Teams of high school students from all over the state gathered in the upper JYSC to play “Super Smash Bros,” with a $3,000 scholarship as the top prize.
Photo by Manchester Esports
MU Esports Holds ‘Spartan Smash!’ Event for High School Teams
Anna Wilson
Manchester’s esports have concluded their season the weekend of Nov. 20 after having a huge turnout for Spartan Smash!, which was open to current high school esports teams.
Teams arrived at the upper Jo Young Switzer Center at Manchester University by 9 a.m. for check in and had a mandatory meeting at 10 a.m. Manchester also provided free lunch as well. Whoever placed in the top 8 got a scholarship of $3,000 dollars. There is a catch though, if a player had previously won a $3,000/year scholarship, they would not receive an additional $3,000/year if they won again this year. Other than that, the esports governing body does not restrict scholarships like the NCAA does for athletes.
This event was laid out in a bracket style: players had matches that were best of 3 and losers and winners grands were best of 5 with a bracket reset. Bad language, poor sportsmanship, or any negative actions were not permitted.
Competitors were playing a Nintendo game called “Super Smash Bros,” which is a crossover fighting game. It includes characters from various Nintendo franchises like Mario, Zelda, Kirby, to name just a few. At the event a player would play on two different PC’s that were connected to a Nintendo Switch. This is to help players play an even and fair game.
Carmel High School really came out to win that weekend. Five out of seven top players were from Carmel, and the champion out of 101 players was Brett Nuzzo, known as Potato Brett. Out of the 10 games he had to play in the bracket he only lost one match to Landon Frank.
Some of Manchester esports team highlights this past season is that they have won both GLEC conference and going undefeated for the second year in the row (10-0). Also, their new Overwatch team made it to the playoffs this year. Manchester esports might be at the end of their season, but that’s not stopping anything: players are now practicing hardcore with the game Valorant.
They are preparing for next semester trying to get as much gaming in as they possibly can, to keep their titles alive.