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LCI esports team crowned PlayVS Spring ’24 Valorant Mountain Youth Champions

By Garrett Simmons 
Lethbridge School Division Communications 

Lethbridge Collegiate Institute’s esports team has been crowned Spring ’24 Valorant Mountain Youth Champions in the PlayVS Cup.
On Wednesday, LCI wrapped up a three-month tournament. Approximately 400 teams across North American entered, as LCI emerged victorious with the west title and the title of North America Champion.
In the final series, LCI came up against Novi High School from Novi, Michigan. The tense series went into the last game of the best of three, and LCI and Novi gave the crowd an overtime thriller, as  LCI came out on top.
The prize for this tournament included the PlayVS Cup and $7,500 U.S. in scholarship money to the players.
Going into the final series, Novi had not lost a single match or game in PlayVS regular season and the playoff tournament rounds, until the American team ran into LCI.
LCI’s players included Matthew Fedoruk, Isaac Gills, Gabe Gorner, Gavin De Jong and Rocco D'Agnone. Mike Harrison coached the squad.
The LCI team began the PlayVS Cup journey in the West region and played regular season games to get seeded or ranked for playoffs.
LCI won the West region and then entered another playoff bracket that involved all the other teams that won their respective regions over North America. This bracket with all the winning teams started at quarter finals. LCI then won out in the quarterfinals, semi-finals and lastly the grand finals yesterday to win the entire league.
As the season kicked off, Harrison added the key was finding the right mix of players on the team.
“Last season, Rocco, Matthew and Issac played together, but their other teammates graduated, so we had two spots to fill on the roster,” he said. “Me and the other coaches tried a couple of different groupings but putting the two new Grade 9s, Gabe and Gavin seemed like the best fit. Both Gavin and Gabe improved tremendously throughout the season, increasing their ranks by multiple divisions. The original three already had great chemistry playing together, which was still present, and they did a great job encouraging and incorporating Gabe and Gavin into the team. Individually each player is incredible but these games come down to how well you play as a team. There is still some room for growth, but their ability to play as a team and trust each other has steadily increased throughout the whole season, and their team play is the reason they have had so much success.”
Harrison added the final against Nova came down to the wire.
“Yesterday's grand finals game was absolutely insane, and it was packed with many incredible moments,” he said. “In the PlayVS Cup, we had won every best of three in two games straight. Yesterday was the first time we got pushed to a game three, so the boys showed incredible adversity being able to come back from that.”
In the series, LCI won the first game.
“You could feel the tension in the air, and even though they were nervous they were able to clutch out a win 13-11,” said Harrison.
Then, the team faced some adversity during game two where they struggled to get in a rhythm and play as a team and lost that game. Game three was a great game from both sides start to finish, according to Harrison.
“With each team trading rounds until it was eventually 12-11 for the opposing team, meaning if we lost one more round our season was over, but the boys clutched out the round and tied it at 12s and forced overtime,” he said. “They won two rounds straight in overtime to win the game, and the last round had some great team play individual heroics by Matthew.”
The coach added the championship was certainly hard fought.
“Overall, it was an amazing experience to watch the boys play this game and battle through in order to get this much-earned victory,” said Harrison.
The PlayVS Cup is a unique opportunity for the best of the best from around the country to face off in a one-of-a kind esports tournament. Teams that win state and regional championships in the fall and spring seasons are invited to compete in the PlayVS Cup that takes place each year after the end of the spring season.
Since the start of PlayVS, over $700,000 in prizing and scholarships has been awarded to highlight some of the best esports programs in North America.