Pride Call of Duty teams thrive at in-person events
The Clarke University Call of Duty roster has expanded their competition schedule for the 2023-24 school year as they've had the opportunity to travel to two LAN (Local Area Network) competitions during the Fall semester to positive results.
The Pride first travelled to Highland, Kan. on Oct. 6 to compete in Highland Community College's Call of Duty Invitational, followed by the Rockstar Invitational LAN hosted by Minnesota State, Mankato on Oct. 21.
Both Call of Duty squads made the trip down to Highland alongside eight other teams as CU's Navy team, comprised of Michael Feliz, Ben Blackburn, Alec dos Santos, and Samuel Swenor, and the Gold team, comprised of Ethan Kleckler, Gavin Breed, Devon Wall, Joey Fragoso, and Dominick Gaspie both found success throughout the day.
The Gold team got off to a slow start, and dropped their opening series 0-3 to Iowa Western Community College, sending them to the lower bracket. The Navy team then faced off against Coffeyville Community Collge, picking up a series win 3-0 to then go up against Ottawa University, but would fall in the series 0-3, getting knocked down to the lower bracket by the former national champions.
In the lower bracket, the Gold team made quick work of Highland Community College, with a dominant 3-0 victory where they would meet up with the Navy team in the next round where the Navy team came out on top in a 3-0 sweep as the Gold team would end their tournament in sixth following a loss to Coffeyville in the fifth place match. The Navy team continued on, facing off against Iowa Western, to exact revenge for the gold team's loss to IWCC, eventually claiming a 3-1 victory and moving on to the lower bracket finals.
In the lower finals, the Navy team would take on Witchia State University where their games went the distance, but in the end the Navy team wasn't able to clutch up, and unfortunately lost the series 0-2, with the Navy team finishing in third place.
Next on the schedule was a return trip to Minnesota, with the Pride Call of Duty team competing in the second Rockstar Invitational LAN, where they took home fourth place last year and looked to improve on that in 2023.
The team that CU put out was the combo of Michael Feliz, Blackburn, Breed, and Swenor, who would face Wayne State College in their opening matchup to a solid 3-0 victory, and would move on to face off against Illiniois State University, who had previously knocked them out the tournament last year.
The Pride couldn't exact revenge this time, falling 0-3 and sending them to the lower bracket to be matched up against Central Community College. That match went back and forth, with both schools picking up a game win, but Feliz pulled off the Call of Duty equivalency of a buzzer beater allowing the Pride to steal the match away from Central, carrying the momentum through to close out the series 3-1.
Afterwards, the Pride would then take on Dunwoody College of Technology in the lower semifinal but eventually dropped the series 0-3, once again finishing as the fourth place team.
The Clarke Esports Call of Duty teams continue on with their 2023 Fall season as they continue with their NACE season with eyes on competing for the NACE Starleague Varsity Plus Championships.