaming is only improving.

“I’m hoping that not only this win, but a lot of people seeing how exciting esports can be can kind of clear that stigma and (encourage people to) at least want to try it out,” Banks said. “Being involved with video games … is a valid escape.”

For more information on the Michigan High School Esports League, including how to join, visit www.mhsel.org.

The Esports team will compete at a state-wide tournament hosted by DreamHack May 23-24 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. The team was given two “League of Legends” team slots, along with one slot for “Overwatch 2” and “Valorant.”

“We’re not really sure what type of competition we’re [going to be up against at DreamHack,] ” “League of Legends” team captain Thomas Cho said. “Since [school is ending,] I’m letting [the team] focus on their schoolwork [right now,] but when we can, I [want to] get them back into the game and get a few practices in.”

DreamHack will host a bracket-style tournament between teams from Texas and Oklahoma with the finals competing the undefeated team in each state. This will be the first time any Esports team at Hebron has attended a DreamHack competition.

“[DreamHack] only has two teams that are promised to us, but I think that the upcoming competitions shouldn’t be too hard,” varsity “League of Legends” player Brandon Ta said.“[We’re] not too sure of [PlayVS] to be honest.” 

Amidst preparations for nationals, Generation Esports sold the High School Esports League (HSEL) to PlayVS, another esports organizer, in the middle of the 2025 season. This means the team will no longer be competing under the HSEL name and won’t have the opportunity to compete in the in-person national championships this year.

“At the end of the day, when an organization folds and cancels in-person events, the motivation bottoms out,” head coach Kristopher Phillips said. “It’s like canceling the Super Bowl in the middle of the NFL season. [Our kids have] been able to overcome it, but it’s hard to say what could have happened when things get canceled before the season’s over.”

Because the school purchases curriculum from Generation Esports, Phillips has said that the Esports course will have to look for a new curriculum going into the 2025-2026 school year.

“Too many adults [in Esports] continue to fail kids,” Phillips said. “HSEL doing what they did — for whatever reason they did — took away opportunities from students [in the form of] scholarship money and in-person competitions, and that is not [acceptable.] It’s never good to take away opportunities from students who have worked all year for it. It’s awful.”

Due to the cancellation, all HSEL teams have been invited to the PlayVS 2025 Online Cup, given that they qualify. A team for both “Overwatch 2” and “Valorant” have qualified so far. 

“I’m super proud of them,” Phillips said. “It’s hard to bounce back and feel the same level of motivation and competitive edge. We’re lucky that TexSEF just happened because that made them hungry again. They’re ready to be in the PlayVS cup and bring it home.”

ADA, Oklahoma –

Will Neurauter, a Senior at Konawa High School, will soon be walking the halls of East Central University all thanks to a sports scholarship, but this sport isn’t like the rest.

Neurauter didn’t expect to be walking the halls of a university continuing his education, but with the help from ECU’s Esports program, that idea is now game over, as Esports is gearing up to start its 3rd season.

WEB EXTRA VIDEO: What are esports? ECU’s director of esports explains

“When I got to campus about two years ago the program wasn’t really doing anything, I saw the value in the students getting engagement, getting development and being able to compete at a high level, so I pitched this to the school to get this program from the ground up again,” said Cody Soden, director of Esports at East Central University.

Leveling up,When I got to campus about two years ago the program wasn’t really doing anything, I saw the value in the students getting engagement, getting development and being able to compete at a high level, so I pitched this to the school to get this program from the ground up again,” said Cody Soden, director of Esports at East Central University.

“I’m so thankful that we have Esports because a lot of schools are having physical sports, but ours is having electrical sport and a different avenue to show students that there’s different ways to get recruited and different ways to get to college,” said Brandon Preston, the Esports coach at Konawa Public Schools.

Soden said getting players who are local is what’s important to him, that way he can start healthy relationships with the coaches and the players, before they ever step foot on campus.

“My past teammates told me about Cody and how amazing he was and that he was interested in pursuing us ot come play Esports aat ECU and I was like ‘that’s amazing I’ll just keep grinding’,” Neurauter said.

“It’s incredibly important to me because that’s who I was, I came from a small rural Oklahoma town and to come to a school like East Central University and be able to do Esports, something that is very innovative and new,” Soden said.

Like most kids, Neurauter has been gaming since he was young, but it wasn’t until high school when Konawa go their team, that he took it seriously.

“I love that we get to have Will because I want the good kid from Konawa,” Soden said. “That’s who I want on our program because this experience will change his life and it will make him into a better person.”

Neurauter doesn’t have to wait for the fall to start gaming, he signed up to compete this summer with ECU.

“I just want to do the best I can to win and have a really good relationship with my teammates so that we can win and have fun as well and win so that we can make ECU look good as well as Konawa and pave the way for little kids,” Neurauter said.

Neurauter plans to study communication and hopes to become a commentator or a football coach once he graduates.

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