Esports is an up-and-coming medium for gamers to earn their own stake in the world of high school sports. Utica High School took to this competitive platform with great force last fall, becoming state champions just two years into the program. The Chieftains’ success is a display of perseverance and the bright future ahead of this team.
Utica competed at the 2024 MHSEL Fall State Championship with playoff qualifications in Valorant and Overwatch 2. The team’s first-place title was awarded to them in Valorant, the first-person shooter that swept away players upon release with its intense gameplay. The lineup behind this win includes sophomores Jacob Bennett and Omar Yousef, juniors Marwan Hassan, Owen Post, and Joseph Zhong, and senior Aidan Garrison.
“I was expecting them to do well. I knew they had a shot,” coach Robert Peltier said. “It’s a little presumptuous to say I’m expecting them to win the championship, but I was expecting them to be right in it.”
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Since the Chieftains’ esports debut in spring 2024, the Valorant battlefield is one they’ve had to fight on time and time again leading up to this victory. Utica’s history with the game has not always been triumphant, as they were unable to qualify for playoffs in the spring season. However, they buried that loss at this championship with a 2-1 win over Saline High School in the finals.
Expectations for the team were set high in Overwatch 2, the sequel game to another first-person shooter that revolutionized ranked gameplay in 2016. Utica High School went into the tournament being ranked second. Juniors Collins Harris, Joseph Zhong, Brendan Silver, Marwan Hassan, and seniors Yousif Hammadi, Logan Spillane and Aidan Garrison led the team to the quarterfinals but lost to Carrollton High School there.
“I think Overwatch could win the championship. It’d be nice if they got at least into the semifinals,” said Peltier. “It’d be nice if we had a few teams fighting for titles come April, May, time frame.”
However, Utica’s outstanding performance in Overwatch did not go unnoticed. Senior Logan Spillane was awarded all-state honors for his gameplay. His reward was an unexpected, yet pleasant surprise to the team after the loss.
“I really wasn’t expecting it. Honestly, I play one of the worst overall characters in the game,” Spillane said. “The fact that I did so good on the worst character, it just blew my mind.”
Alongside Spillane, senior Aidan Garrison’s performance in the Valorant finals landed him all-state honors as well. He finished the first finals game off by winning MVP and was rewarded for his achievement.
“Marwan (Hassan) decided to put me on all of the flashy characters,” Garrison said. “So, I really got close to the spotlight when it came to who performed the best.”
The 2025 season is kicking off on February 24th, and the team will compete at the state level again this upcoming spring. Playoffs start on April 28th and hopes for both Utica’s Valorant and Overwatch 2 teams are high. Their overwhelming performance in the fall makes their future as a team nothing short of promising.
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