The fourth week of Alaska esports competition saw the perfect streak of Kenai’s Smash team end. SoHi came back from a week away to win a nail-bating match of Rocket League undecided until the final minute of the fifth game.
League of Legends
Kenai’s League of Legends team was assigned a victory after Galena City School District forfeited the match. They rise to 3-1 and are third in the league behind only Lathrop High School and Mat-Su Central School.
Coach Shane Lopez said that losing out on the experience of the game is disappointing, but pointed to technical issues from schools around Alaska as “part of the process with growing the program as a state.”
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Kenai’s Smash team had their perfect streak spoiled by former third-place team Hutchison High School. They were defeated 2-1 by the Hawks, and fell to second in the league.
“They certainly were disappointed to lose a match,” Lopez said. He said the action “came down to the last stock of the final game.”
In Smash, each player has a number of stocks, which are similar to lives. Get knocked out without any stock, and it’s game over.
Lopez said the loss is just an opportunity for the players to learn from a leader in the state.
“Playing good teams helps us improve,” he said.
Kenai 2 played its first match of the season this week. They won over Chief Ivan Blunka School 2-1, rising to 3-1 — a record bolstered by forfeits from Week 1 and Week 3 opponents — and third in the league behind Kenai 1.
Nikiski swept Kaltag School, moving to 2-2 in tournament play and fifth in the league.
SoHi’s match was rescheduled, a result of technical issues that coach Jonus Kaponus Angleton said are locking out several Anchorage teams.
Rocket League
Kenai’s match was rescheduled.
SoHi claimed victory over Thunder Mountain High School 3-2, being pushed all the way to five games even though the Falcons were down a player.
Rocket League is visually very similar to soccer, but with cars. Two teams of three rocket across the field, up the walls and through the air trying to push a giant ball into the goal.
Thunder Mountain’s Tristan Laremore, of Juneau, more than made up for the deficit of the missing player, alone scoring 14 goals on the Stars.
The game went back and forth, SoHi winning the first and third games, losing the second and fourth, and even at the last minute of the final game, the score was tied at 3. The Stars erupted when Graehm LeFevre made the winning play, racing across the field to score the winning goal.
Captain Bryce LeFevre said that the work Laremore was able to do, even outnumbered by the Stars, exposed some of the team’s weaknesses.
“We need to work on working together, making passes, playing good defense, being able to walk those shots off,” he said.
Soldotna moves to 3-1 in tournament play, bolstered by one forfeit in their favor last week. They are ranked fourth in the league.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
