Hastings Esports Claims Three Playoff Berths In Week 5 Action
HASTINGS - The Hastings College Esports team had an extremely successful Week 5 in National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) action, having three of five teams play on Wednesday or Thursday, all of which claimed a playoff spot, starting at the end of March. Below are the games played, how they work, and what happened in all the games played this week. For any titles, the varsity team is named "Hastings Broncos," whereas the JV team is named "Hastings Crimson." All team and player stats will be linked to the attached screenshots below the games.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate:
How Super Smash Bros Ultimate crews work... Super Smash Bros Ultimate, or SSBU for short, is the only console game Hastings offers, being played on the Nintendo Switch. Each series (competition against one team) is a Best-of-3 games. SSBU Crews is a 4v4, cartoon-styled, fighter that pits one player from each team at a time on a small platform. Each player picks a certain character, most are Nintendo characters from titles like Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda, and many more. As that player picks that character, they have to stay as that character for the rest of the game and has three stocks, or lives. The goal is to knock the other player off of the platform until they are out of stocks, while attempting to keep all of their stocks. When a player is eliminated, the next player of their team comes in with their three stocks, with the person that won last game only having as many stocks as they did at the end of the last head-to-head. Example, if Player A takes all three stocks from Player B, but Player B is able to take two stocks from Player A, Player A will start the next head-to-head with only one stock instead of three. The first team to take out all 12 stocks of the other team wins.
Hastings Broncos... Originally scheduled to play the University of North Dakota Black team on Tuesday, the game got postponed until after Spring Break because of the Snow Squall and hazardous driving conditions in Hastings, making it unsafe for players to get to the Esports Arena on campus.
Rocket League:
How Rocket League works... The easiest title to explain of all titles offered by Hastings, Rocket League, in simple terms, is "car soccer." Series are a Best-of-5, with each game being five minutes long in regulation. Exactly like soccer, each team is attempting to score in the other team's goal, but instead of people, you are in cars in an enclosed arena. Regulation ends when the clock hits 0:00 AND the ball touches the ground, or is scored from the air. If the game is tied at the end of regulation, the game will go into a timeless overtime until a golden goal is scored and that team wins.
Hastings Broncos... Originally scheduled to play Texas Tech Red on Thursday, both teams had conflicting schedule issues, so the game was postponed to a different date that is still being finalized.
Hastings Crimson... On Wednesday, Rocket League Crimson played a makeup game from the upcoming Spring Break, taking on Texas A&M Gray in a critical game for both teams. Hastings needing the win to stay in reach of the top-seeded Hesston Larks, the Broncos only loss of the season, and Texas A&M Gray needing the win to stay comfortably in the playoff race. The Broncos also played the game without primary Team Captain Alec Fichter. Texas A&M Gray would jump ahead first, winning Game 1 by the score of 2-1, but the Broncos would answer back in Game 2, winning 4-0, and evening the series. A hat-trick from Ben Richter would lead the Broncos in Game 2, alongside a goal from Duncan Fouts. The momentum swing proved to be the difference, as Hastings would eventually take Game 3, 3-2, and Game 4, 4-1. Fouts and Nate Stinemates would finish the game with two goals a piece, with Richter recording another hat-trick in Game 4 on his way to eight goals in the series.
With the win, Hastings Crimson would climb to first place with a 5-1 record by virtue of total series won, as the Hesston Larks were only 4-0, and more importantly, clinched a playoff spot. On Thursday, the Hesston Larks played two games, dropping both of them, giving Hastings a chance to win the regular season conference title with a win over CSU Long Beach Blue on March 20th.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege:
How Rainbow Six Siege works... Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, also called Siege, Rainbow Six, or R6, is a 5v5 tactical FPS game. Series are a Best-of-3. Before the games, both teams go through a map banning process to decide which maps are played out of a list of nine maps set by the NECC, with both teams banning two maps a piece, the home team picking Map 1, the visiting team picking Map 2, and then each team banning one more map, leaving only one map left for the Map 3, the Decider Map. You have two sides; Attackers and Defenders. Each round starts with the picking phase where the defenders pick which two rooms out of a specified list they want to defend. During the Picking Phase, all players have 15 seconds to pick which operator they want to use for that round, unbeknownst to the other team, with each operator having their own assets and abilities. Once those have been picked, there is 45 seconds of Preparation Phase, where the Defenders try to make it as difficult as possible for the attackers to get to the two sites. Their operators are locked. The Attackers are droning out the map to learn what sites the Defenders went to, and can change their operators to get the best chance to attack until five seconds left in the Preparation Phase. Action Phase - the actual gameplay of the game - starts and is three minutes long. The Defenders' goal to win the round is to either eliminate all Attackers, or keep them from planting a diffuser on site. The Attackers are looking to either eliminate all Defenders, or plant a diffuser onto one of the sites before the three-minute timer runs out. If the diffuser is planted, then starts a 45-second timer. The Attackers then protect that diffuser, where the Defenders need to disable the diffuser before the timer ends, regardless if they eliminated all Attackers. Halftime, where teams switch sides, is after Round Six. The first team to seven rounds won wins the game, unless there is a 6-6 tie. If the game is tied, 6-6, the game will go into overtime. Same rules, but teams switch sides each round, and it is first team to eight rounds won wins the game.
Hastings Broncos... The Hastings Broncos Siege team was the only team to play multiple games this week, taking on Southeastern Oklahoma State University (SEOSU) on Wednesday, and Fort Lewis Gold on Thursday. For both games, Hastings battled to maintain first place in conference standings against the second-seeded team.
