The Boise State Overwatch team had an exciting journey throughout the recent CECC West Regional Qualifiers. The Bronco’s finished 1st overall in the tournaments west region and earned a trip to the CECC nationals taking place in Arlington, TX in May. In order to get that victory, the Broncos had to face off against a tough rival, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in the regions championship match. Here is a recap of that exciting game.
The Leadup
Going into the match, it wasn’t clear which team was more favored to win. USCD had faced off against the Broncos earlier in the tournament qualifier, and beaten them. UCSD was seeded number one for the tournament with Boise State seeded number two. Both teams had swept their semi-final matches 3-0. And both teams also had sizeable cheering sections in the arena which was filled to capacity for the match. By all available metrics, there was no clear favorite to win the upcoming best of 5 match.
Game 1: Control – Illios
The game started out on Illios with Ruins being the first stage played. Clear, Boise State’s DPS, proved to be very instrumental in this first fight, picking up a triple-elimination on his Reaper Death Blossom. Coupled with some solid Winston tank performance by MattMerc, Boise State won the first stage 100 to 0. UCSD fought back fiercely on the next stage, Well, and barely pulled out a win against the Broncos 100 to 99 in overtime. It all came down to a final showdown on Lighthouse to decide the first game. Pakko, one of USCD’s dps, drove Tritons to an early lead on point, but the Bronco’s clawed back control and ultimately won Lighthouse 100 to 63, and claimed the first point in the match.
Game 2: Escort – Dorado
The Tritons were the first to push the payload on Dorado. Slowly but surely, they made their way past the first two checkpoints and entered the final portion of the map with a little over a minute remaining. Solid Sojurn play from Playto helped the Broncos keep the Tritons off the final checkpoint and hold UCSD to just 2 points. The Bronco’s had a much faster push during their attack phase and entered the final portion with 4 minutes remaining on the clock. This time advantage helped the Broncos to push farther than UCSD and claim the second round of the match.
Game 3: Push – Esperança
With all the momentum heading into Push, the Broncos claimed the lead early in the match, scoring a push of 98m. However, by the time the clock was down to two minutes, USCD was in control of the robot and pushing towards the Bronco’s base, threatening to take away their chance at victory. A solid hold from MattMerc and Playto kept the Tritons at bay and helped earn the Broncos a victory. Sweeping the higher seeded team 3-0.
Even though USCD came up short in the West Regionals, they will still have a chance to make it to nationals during the CECC Last Chance Qualifier this April. Should they meet the Broncos again in Arlington, you can bet a very intense revenge match will be on the table.
Written by Jacob Palmer.