The week before Spring Break saw our Burnet Esports team facing some good competition. Our BHS Esports Rocket League Team competed on March 8 against the Levelland High School Demolishers. Both teams were 0-3 heading into the game. The LHS team only had two players, so in a show of good sportsmanship, we decided to play two of our starters: Isaac Saldivar and Murray Urofsky. In the first round, the Demolishers started the game by scoring first. However, Isaac came back and scored thrice immediately after. Murray supported Isaac in defending and setting up the ball. For the fourth score, Isaac set up for an impressive goal by Murray at the goal. On the fifth goal, Isaac missed the ball by a hair but Murray came from behind and scored. We went on to win the first round, 8-1. In the second round, Isaac and Murray had some great goals as they worked together to score seven goals while holding the Levelland Demolishers to just a single goal in round 2, giving them a 2-0 lead for the match. In round 3, the Levelland team showed a great rally as they managed to put up four goals during round, but it wasn’t enough as both Isaac and Murray each scored three goals apiece to take the third round 6-4. Levelland continued to show a great rally during the fourth round as well as showing some great defense as the round went into overtime with the score tied 4-4 as result of a spectacular save by Murray Urofsky in the final three seconds of regulation time. Unfortunately, Levelland continued to show great strength by winning the game-winning fifth point during the sudden death overtime, giving our Burnet team the first loss in the match, with a score of 4-5. This close fourth round loss gave our players a desire to come out and clinch a solid win for the Burnet team. In the fifth round, they showed great offense and defense, holding the Levelland team to just a single point in the fifth-round while Isaac scored 4 goals and Murray scored five, to win the fifth round 9-1. With the fifth-round win, Isaac and Murray clinched Burnet’s first win for the season in Rocket League. Highlights from the match against Levelland showing some of the 39 points Burnet scored, as well as the save that sent the fourth round in to overtime and an impressive 4 consecutive points run over the span of 48 seconds during the fifth round, can be viewed at https://youtu.be/bZQn3bM1V_E. Murray and Isaac showed great team work throughout the match setting each other up to score as well as providing assistance and defense for each other. This brings our record to 1-3 for the season. We had a bye during Spring Break so our next opportunity for our players to compete was this afternoon (March 22). Our opponent in that match was the Greenwood High School team, Greenwood HS Rocket League. However, they didn’t have any players available to compete and forfeited the match in our favor. This brings our record to 2-3 for the season. They next face an opponent on March 29th, and we’ll know who they face early next week.
While we normally don’t compete Super Smash Bros Ultimate until Friday, one of our players saw early action as Murray Urofsky (Burnet HS Smash Solo – Varsity #6, 3-0 record) faced off against the Hillsboro High School team, Hillsboro Smash: Ikonic (3-0 record), on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately, due to some lag issues, he dropped both rounds, and suffering his first loss of the regular season and bringing his record to 3-1. His next opponent is the West Oso High School team, West Oso High School Jayden H Spring 2023 (0-2 record).
On Friday, most of our Super Smash Bros Ultimate teams faced off against their opponents in some great game play resulting in some spectacular wins for some of our players.
Due to a couple of face-to-face match-ups between members of the Burnet Esports team, they competed their matches during our Esports Advisory time.
First, Cody Murders (Burnet HS Smash Solo – Varsity #5, 2-1 record) faced off against fellow teammate Christopher Robertson (Burnet HS Smash Solo – JV #1, 1-2 record). In a lopsided match in terms of skills, Cody easily beat Christopher, winning both rounds in securing his third win for the season. With the win, Cody improves his record to 3-1 while Christopher's loss sees his record drop to 1-3 for the season. Cody will next face the Dr. Kirk Lewis Career and Technical HS team, Cosmic Knights B (1-3 record), while Christopher faces the I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM and VPA team, Panther – UltimateNoah (1-3 record).
Then our other two JV players faced off in a head-to-head match-up as Isaac Saldivar (Burnet HS Smash Solo – JV #2, 3-0 record) played Alejandra Garcia (Burnet HS Smash Solo – JV #3, 0-3 record). Isaac enjoyed his first match of the season after three straight forfeits in his favor. He showed no rustiness in his competition skills as he came out and beat Alejandra in two straight rounds to win 2-0. With this win, it brings him to a 4-0 record while Alejandra drops to a 0-4 record for the season. Isaac next faces Hillsboro High School team, Hillsboro Smash: Phoenix (4-1 record), while Alejandra heads into a face-to-face match against Ray Reid (Burnet HS Smash Solo – Varsity #2, 4-0 record).
The remaining players were ready to face their opponents on the game field at our normal competition time. However, all four players left to play today had their opponents either forfeit before game play started or were no-shows at match time.
Xzavier Benjamin (Burnet HS Smash Solo – Varsity #1, 3-0 record) was set to compete against the Stafford MSD team, SHS Micobra05 (1-1 record). With the forfeit in his favor, his record improved to 4-0 for the season. Xzavier next faces the Benbrook Middle-High School team, Benbrook Smash Brothers 3 (3-2).
Ray Reid (Burnt HS Smash Solo – Varsity #2, 3-0 record) was set to face off against his opponent, the Uvalde High School team, UHS eSports Charlie (1-2 record). With this forfeit in his favor, his record also improved to 4-0. Ray next faces a head-to-head match-up against Alejandra Garcia (Burnet HS Smash Solo – JV #3, 0-4 record).
Brendon Gideon (Burnet HS Smash Solo – Varsity #4, 1-2 record) was set to go up against the Uvalde High School Team, UHS Esports Beta (0-3 record). With this forfeit in his favor, his record improved to 2-2 for the season. Brendon faces his next opponent, the Reese M. VHS Smash team from Vidor High School (4-1 record).
Finally, John Elias (Burnet HS Smash Solo – Varsity #3) was set to face the Vidor High School team, Spencer M. VHS Smash. Due to the forfeit in his favor, his record for the season improved to 2-2. John next faces the I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM and VPA team, Panther – Ultimate_Mar (4-0 record).
While we weren’t able to get our recording equipment set up for the game play on Thursday or during advisory on Friday, we did get it set up for our originally scheduled time. Xzavier Benjamin and John Elias played a friendly allowing us to capture some game play to showcase. Highlights from this friendly will be available soon on the Burnet Esports YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtDz1RfDeAZgZEDoj7q1_rg). We hope to record some actual matches later this week to showcase our players in actual competition.
All Super Smash Bros Ultimate teams had a bye during the week of Spring Break and face their next opponents on screen on Friday, March 24 at 4:45 PM.
Great job to all of our players for a great week of play. Go Bulldogs!