The Varsity team members were Alexander Babinat (sophomore), Corbin Bergmann (senior), Caleb Cosgrove (senior), Wade Cosgrove (senior), Samuel Heck (senior), Roman Hill (senior), and Hayden Morris (senior). Coach Nickolas Seitz is not pictured, and some members of the JV team came to support their varsity teammates. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

ESports has swept the nation and now has become a mainstay at South Tama High School. In a dazzling display, the Trojan team returned to the state tournament and improved on their seventh place finish in 2022.

“It was an extremely intense tournament, filled with great determination from our team and super sportsmanship from all teams,” STC Coach Mike Carnahan said. “The energy level in the room was through the roof, unlike anything I have ever seen before in any other sporting event!”

The ESports team formed during the 21-22 school year by joining the Iowa High School Esports Association (IAHSEA). The organization was founded in 2019, growing exponentially every year. When founded, the association had six members, growing to over 60 in 2022, and this year, just under 100 schools are recognized as members.

This growth comes as no surprise as esports continues to grow in popularity. Many postsecondary scholarships are being offered and programs are being expanded globally to fill the demand for this fun and interactive activity.

Many members of the Trojan ESports team have signed to continue on at MCC.

“We had five students sign letters of intent to play esports at MCC next year with the hopes of some of them earning scholarships,” Carnahan said.

For this season of ESports participants played MarioKart 8 Deluxe. The IAHSEA has three seasons: fall, winter, and spring.

In the fall, the game choices are Super Smash Bros, Ultimate, or Rainbow Six Siege. The winter choices are Overwatch 2 or Rocket League, and the spring includes MarioKart 8 Deluxe or Smite.

The Trojans chose Super Smash Bros, Rocket League, and MarioKart as they are all playable on the Nintendo Switch gaming systems. The other games are played primarily on gaming PCs which STC does not own currently. The IAHSEA is also looking at adding more games as the league continues to grow, but those titles are unknown as of now.

The format for MarioKart 8 Deluxe team competition is three pairs of racers. Each pair competes in four races, so there would be 12 total races in a match against two other schools. First place in each single race gets the team six points, second place gets five, and so on. The coaches always verify placings and point totals to make sure everyone agrees. At the end of the 12 races the winner is the team with the most points.

Throughout the regular season, point totals from each week of competition were added together to keep the standings. There are two divisions of twelve teams each, and the regular season consisted of matches only within our division, STC did not face any teams from the other division until State.

The top six teams in each division after the regular season were invited to State and were seeded according to their point totals. STC finished in 3rd place within their division, but seventh overall when both divisions were seeded. The top three seeds (Gilbert, Nevada, and Linn-Mar) all had byes while the other nine teams raced to be re-seeded.

STC faced Waterloo East, who they defeated twice in the regular season, and Urbandale, a team from the other division. After the first set of races, STC was in third place. When the second set finished, we found ourselves in second, and after the third set we ended up defeating Urbandale by one point 89-88. We have known all season we were a deep team, and that definitely played to our advantage in that first round.

The top six teams from the first round based on their point totals were then re-seeded and put into another threesome with either Gilbert, Nevada, or Linn-Mar. because STC and Urbandale were so close in points they were placed in the same pod again along with Gilbert.

Gilbert was very strong and finished first, while Urbandale and the Trojans ended up tied.

Being tied meant entering a “sudden death” format against Urbandale, which was each pair of racers competing in only one race, but starting with the team’s third set of racers first. After the first two pairs raced the teams were still tied and it came down to the final race. STC was able to crack the Urbandale duo to take second place in their pod which sent them to the “Silver” pod where the best they could finish would be 4th place in the State and the worst sixth.

“We felt that we were one of the top teams in the State and knew our strength was our depth. Six of our seven Varsity members graduated this year, but our JV team is primed and ready for the next step as they finished in second place in the JV standings, right behind Gilbert,” Carnahan said.

The Trojans were joined in the Silver pod with two schools from the other division, so teams they had not faced yet, Williamsburg and Iowa City West. These teams also finished in second and third place in their division, so they ended up with more points than STC had in the regular season. One could surmise that we would have a very tough time with them, but it turned out the Trojans asserted their strength and won the pod by close to 20 points, awarding them fourth place in the State.

“I’m just super proud of the team and also what esports brings to STC. It gives some students something to be involved in who may not normally get involved, a sense of belonging to the school wearing our school colors and team jerseys, and a place to develop important life skills such as teamwork, dedication, communication, sportsmanship, and humility among many others,” Carnahan said. “It’s a lot of fun watching students improve throughout the season, and people need to understand this is not just playing video games… This is video gaming in a completely different way, a very positive way, and it is a total blast to be a part of!”