Area gamers participate in historic IHSA state tournament

By Jeff Vorva

Oak Lawn and Stagg took seconds in the first.

The inaugural Illinois High School Association eSports State Tournament took place Saturday at Bloomington High School and area gamers had a chance to play in the historic event.

Oak Lawn and Stagg both had second-place finishers in the tournament and Stagg added a third-place finish as well.

Oak Lawn Rocket League seniors Taleb Mreiziq and Marcos Nunez joined forces with junior Kalvin Vega to finish second in the state. The Spartans beat Lyons 2-1, Salem 2-0 and Lane 2-1 before falling to Normal Community West, 3-1.

Oak Lawn was placed in the losers bracket in the double-elimination format and beat Oswego East, 3-1 before getting one more crack at Normal Community West and lost 3-0 for the title.

Stagg’s Kristian Zajac (right) competes at the eSports state meet. (Photo courtesy of the IHSA)

Stagg’s Smash Bros. sophomore singles player Kristian Zajac also took second. He opened play winning his first two matches before dropping a 3-1 setback to Lake Park’s Shaan Patel.

Zajac was place in the loser’s bracket, where he won two more battles before a rematch for the title and Patel again triumphed, 3-1.

The Chargers’ Smash Bros. duo of sophomore Joel Droesch and Szymon Kieta won their first three matches but fell in the semifinals. They won the fourth round in the losers bracket but fell in the fifth round for the third-place finish.

Lyons sent an area-high six players to the state meet.

The Rocket League team of freshman Donovan Colville, sophomores Charlie Cummings, Matthew Metcalfe and Alexandros Koutsis and junior Matthew Rodgers finished 2-2.

The Lions lost to Oak Lawn in the first round, beat Elgin and McHenry in the first two rounds of the losers’ bracket and bowed out with a loss to Lakes.

Lyons freshman Usmaan Ibrahim competed in the NBA2K competition and lost his first round-game 54-30 and was tripped up in the first round of the loser’s bracket, 49-28.

Reavis sophomore Leo Mendoza competed in the Smash Bros. singles competition and won his first-round battle before losing in the second round to Zajac, 3-0. He went 1-1 in the loser’s bracket to end his day.