12/3/21

SCRANTON, Pa. -- The Lackawanna College Overwatch team opened their NJCAAE playoffs with a dominant 3-1 win over Grays Harbor College on Friday night, securing a quarterfinal berth for the Falcons in the playoff race.

The first map was Lijiang Tower, where the Falcons pushed through the point to hold back Grays Harbor on the initial roll out.  After holding off the opposing team, the Falcons captured the point and didn't budge an inch in both rounds on map one. On the Falcons' offensive turn, Chris Rojas (Gamertag: Bebbly) had a huge play, knocking half of the enemy team off the map to help seal the first round for Lackawanna College.

The second map of the series was set as Hollywood, with the Falcons starting the map off on defense. The Falcons held a high defensive line, holdingng the opposition back. With time ticking away for Grays Harbor, the Chokers made a last-ditch push to point, but Paige O'Hara (Gamertag: momjeans) sealed the round with a clutch Zarya ultimate attack to stop them in their tracks. On the attacking side, the Falcons wasted little time, pushing quickly up the map, capturing the point, and taking map two to go up 2-0.

On the third map (Volskaya), the Falcons had some rotation in their lineup, giving some playoff action to reserve players Donovan Curley (Gamertag: DarkMage), Dylan Rogers (Gamertag: DylanMyDude), and Domenick Affatato (Gamertag: Deadly Raven). Grays Harbor came out with everything they had, putting on an impressive attacking round and by capturing both points swiftly. Lackawanna College, on their attacking round, fought against a stout Grays Harbor defense. The Falcons, however, were saved on a late push by Missael DeJesus (Gamertag: Lord Yakuza) to help the Falcons capture both points and send the map into overtime. During the overtime round, Grays Harbor was able to recover by capping the first point with a well-coordinated strategy, giving themselves the victory and making it a 2-1 Lackawanna College lead.

The fourth map of the night was the escort map, Dorrado. The Falcons started on attack and Grays Harbor brought their strong double barrier strategy. Lackawanna College was impressive throughout, wiping the defense off at the various choke points, allowing the payload to quickly make it to the other side of the map. Helping the Falcons score the win on their attacking round. Defensively, the Falcons put in a full team effort to stop Grays Harbor from getting anywhere near the first objective point. Time and time again, the Choker offensive attack met strong resistance from the Falcons, helped by a 15K streak from DeJesus to help seal the win. Lackawanna College won the round, the map, and the match, taking the victory 3-1 and advancing to the next round in the NJCAAE playoffs.
 
Lackawanna College remains undefeated in NJCAAE play, winning their third straight overall match, and the win gives them a berth in the quarterfinal round of the NJCAAE playoffs. The Overwatch squad will be back on stream in their quarterfinal match this Sunday, December 5th, at 6:00pm ET versus Johnston Community College. Be sure to tune in and support the team on our Twitch channel, twitch.tv/lackawannaedu.