DANVILLE, Ky. – The regular season tapered off and playoffs started for Centre Esports squads in the most recent slate of action. Both the National Esports Collegiate Conferences (NECC) and Peach Belt Conference (PBC) are ramping up for championship season.  

The Rocket League team entered the 2025 NECC Playoffs undefeated in the calendar year, League of Legends holds a four-game winning streak, and Overwatch and Valorant squads are closing out current seasons.   


ROCKET LEAGUE:    

Centre 3, Saint Francis 2 (4-1, 3-4, 3-1, 0-1, 5-2)  

- In the final regular season contest before playoffs, the Colonels faced the University of St. Francis. After an initial standstill, sush cant win (Grant Walker) hit the ball into the opposing wall which made Allstar_531 (Porter Kelley) see the opening and move to put the ball into the net. St. Francis followed that up with a goal of their own. Soon after the next kick off, sush cant win made an approach, went into the air, and got a double tap off the back wall flick into the goal. Both teams appeared to have a strong defense, not giving an inch and demo-ing one another left and right. In a moment St. Francis left their goal exposed which allowed sush cant win to score a turtle goal! With ten seconds left on the clock, Duroxy (Eddie Mora) took the corner of his car and slammed the ball into the goal, leaving match one with an explosive ending. 
- St. Francis scored the first two goals of the second game. Locking in, Centre pushed in right after kick off, all three players on the opposing side of the field. Within the chaos, sush cant win shot the ball right past two of St. Francis' players, making for a very close goal. With hopes of catching up, Centre picked up the pace. Duroxy hits the ball right to sush cant win who flipped backwards as the ball hit his car and launched it into the goal. After struggling to score and some close calls, Allstar_531 (Porter Kelley) was able to even out the score! With a minute left on the clock, tensions were high but St. Francis was able to  find a goal in the final seconds.  
- Centre opened scoring first in the third game. From all the way down field, Allstar_531 smacked the ball from Centre's side of the field, sending the ball flying into St. Francis's goal. Following that kickoff, sush cant win drove up the opposing walls, hit the ball right into Allstar_531 crosshairs, which allowed for yet another goal. Very quickly after, sush cant win was flying upside down, carrying the ball into the goal. A rare Colonel mistake saw the team they over-commit which left the goal wide open allowing for St. Francis to get a goal on them. Centre held on to win. 
- The fourth match was a defensive affair between Centre and St. Francis. It was demos galore on the field, cars blowing up each possession flip. After multiple close calls and great saves, St. Francis scored a goal. Despite some panic arising, Centre stayed composed, still trying to score and catch St. Francis off guard. But St. Francis did not let up. 
- It was win or go home in game five. St. Francis opened the game with two quick goals, potentially setting the tone for the game. In what seemed like a turn of events, Centre was able to flip the game entirely. Surrounding St. Francis and pouncing on any chance for possession of the ball, Centre scored goal after goal after goal. St. Francis was unable to find any opening in Centre's defense. What started as an even game ended with Centre dominating the field, taking control of the ball, and seizing the win, securing their undefeated regular-season record. 

Centre 3, Tennessee (Blue) 2 (3-5, 0-2, 5-1, 3-0, 1-0) - NECC Playoff Quarterfinals 

