NATIONAL CHAMPION! Rogers Wins Three Straight Matches to Take NJCAAE Mario Kart Tier 2 Championship
April 25, 2024 - - For the first time in program history, the Lorain County Community College Esports team has a national champion. Robert Rogers (Lorain, Ohio/Clearview HS) needed to win three straight matches – all against higher seeds – to claim LCCC's first national title in Esports and he did just that.
He is the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports Tier 2 Mario Kart Tournament Champion.
"Honestly, I'm still stunned," said Rogers, "I still don't think I did it, my mind is just clouded right now, I don't know what to think."
Rogers faced elimination in four different races but never faltered in any of his best-of-seven matches. He trailed 3-2 to Marshalltown Community College in the elimination bracket finals and won two straight races to advance. He trailed 3-2 in the finals against No. 5 Derek Sweeney of SUNY Onondaga Community College and won two straight again to force a final winner-take-all match.
"When I'm racing, I'm not thinking about how I am going to win," said Rogers. "I'm thinking about how I am going to stay alive. In the heat of the moment, if you think about how to win, you're just going to develop tunnel vision and that will just poison your chances."
Rogers is the second Esports player to play in a championship match but is the first to win it. And he did it in dominant fashion, winning his final match in a 4-0 sweep.
"It's amazing, it feels great. Best ever," an ecstatic Robert McClelland said after the match as he grinned from ear to ear. Now in his third year as head coach of the Esports program at LCCC, McClelland looked back on the modest beginnings the program had when it started in the fall of 2021.
"We started in this room with four tables and six Nintendo Switch stations and just four competitors. I couldn't have imagined we could get this far in such a short time. So exciting."
On April 20, 2024, Rogers lost a seven race thriller to Sweeney in the winner's bracket finals to get bumped down to the elimination bracket where he needed to defeat Marshalltown's John Gerard, the No. 2 seed, to get his rematch with Sweeney.
Rogers and Gerard battled neck and neck in their match. After Gerard took the lead after race five, Rogers evened the match up to force a seventh race and used a spectacular display of driving to advance to the Tier 2 finals. It culminated on the first lap of race 7 against Gerard as Rogers fired a desperation green shell that bounced back in his direction. The shell hit a bump and bounced over him. A few seconds later, Gerard laid down a bomb that Rogers was able to swerve allowing him to fire a heat seeking red shell that blasted his opponent to take the lead. Down the final stretch of lap three, Gerard threw a slew of bananas at Rogers that he avoided to win the race and the match.
Rogers was locked in by the time he got to Sweeney in the finals. He won the first two races with ease, never trailing. He nearly won the third race but got tagged by a red shell in the final lap that allowed Sweeney to take the lead and pick up his first victory. Sweeney easily won races four and five to go up 3-2.
In the sixth race, Rogers was trailing in the final lap. In his inventory he had a single mushroom speed burst and one throw of a boomerang remaining. As he and Sweeney came into the final turns, he used the mushroom to speed through a short cut and timed his boomerang throw perfectly to hit Sweeney in the final turn. Rogers sped ahead to win the race and force a seventh race.
His luck continued in race seven. He led Sweeney on the final lap and Sweeney threw a bomb that landed just in front of him stopping Rogers dead in his tracks. It looked as though Sweeney would take the match but he lost control of his cart and went off road which allowed Rogers to power slide past him on the final turn and roll through to victory and force a second winner-take-all championship match.
For as exciting as the first finals match was, the second match against Sweeney was the complete opposite as Rogers carried the momentum from the first match into the second.
Rogers trailed in the first two laps of race one of the championship, but used a mushroom to take a shortcut through an off road section and then fired two red shells at Sweeney to jump in the lead. After Rogers dominated in race two, he used a comeback in race three to take a 3-0 finals lead. The final race again saw Rogers get behind early but during the second lap he took a shortcut and got in front of Sweeney. Coming down the stretch of the final lap, Rogers used a green shell for protection as Sweeney's desperation red shell did no harm and he crossed the finish line for the championship.
Rogers dedication to the program and his game in Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate had Esports Assistant Coach Rashad Reed gleaming with pride.
"He worked on three different teams this semester," said Reed. "He didn't miss a practice. He did not miss one game. Even when he went on vacation with his family, he still came through and played (remotely). Hard work is what gets you to this championship level and all of it goes to him."
Thursday night capped off a tremendous week for Rogers, who finished 3rd in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Tier 2 Championship on Wednesday. He had no big plans to celebrate his championship Thursday evening.
"I'm probably going to sit at home, hop on GTA5 (Grand Theft Auto 5) and think about it. I need to clear my head."
About CommodoreEsports:
LCCC's Esports team competes in the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports (NJCAAE) which is split into three tiers: Tier 1 - Premier Series, Tier 2 - Contender Series, and Tier 3 - Open Series. There is a fall season (September-December) and a spring season (February-April). LCCC has players that compete in Tier 2 and Tier 3. Tier 2 - Contender Series (CS) competition is the mid-level of NJCAAE competition for members with teams made up of eligible students while Tier 3 - Open Series (OS) competition is the open level of NJCAAE competition for members of that collegiate institution. In Tier 3, participants do not have to meet any Student Eligibility requirements.
Both tiers of competition run for seven weeks before the postseason begins.
Currently, LCCC competes in seven gaming titles/competitions:
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a fighting game, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a racing game, that feature characters from the Nintendo gaming universe on the Nintendo Switch. With Super Smash Bros. players can compete in individual competitions in a best-of-five match or in crew battle, an elimination style game in a 3v3 format.
Valorant, a PC first person shooting game where teams of five players compete in a best two-of-three match where the objective is for one team to place and detonate a spike while the other team tries to diffuse it. LCCC also competes in Overwatch 2, another first person shooting game.
Tekken and Street Fighter, both hand-to-hand combat fighting games.
