Four champions were crowned on the final day of the Collegiate Esports Commissioner’s Cup

The final day of CECC Texas 2024, better known to all esports players and fans as championship Sunday, saw exciting matches across all four of the games.

SUPER SMASH BROTHERS ULTIMATE

The morning started out with the Grand Finals between Winthrop University and Fisher College Northeast. Because Fisher College went into the Grand Finals undefeated, they were given the first win automatically. In other tournaments, if the winning team would lose in the Grand Finals, there would be a bracket reset. It resets the brackets so that both teams would be on the “losers” side, giving each team a fresh start.

For this crew battle, Fisher College having one automatic win meant that they only needed two wins in a best-of-five, where Winthrop needed three wins.

The match also saw much anticipated match-ups between two global powerhouses in Sonix from Fisher College and Lima from Winthrop University. Last year, Sonix was ranked #3 and Lima #29. They weren’t the only ones featured who were in the top rankings last year, as Peabnut from Winthrop and DM from Fisher were also some of the incredible players featured.

Just based on some of the players, fans were in for a treat.

But what they may or may not have predicted was Winthrop taking a complete sweep of the Grand Finals, defeating Fisher 3-1 thanks to Anarchy taking the final stock from DM, despite being behind for most of the final match.

Many of the players from the tournament participated in the open bracket singles tournament over the weekend as well, and Sonix had his revenge by taking the crown in the Super Regional event.

Some of the players featured in this weekend’s tournament including Lima, Beastly, Skinny the Pooh, and Peabnut will be taking part in Low Tide City in Round Rock, TX from May 11-12. Make sure to sign up for our newsletter for recaps of LTC weekend.

ROCKET LEAGUE

The Rocket League finals had the makings of an exciting match-up, even before it started. Number 1 ranked Ball State swept through the playoff brackets, defeating both Maryville University and Akron University 4-0. They held Maryville to just one goal, and completely shut out Akron from the net.

Boise State, meanwhile, had some tougher matchups, having to go 6 of 7 rounds against Lubbock Christian University and Fisher College. They would come out victorious 4-2 in both matches, but their opponents made sure to push them to the brink.

Going into the Grand Finals, Boise State had the early momentum, most likely thanks to their incredibly boisterous fans, taking the first round 4-3 and the second round 4-0. Ball State came back in the 3rd round to win 4-3.

The 4th round was the closest, with Ball State scoring the only goal in the round to win. But it was the 5th round that showed fans that neither team was ready to give up the fight for the win. With Boise State up 2-1, Guh from Ball State scored with 30 seconds on the clock, looking to send the match into overtime. But Oath from Ball State had other plans, scoring a quick turnaround goal with 22 seconds left to put Ball State up 3-2.

It wasn’t over yet however, as just 11 seconds later, Boise State’s Durtho score another tying goal, and Prstn would answer with another with just 3 seconds left on the clock to finish out the 5th round 4-3 in favor of Boise State.

With the lead, Boise State looked to round 6 to take the crown, but Ball State wasn’t ready to give up or give in. In another back and forth match, Ball State took round 6 with a score of 3-2, sending it to the final round in the best of seven series.

In the final round and the score tied 1-1, Prstn scored with just 1:22 left to give Boise State the lead 2-1. It was looking to be going Boise State’s way, holding Ball State without a goal. But with 6 seconds on the clock, Oath would score the tying goal, sending the final match into overtime.

Some great goaltending on both sides of the pitch added 1:37 onto the clock in overtime. After a great block by Boise State’s Woozy, Ball State’s Guh followed up with a corner bounce, giving Ball State’s Wovah the opening to score, giving Ball State the win in a nail-biting seven game series and the Rocket League championship trophy.

VALORANT

The Valorant finals saw one for the history books, as it was the first international Grand Finals for the CECC. Canada’s Saint Clair College would take on Blinn College from the United States in the final Valorant matchup of the day.

Blinn College did take the NECC Championship the night before, and they also had an upcoming chance at a spot in the Valorant Challengers series. But they first needed to run through Saint Clair to round out their high of the weekend.

But Saint Clair College, who made it to the CECC tournament thanks to a Last Chance Qualifiers, were out to prove that they belonged in the spot they were in and came out swinging in the first map on Sunset, taking holding Blinn to just 4 wins, defeating them 13-4.

While the 2nd map on Split was a little closer, Blinn just couldn’t find a way to break through Saint Clair’s defenses, and the team from Canada took the Grand Finals trophy 13-9.

On Monday, Blinn College would turn around and qualify for the Valorant Challengers series, becoming just the second collegiate squad to do so behind Winthrop University.

OVERWATCH

The final match-up of the night took place in Overwatch. Illinois State came into the CECC tournament off a Grand Finals win at NACE the weekend prior and definitely kept that momentum throughout the weekend. They also came in to CECC as a Last Chance Qualifier team, looking to make a name for themselves in another major tournament.

They were also a full international squad going up against a full American squad in Northwood University. Northwood would be looking for revenge against Illinois State, as the Redbirds knocked them out of the tournament in 2022, and they weren’t able to make it in 2023. They were looking for their first CECC win in Overwatch.

Northwood would take the first map on Lijang Tower easily, but the Redbirds would take the next two maps for the first round win.

But it was all Illinois State with the momentum from there. They took the Midtown map with ease, holding Northwood 3-2 at the end of the payload objective. Route 66 was the final map in the competition, and while Northwood held Illinois State to just two ticks on the payload, they couldn’t get the job done on offense, giving Illinois State their second Grand Finals victory within the last two weeks.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was an amazing weekend that showcased collegiate esports to the world. There are still some individual game championships that have yet to be played that will be happening in the next few weeks, but last weekend’s NACE championships and this weekend’s CECC showed that collegiate esports are alive and not slowing down for anyone.

Some final statistics:

• Over 450 college students were featured.
• Colleges came from 25 states and 2 Canadian Provinces.
• There were also 650+ middle school and high school students that took part in Texas State Championships with Vanta.

We can’t thank Collegiate Sports Management Group, the CECC, and EsportsU enough for giving us the chance to cover this incredible weekend full of talent and energy. We hope that you enjoyed all of the Tweets and photos from the event! All of the photos will be updated in the Photography section by next week.

We’ll be at Low Tide City this weekend in Round Rock, so make sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for updates throughout the weekend!