The Lorain County Community College esports team was in action Thursday night with their Valorant and Mario Kart squads competing in the NJCAAE Playoffs.
For the Valorant team, composed of Paul Guignette (Amherst, Ohio), Brody Taylor (North Ridgeville, Ohio), Jay’Von Brooks (Chicago, Ill.), Tatiana Fuentes (Elyria, Ohio), Kylie Zeman (North Ridgeville, Ohio), and Anthony Gonzalez (Lorain, Ohio), it was their first appearance in the postseason after clinching the No. 23 seed with a 4-3 record in their inaugural season.
In their first round match up with No. 10 Northampton Community College (First to 13 wins the round), they jumped off to a 2-0 lead and looked poised to pull an upset. However, Northampton would go on a 13-1 run to take the first round, 13-3.
The Commodores had a similar beginning in round two. They got out to a 5-0 lead but could not keep it as Northampton put another lopsided run together to eliminate them, 13-8.
The Mario Kart squad saw each player competing pick up a win but only two players will be moving on. No. 35 Austin Johnson (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake HS) picked up a win in his first postseason appearance with a sweep against No. 30 Ethan B. from Southern State Community College. Johnson finished the sweep with a comeback in the fourth round by taking the lead in the final lap via a well-timed mushroom speed burst and red shell combo. However, Johnson’s luck ran out there as he was eliminated in his next match with No. 3 Ian F. from Union College in four rounds.
Matthew Coleman (Lorain, Ohio/Elyria HS) and Randy Wysocky (North Ridgeville, Ohio/North Ridgeville HS) both kept their undefeated records alive with 4-0 sweeps against their opponents moving them into the sweet sixteen of the NJCAAE postseason.
They will continue their quest for a Mario Kart title next week on December 8, 2022 at 7 p.m. Coleman is back on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate this Sunday at 2 p.m. as he will look to keep his unbeaten streak alive in that tournament as he is one of 16 unbeaten players in the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
Original source can be found here.
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