- Tennessee took the lead in the first game with two goals that showcased impressive air-dribbling mechanics far beyond what Centre has seen in other opponents this season. The Colonels tied things up before the halfway mark with passing plays and sush cant win even brought them into the lead with an incredibly precise pinch off the left wall. Three goals in rapid succession followed from UTK and Centre was unable to answer back in the remaining two minutes. Erxzii from UTK who recently returned from an injury led the scoreboard in shots and goals with seven and three respectively. sush cant win was just behind with six and two.  
- UTK scored the only goals of the second game fairly early on. Often starved of boost, Centre's offensive capabilities were impeded throughout. Combined with several important misses on the handful of opportunities they did create, round two was a wash for the Colonels.  
- The third game is when the Centre comeback began. In the first 10 seconds, sush cant win managed to hit a flip reset into a wavedash to overwhelm UTK defenders setting the pace for the onslaught to come. Each player from Centre proceeded to score with shots coming seemingly from every angle. Things slowed down a bit in the second half and Tennessee managed to find one with 30 seconds left, but it was too little too late. Centre simply felt faster this round.  
- Centre looked just as dominant in the fourth game. While Centre's first few shot attempts just barely fell short, they kept the pressure up until sush cant win secured the lead two minutes in. The second shot to go in was credited to Duroxy, but was more accurately an own-goal by UTK's Skolh who misread a tricky angle. Duroxy would find the third goal too as he set himself up off the back wall. The Colonels' pressure in this round essentially went unanswered with Centre ending with eight shots to UTK's two.  
- The final game was defined by defense for a change as overtime was forced thanks to a 0-0 tie. sush cant win and Erxzii were once again standout players with both at the forefront of offensive and defensive plays for their teams. As the clock ticked down it became more and more clear, whichever team scored even a single goal would likely win the series. As overtime triggered, this became a certainty. For two extra minutes both teams traded near misses, playing almost perfect defense. Finally, UTK's defenders just barely miscalculated the speed of a passing play from Duroxy to sush cant win and the Colonels closed out one of the closest series in program history with a reverse sweep. 


LEAGUE OF LEGENDS:  
   
Centre 2, Montevallo 1 

- Centre went for their standard fighter top, diver jungle, artillery mage mid, marksmen bot, and enchanter support against the only undefeated team in the division. Montevallo used a similar comp but chose a slightly tankier top and jungle to form a stronger front line for their very talented Ezrael bot lane. Centre did well in the midlane, with MegaNoodles (Tenghoit Kouch) and MetroMina (Mina Hartman) doing well to find good ganking opportunities on Montevallo's midlane and jungle. The real change in the game happened with a midlane fight at 16 minutes. Four of Centre's players mounted a counterattack against four Montevallo players sieging their first turret. Centre would send them running, but an overextended MegaNoodles dying made the fight look in Montevallo's favor. However, Centre would hold the line as Montevallo came rushing back to capitalize, and MetroMina would pick up three kills, decisively winning it for Centre. With those three more kills under her belt, MetroMina was now far and away more powerful than anyone else in the game. And with this core damage dealer so strong, Centre could execute their preferred team fighting strategy very effectively. MegaNoodles would jump on to out of position Montevallo players and keep them held down with the help of "SolarPikachu1" (Tim Trieu) crowd-control kit, while MetroMina and MandaloreTheWise pummeled damage into them and Moss Hoss dived into their backline, hunting down their squishy damage dealers. This strategy worked again and again. And it was especially important Centre was able to execute it at this point in the game, as Montevallo was at three dragon buffs to Centre's 0. So, Centre had to win all future fights over dragon to prevent Montevallo from getting that dragon soul buff, which they were indeed able to do. Centre was able to take the Baron down nearly uncontested. and using that buff's power they fought a protracted siege into Montevallo's base, eventually finding the ace and winning the game at 36 minutes, 36-14 kills. 
- In the second game, Montevallo caught wise to Centre's gameplan, and did well at preventing MetroMina from picking one of her signature artillery mages, forcing her to play a short range mage/assassin. However, Centre's bot lane, support, and jungler all got the same pick, providing hope Centre could bring back some of the dominance form last game. Montevallo picked a similar comp to their previous one, though they put a bit more emphasis on the jungler as a damage dealer, seemingly in response to Centre's somewhat more tanky choices. Centre played even better at the beginning of this game as the last one, likely due to the greater gank ability they had with three diver champions (Ambessa, Vi, and Sylas). However, a failed gank attempt in the botlane by Centre would turn disastrous, as Montevallo's Ezrael bot lane was able to get three kills, a shut down, and a turret. This gold and XP boost scaled him much the same as MetroMina was scaled in Game 1.This allowed Montevallo to more easily shred through Centre's tougher frontline, and with only one scaling champion now, Centre was very hard pressed to have someone that could match the damage coming out of that Ezrael. Despite this, Centre was able to hold their own quite well, with plenty of back and forth trades for the next ten minutes keeping the game practically even. Nothing decisive was fought, and Centre even picked up some major objectives. Montevallo would start to get the definitive lead after a fight in the top jungle went particularly bad for Centre. At this point, Centre seemingly got sloppy with their engagements and roaming, and fell into just too many unfavorable positions from which they could be picked off piecemeal. Montevallo would eventually easily take the dragon and baron buffs, and win not to soon after, at 36 minutes, 23-38 
- Centre would revert back to their more practiced and powerful team composition in the third game, getting MetroMina on an artillery mage, while Moss Hoss and MandaloreTheWise would focus more on tanking than diving. Montevallo would run practically the same thing. This game would start way slower than the other two, with both teams being very cautious. This time, though, it would be Montevallo that was more cautious in the early game, with Centre getting the early game drakes uncontested for the first time this match. Montevallo got some early ganks, putting them in the lead briefly, but they seemed to be too emboldened by these marginal successes. Centre got wise to play more grouped up, and Montevallo sloppily took a lot of bait, leading to three team fights where Centre would come out ahead. MegaNoodles would really shine here, using his Amumu to dive in, hold down the enemy frontline and do large amounts of AoE damage, while MetroMina and MadaloreTheWise would pummel them. Centre continued to pull ahead, reaching 14-5 by 21 minutes with all three dragon buffs. But this just seemed to make Montevallo more desperate, and they kept barging into Centre's traps in the jungle, baited by one seemingly out of position Centre player. Centre easily grabbed the dragon soul and baron buff from this position. However, they still played cautiously afterwards, ensuring they didn't overextend and start to lose their lead. Indeed, the game lasted eight more minutes after what is normally a game-winning combo. Once they grabbed the elder dragon buff, though, they were just too powerful for Montevallo to contend with, and they finished the job destroying the nexus, taking down this hitherto undefeated team in 33 minutes, 31-7 kills. 

