Alma, MI - After a well played regular season Alma College Esports entered into the BEL Championship this past Sunday. Alma College Smash Ultimate entered as the undefeated one seed, Alma College Call of Duty entered as the 4-1 two seed, and Alma College Rocket League entered the day as the 3-2 three seed. All three teams set their sights on taking home the inaugural BEL trophy competing against 5 other traditional MIAA schools. 

Smash Ultimate:

Alma College enjoyed a first round bye advancing straight to semi-finals thanks to their regular season success. The Scots faced off against Calvin University in the Semi-Finals and would need to defeat them to continue their day. Calvin shot out to an early lead but not before Sean Kildea took two stocks off of some great Dark Pitt gameplay. Next up for The Scots was David Wolfley playing his Ken. David would go on to clutch game one for Alma taking an incredible 7 stocks. Robert Heemer started off game two for The Scots and took two stocks off of Calvin's Ace before losing his three. Wolfley would go on to take on six more stocks and give the Scots a comfortable lead before Kildea came in for the win. Scots Win Semi-Finals with a score of 2-0.

Alma advanced to the Grand Finals to combat division rival Trine University. Sean Kildea would once again start off for Alma College. Kildea would give his team the early advantage taking 4 stocks away from Trine. The one-two punch of Kildea and Wolfley continued to shine as Wolfley came in and cleaned up the other 5 stocks giving Alma College a 1-0 series lead. Game two began and saw Trine switch up their gameplan causing trouble for The Scots. Trine would build an early lead that the Scots never came back from resulting in a game two Trine victory advancing the series to 1-1. With the season on the line senior team captain David Wolfley stepped up to the plate starting off the game three for The Scots and took an incredible 5 stocks when the pressure was on. Robert Heemer would come in next to take a crucial stock away from Trine giving Alma the lead 6 stocks to 3. Trine came rolling back tying the game 3 stocks to 3. In another season defining moment, Kildea turned in his best performance of the year taking the set and sealing game three and the championship! 

Alma College completed their undefeated season and is your 2023 BEL Smash Ultimate Champions

Regular Season Stats:

• David Wolfley: 56 Stocks Taken (League Leading), 24 Stocks Lost

• Sean Kildea: 27 Stocks Taken (Tied for Fourth in the League), 23 Stocks Lost

• Robert Heemer: 16 Stocks Taken, 13 Stocks Lost

• Robin Feld: 2 Stocks Taken, 3 Stocks Lost

• Logan Wenz: 3 Stocks Taken, 3 Stocks Lost

Call of Duty:

The Alma College Call of Duty team has shown an incredible amount of improvement season to season. Last season was all about building for these four returning athletes. Chandler Calkins, Aaryn Sylvester, David Robinson and Riley Ohryn have spent the last year improving their team chemistry so that they could compete for a championship. With only one loss in the regular season the Scots saw themselves in a great position to take home gold. 

The Scots started their day in the Semi-Finals taking on the Britons of Albion College. David Robinson came out of the gate on fire showing off his skills with the sniper. The Scots would take hardpoint with a score of 250-150 taking the game one victory. Search and Destroy saw David Robinson continue his long range success clutching two rounds of Search and Destroy for his team. Alma College would close out Search and Destroy 6-2 taking a game two victory. Alma College went into the game three with a clear mission of reaching the finals and shut out Albion in game three sealing a victory and a finals appearance. 

Alma College then focused all attention on the Grand Finals taking on Adrian College. Game One started off with Adrian College taking a commanding lead in Hardpoint winning 250-50. Alma looked to bounce back in Search and Destroy map two. The Scots took one map but didn't build on the lead, Adrian College takes a 2-0 lead. Chandler Calkins led the way in Search and Destroy with 5 eliminations while Aaryn Sylvester chipped in 4. Adrian College would take game three and seal the championship. 

The Scots end their season as the second place finisher in BEL MIAA at a 5-1 record. Congrats to Alma Call of Duty on a great season!

Regular Season Stats:

• Chandler Calkins: 130 Eliminations (Third in the League), 72 Deaths, 12 Assists

• Aaryn Sylvester: 115 Eliminations(Sixth in the League), 86 Deaths, 16 Assists

• David Robinson: 104 Eliminations, 83 Deaths, 19 Assists

• Riley Ohryn: 81 Eliminations, 85 Deaths, 24 Assists

Rocket League: 

Alma College Rocket League entered BEL playoffs right in the middle of the six team league. Donovan Salters, Mike Ravn and Ed Markarian would get the start for their Semi-Finals matchup vs. Adrian College. The Scots would enter as the #3 seed taking on the #2 seed. 

Adrian College came out of the gate ready to play and took game one of the best of five series. Mike Ravn led the Scots in game one with a solid goal to keep his team close. Game two of the series was an incredible defensive effort as neither team scored until 11 seconds inr regulation, when again Mike Ravn found the back of the net off of an amazing assist and box out by Donovan Salters. Scots take a game two victory tying the series at 1-1. The Scots kept their foot on the gas in game two as Donovan Salters completed the game three hat trick scoring 3 goals for his team! Adrian responded quickly taking game four of the series after a neck and neck defensive struggle. With thirty seconds left on the clock Ed Markarian came up huge for his team chipping in a goal over his defender with 14 seconds left on the clock and sealing a finals appearance for Alma College!

Alma College then found themselves face to face against Trine University in a Grand Finals Best of 7 match. Game one went the way of Trine after a strong last second offensive push. The Scots showed their resilience and bounced back in game two taking a game off of Trine in overtime as Salters came up huge for his team with a last second goal! Alma was able to take the next game as well before Trine came thundering back to take the series with an overall score of 4-2. Alma Rocket League finishes the season as the second place finisher. 

Regular Season Stats:

• Donovan Salters: 22 Goals (League Leading), 5 Assists, 26 Saves (League Leading)

• Mike Ravn: 9 Goals(Fifth in the League), 1 Assist, 8 Saves

• Max Roberts: 1 Goal, 5 Assists, 6 Saves

• Ed Markarian: 2 Goals, 3 Assists, 3 Saves

Overall Champion:

With all three individual game champions crowned, it was time to tally up each school's overall program score based on each team's finish. 

Top Three Finishers: 

Alma-380 Overall Points

Trine- 350 Overall Points

Adrian- 300 Overall Points

Thanks to the effort of all three BEL teams, Alma College was able to claim the overall BEL Championship, capping off an incredible day of close matches!

Congratulations to all three teams on a successful season!