Bloomfield Hills, Novi take esports state titles
Bloomfield Hills and Novi are multi-time esports state champions.
The Oakland County schools both won for a second time when they prevailed Saturday in final fall matches for the Michigan High School Esports League at Oakland University.
Bloomfield Hills defeated Novi Green in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Novi defeated Muskegon Mona Shores in League of Legends as the two-day, in-person video game finals concluded at the student center.
Divine Child defeated Detroit Catholic Central in the Rocket League final.
“It is incredibly exciting to see the young up and coming esports talent and the growing resources out of the high school programs in the state of Michigan,” Oakland coach Carl Leone said in a news release.
Bloomfield Hills team members were Rob Rabinowitz, Alex Kravetz, Henry Hutchison, Macklin Forrester, William Zhong, Gavin Langwell and Zechariah Johnson. Aaron Strager and Blake Forrester coached Bloomfield Hills.
Novi team members were Nihal Dongari, Conner Kirkman, Robert Floros, Julia Lin and William Diaz. Chris White coached the team.
Divine Child team members were Collin Gribble, Connor Neiheisel, Jacob Roginski, Maverick HorryLyde and Dominic Maccani. Matt Mooney and Eric Heinz were the coaches.
In Smash Brothers semifinals, Bloomfield Hills defeated Detroit Catholic Central and Novi Green defeated Novi White.
In League of Legends, Novi defeated Northville and Mona Shores defeated Melvindale. In Rocket League, Divine Child defeated Novi and Detroit Catholic Central defeated Davison. Along with matches, the finals included seminars on several esports topics, including how to get a program started, game strategy and careers.
Smash Brothers, League of Legends and Rocket League are three of nine games in which MHSEL teams compete. A spring championship will be held in 2023.