In their Wednesday matchup against SEOSU, the Broncos would be the home team. During the pregame map ban, Hastings had a mishap and accidentally picked Lair as the first map. SEOSU would counter by picking the map Border. The Decider Map would have been Chalet. Despite the Broncos picking a map they have never played in any previous competition, it bode well for the Crimson and White in Game 1, who took a quick 3-1 lead and would go into halftime with a 5-1 lead. SEOSU would answer back, winning the first round of the second half, but that is all they would muster as Hastings would take the final two rounds to win Game 1, 7-2. Team Captain Jalen Jensen would lead the way with a series-high 13 eliminations. Thor Hunziker would also chime in with 8 eliminations, Wyat Lambertson with 7, and both Chance Elwood and Steven Johnson with 6 eliminations a piece.
On Border, the pick of SEOSU and a favored map by the Broncos, Hastings continued their strong performance, sweeping the Savage Storm, 7-0. Jensen would yet again tally 13 eliminations, followed by Lambertson with 8. The win would move Hastings to 4-0 and a great chance to make history in their series the next day.
In comes Thursday, and a new challenger for first place in the conference appears; Fort Lewis Gold. A win for Hastings officially clinches a playoff spot, and also clinches the first ever NECC Rainbow Six Siege regular season title in program history. Fort Lewis would send Game 1 to Chalet, Hastings chose Kafe Dostoyevsky for Map 2, and the Decider Map ended up being Nighthaven Labs. Hastings, knowing what on the line, came out of the gate strong, recording a second straight sweep of the first half, going back to the day before. Fort Lewis Gold gave a bit of issues to the Broncos in the second half, making it a 6-2 contest, but the Broncos would finally seal the deal, 7-2, in the following round. The Broncos would play a very even game in terms of eliminations, with Elwood leading the way with eight, Jensen with seven, Hunziker and Lambertson with six, and Johnson with five.
With Game 2 going to Kafe, Hastings felt very comfortable. Their map pick and understandably so as it is a very strong map for the Broncos. Fort Lewis knew this, and threw everything they had at Hastings. Each team would flip winning a round until the Skyhawks finally won the last two of the first half to take a 4-2 lead. Out of the half, Hastings would get some momentum on their side, taking three straight rounds to go from a 4-2 deficit to taking a 5-4 lead. Both teams again would trade a few blows to a 6-6 tie, forcing overtime. In the first round of overtime, Hasting would defend, and would fall a man short quickly, and eventually have a 3-to-2 man advantage going into the final 25 seconds of play. Knowing their backs were to the wall, Fort Lewis got very aggressive to push site, taking down two Broncos, and also losing one for the 1v1 at the end. Turning the corner with three seconds left, the final Skyhawk was right behind the final Bronco, and fell just half a second short of winning the round. Now on attack and needing one more round win to make history, the Broncos answered with an aggressive push onto site of their own. With only 12 seconds left on the timer, Jensen was able to plant the diffuser and force the Skyhawks to scramble in a 2v2 situation. Knowing where both players would enter, Jensen and Elwood would hold aggressive angles to protect the diffuser. In the matter of seconds, Jensen eliminated one, and Elwood the final one to clinch the game in overtime, 8-6. Elwood would again lead the Broncos with 12 eliminations, Jensen and Lambertson following with nine eliminations a piece, and finally, Hunziker and Johnson with seven eliminations a piece.
The Regular Season Champion Broncos will finish out the regular season after Spring Break, taking on fellow NAIA member, the Ottawa Braves. Date and time is still being determined because of both schools' Spring Break schedule.
Hastings Crimson... The Hastings Crimson Siege team also had an eventful Wednesday, taking on New Mexico State (NMSU) White with playoff implications for both teams. NMSU White started the game off with picking Chalet. Hastings would counter with Mighthaven Labs. The Decider Map was Border. Hastings got off to the right foot, taking the first round, but would find themselves dropping four straight rounds, before taking the final round of the half. Down 5-2, Hastings would start a comeback, taking three straight rounds to tie the game, 5-5. The Aggies would regain their composure though, winning the final two rounds to win Map 1, 7-5.
Nighthaven Labs brought in a much better time for Hastings, who took a commanding 4-0 lead out of the gate. They would drop only one round on defense en route to a 5-1 lead. Both teams traded a round, but Hastings would prosper from their first half lead to win Map 2, 7-2. Saty Miller led Hastings with 10 eliminations, with Tigean Lange and Max Crosbie right behind with nine and eight eliminations, respectfully. Jackson Lake and Alec Fichter both contributed well with Lake recording seven eliminations and Fichter rounding out for Hastings with five.
Hastings would continue their momentum into the first half of Map 3; Border. Hastings again would jump to an early 4-1 lead, and would head into the half with a 4-2 lead. Hastings would be on the precipice of winning after taking the first two rounds of the second half. NMSU White would answer back with two rounds of their own, but could not dig out of the deficit they found themselves in, with the Broncos emerging victorious, 7-4. Crosbie would have an excellent game, collecting 17 eliminations. Lake would also record double-digit eliminations with 10. The win also pushed Hastings to 5-0 on the season, and clinched a playoff spot for the team.
Now having collected a playoff berth, it fittingly comes all down to the final game. Hastings will take on the 5-0 Central Methodist Eagles to decide the regular season champions of their conference. That game will take place on March 21st at 7 p.m. CST.