Centre 2, Columbus State 0 – Peach Belt Conference Playoff Quarterfinals 

- In the first game of the playoffs, Centre chose their preferred composition, except this game MandaloreTheWise (Winter Collins) was allowed to play his favored Veigar, a champion which is normally banned out by the opposing team every game. CSU matched with a similar comp, though one that was focused somewhat more on diving, and without a enchanter reliable crowd control. Centre would start with an invasion into the opposing team's side, an abnormal tactic for them. This time, it paid off though, and they found an early kill. This invasion did not mark Centre pursuing an overly aggressive strategy this game, though. Kills were few and far between in the first 10 minutes of the game. And when they did start coming, it would be CSU that initiated ganks and teamfights. Luckily, Centre mostly turned these around handily and fed kills into "MetroMina" (Mina Hartman), who was playing Smolder, a very high scaling champion. However, even with a clear advantage on power, Centre decided to beat them on the macro game of objectives, easily taking down drakes, void heralds, and towers with little push back from CSU. The CSU players seemed content on slowly csing, but Centre was getting much more benefit from their activities. Therefore, despite the kill feed not changing much, Centre powered up fast, and quite soon felt confident in beginning the siege of CSU's base, even before the fourth drake spawned. And indeed, they took it down quite fast, finishing this game in an extremely quick 23 minutes, 19-4 kills. 
- CSU seemed pretty lackadaisical on the bans in the second game, which allowed Centre to grab many of their best champions. Centre would also take this opportunity, though, to try out some new things in the bot and top lane, going for a double enchanter bot to seemingly further lock down opponents, so that the rest of their team could dive on them. CSU would also try to mix it up hard, going for a more ranged physical attack damage focused comp, rather than the diving team they chose in game 1. CSU would put up a larger fight in the early game, finding strong ganks in the midlane and jungle. However, "Moss Hoss" (Cole Whitt) would show his top lane skill and hold the scoreline even, and then pull Centre ahead. It was at 10 minutes that Centre's double enchanter composition really started to make some moves, with "MandaloreTheWise" (Winter Collins) and "SolarPikachu1" (Tim Trieu) very successfully locking down CSU's players during a teamfight in the upper jungle, preventing them from escaping or engaging. They were easily picked off then, and Centre continued to grab major objectives with impunity. A shutdown on MetroMina and a strong looking gank seemed to indicate a turning point in the match, where CSU could become more competitive. However, Centre was well placed to quickly response to that gank and turn it around on CSU, wiping four of their players and once again going to quickly grab two objectives. At this point MetroMina was also quite scaled on her favored Syndra, and–with Moss Hoss tearing it up–Centre once again felt strong enough to begin an early siege on CSU's base. CSU would deflect them a bit better this game, forcing Centre to grab dragon soul to make the final push. But the writing was on the wall, and Centre once again won the game in a very fast 25 minutes, 34-10 kills. 


