Stagg produces two eSports state champions

Faisal Abdulhadi of Sandburg finished second in FIFA play at the IHSA State eSports championship on April 29. (Photo by Jeff Vorva)

By Jeff Vorva 

Stagg was stagger-ing in the second running of the Illinois High School Association’s eSports State Tournament.

There were no team scores recorded in the event, held April 29 at Evergreen Park Community High School, but if there were, Stagg would have had a good shot at a state championship.

In the five events, the Chargers placed first in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe team competition while Kristian Zajac won the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate singles competition and the Chargers took a second in the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Crew Battle.

Coach Jonathan McGreal was pumped up for his team’s success.

“While we have a wide variety of gamers all with different skill sets and talents, we’re always raising each other up and supporting one another,” he said. “And in these games of inches, the little things matter.”

Zajac opened and closed his title run with wins over Andrew’s Zaid Alqammaz in the double-elimination format.

The Mario Kart champ – consisting of seniors Paul Cisko and Cole Wycislak, junior Nicholas Beszanis and sophomores Jack Gawel and Christos Giapitzoglou – had to beat Normal West twice in the finals to pull off the victory.

The SSBU runner-up Chargers lost out to Schaumburg. Triston Juarez and Julius Gomez, juniors Joel Droesch, Ousayed Alkhani, Isaac Ling and Szymon Kieta plus freshman Isaac Ferniza made up that team.

Sandburg’s Faisal Abdulhadi was the only other are competitor to take a top-3 medal as he finished second in the FIFA individual event.

Others from the area who participated in the state meet were:

Richards’ Super Smash Bros Crew team of juniors Oswaldo Cadenas, Keagan Krawczyk and Manuel Trevino, sophomores Joshua Brown and Mohammed Yassin and freshman Eliud Quiroz.

Shepard’s Mario Kart team of seniors Jason Happ and Chris Pickett, junior Ashwin Battaglia and freshmen Edgar Escamilla, Jacobs Rosenquist, Travon Blake and Angelina Garza.

Reavis’s Anthony Morales in the FIFA Individual category and junior Leo Mendoza took second in the Super Smash Bros Individual plus the Rocket League team of senior Marcos Maldonado, juniors Max Hernandez, Eric Osorio and Pablo Medina plus sophomore Eduardo Sandoval.

De La Salle’s Mario Kart team of senior Jake Johnson, junior Hunter Kolodzeij, sophomore Vincent Parente and freshmen Adrian Alonso, Paul Contreras and Frank McCrudden.

This is the second year the IHSA sanctioned the event and last year, it was held at Bloomington High School. Evergreen Park officials hope the IHSA will consider their school again for future state tournaments.

Evergreen Park High School hosted the second IHSA eSports state finals on April 29. (Photo by Jeff Vorva)