OVERWATCH:    

Centre 0, Washtenaw Community College 3  

- Antarctic Peninsula was the map Centre choose for the last game of the season, and they started with a Zarya brawl composition. They were met by Washtenaw, the strongest team of the division, and a Rammatra brawl composition, which has a naturally better matchup versus Centre's Zarya. The first fight was head-to-head, but after Centre's Zarya and Brigitte split off by dropping to the low-ground, WCC took initiative and burned through the team, winning the first fight. Afterwards, Centre was held off completely by aggressive positions and plays. In the second round, Centre put up some brilliant Mei walls thanks to Carp (Jacob Carpenter), and won the first fight by splitting the opposing tank. In the second fight, however, WCC caught Centre's support out of position and took them out, making the fight an easy win for them. After WCC. flipped the point, they held it until a map one victory.  
- The King's Row map is Centre's bread and butter and it was the site of the second game. Centre lead with an Ana-Brigitte support lineup on the defense, but WCC quickly pushed through with a Mauga. WCC from there forward completely dominated the playing field and controlled the match, pushing through all the way. Centre on the attack, unfortunately, made no progress. In a last-shot attempt for victory, Centre swapped to D.va to counter the Mauga but WCC still did not budge. WCC won this round 3-0.  
- Centre choose Esperanca as their last hope map. A dive composition from the enemy team picked Centre apart. Centre did have supports with get-out abilities, but WCC worked around this and took them out anyways. Centre made it almost to the first checkpoint, but WCC turned the game around and pushed all the way. After WCC gained enough momentum, it felt unstoppable as the strongest team proved why they're at the top. In an unfortunate loss, Centre showed their resilience and strength. 


VALORANT:    

Centre 0, FSUPC 2 (6-13, 3-13)  

- Due to technical issues match info is not available at this time. 

Centre 1, Augusta (B) 2 (13-9, 5-13, 5-13) 

- On the Ascent map Centre went in with two sentinels, one of which was Vyse, two duelists, and a controller. The start of the map went in Centre's favor as the first two rounds go Centre's way however soon into the map Augusta wins one of their own. Centre defended with a sentinel on each site, someone to accompany that sentinel, and someone to watch over the middle of the map which did not contain a site. Centre maintained site control with this strategy and it was rare that Centre lost fights on these sites. The strategy allowed for teammates to rotate and provide flanks or back-up to a site. Augusta spent a large portion of the first half trying to force a push onto the A site while sending a few people mid. This split the team up and allowed for Centre to stall some of them while the others rushed in and fights took place on a smaller scale. Centre would often only lose fights when it came to Augusta's ultimate ability usage. The team's ultimates were often overpowering and round deciding. When the teams switched sides, Augusta and Centre trade a round as they felt out how the game should continue. Centre found it very difficult to find any footing in this half. Centre was consistently able to make it onto the site, and then plant the spike. However, they struggled to win the round and would get wiped out in time for Augusta to defuse the spike. This would go on for several rounds allowing Augusta to make it a tie game 9 to 9. Centre was able to luckily win a very close round that came down to the wire. This gave Centre a little bit of money to try and do as much as they could with. Klippy (Vedant Bhagat) used the money to buy a rifle and maximize the usefulness of his ultimate. He ulted into the site, secured the area for the rest of Centre and got a quadra kill. This round win was vital in preserving some momentum. This momentum only got added onto when, during the next round, Big Soup (Blake Shrewsberry) got a triple kill. Those few rounds put Centre at match point. While Augusta put up a good fight, a mixture of economic disparity and lack of speed gave Centre the final round and map. 
- The Haven map opened and Augusta's strategy was clear, get in as fast as possible. Augusta was able to push past the few people that were holding any given site and take up as much space as possible. Because Haven has three sites, Centre's defense was often thin. If Centre were to start making progress in retaking the site, Augusta would retreat and hold sight lines that demanded a push from Centre. The issue was that Centre simply wouldn't have enough time to lose a site, retake it, push Augusta, and defuse the spike. This was repeated on all sites and, while Centre could often win rounds with a focus on B site, it would usually end in a round for Augusta. The few rounds in the first half that Centre did win were highlighted with either a B site retake or a string of kills that put Centre at an advantage to defuse the spike. On attack, Centre tried a few different strategies with the main emphasis being speed. Centre really wanted to replicate the success of Augusta and get in as fast as possible knowing defense would be slim. Centre was able to get a few rounds on Augusta via various multikills, often from Bill Clinton (Jade Otgon), but struggled to replicate the success seen from those rounds. With only a few rounds to come back in the half, Centre lost the map. 
- The Lotus map started off incredibly close. The two teams were consistently trading rounds, most often with one player on each side being the defining difference between winning the round and losing it. As soon as the teams were out of the first three rounds ultimate abilities were used nearly every round to give each team an edge. At round six things started to shift. Regardless of how many ultimates Centre used or the gun that each player purchased, Centre could not get another win in the half. Centre struggled to pin down a winning strategy for the map and often used a simple idea of three or four people targeting one site while the remaining players made noise and showed presence on other sites to deter Augusta from rotating. This frequently led to those not a part of the main group dying in a fight they couldn't win or the main group being wiped out in a fight because they were short on manpower. At halftime Centre was 3 - 9. The pistol round for the second half would go to Centre and with that win Centre would win the second round. Because Centre saved, the third round did not go in their favor, but they had saved up money from the previous rounds enough to try to extend the game a few more rounds. Unfortunately, the remaining rounds do not go Centre's way. Any flank Centre attempted took too long to execute and the three sites spread defense too thin to just hold a site. It seemed that Augusta had realized Centre's lack of formula and took advantage of it swiftly to take the map and series. 

Centre 0, North Georgia 2 (2-13, 1-13) 

- The initial pistol round on Haven went to Centre and they used that win to buy SMGs and economic guns that still packed a punch. This decision led to Klippy (Vedant Bhagat) getting a triple kill as he was able to spray down the group of North Georgia's players that attempted to push through garage. These would be the only two round wins Centre would get. The third round would go to North Georgia because they were able to afford rifles. North Georgia's winning strategy was unpredictability. While they often favored A site, their method of capturing the site varied. Sometimes they would play incredibly fast and take the site by surprise, other times they would play very slow so that Centre wasted their abilities on players who could easily retreat, and they especially loved to fake an entry onto a site just to rotate away and take a different site by surprise. This unpredictable method of attacking left Centre without reprieve as they lost every round from round three on. At half time Centre was left with so few rounds to turn the game around that a victory was nearly out of reach. Despite this, Centre continued to give every round their all and even made an impressive last stand to save the match point game. But without a win, the map went to North Georgia. Clairo topped the leader board for both teams with 20 elims.  
- On Ascent, Centre's only success came at the beggining of the map. Unfortunately, their early pistol round win was not enough to generate the momentum for the up-hill battle. Despite better guns, Centre got picked off in round two as UNG managed to peek out at just the right times when Centre was unprepared. North Georgia would often take longer and more defensive angles which complimented the map very well. Every time Centre tried to push there would be an opponent waiting and willing to contest. When Centre is on a losing streak like this, they cannot afford longer ranged guns, so this strategy was highly effective, especially when considering the fact that Centre only had one controller agent to smoke off sight lines. The sheer amount of angles people could peek from was too much for Centre's offense. When they switched sides, Centre lost the pistol round. Which meant it was only logical when North Georgia used that win to secure the second round, which put the game at match point. Centre didn't save any money for the third round and fell quickly to North Georgia giving them the map and the series. 

UP NEXT     
The Gold & White have just playoff contests remaining in the 2025 spring season. Visit CentreColonels.com for the full Esports schedule and recaps of action.