Bob Jones wins 16th AHSAA E-Sports championship; Columbia, James Clemens also victorious

MONTGOMERY – Bob Jones High School, Columbia High School, James Clemens High School, Hoover High School, and Wenonah High School each captured state titles as the fifth annual AHSAA E-Sports Fall Championships concluded Monday at Huntingdon College’s Leo Drum Theatre.

The one-day computer game competition kicked off with the Rocket League division. Bob Jones’ team of Max Dunkerley, Rylan Barden, and Noah Strain defeated LAMP 4-1 to claim the crown.

The Patriots, coached by Aubree White Bond, lost the first match 2-1, then rebounded to win 5-1, 8-0, 3-2, 3-2 in the best-of-seven finals. Dunkerley was team captain for Bob Jones.

The victory was the 16^th individual state title for the Patriots since the first year of competition in the fall of 2019. The AHSAA also has E-Sports championships in the spring.

In Monday’s other E-Sports championship finals:

• Spatoon 3: Columbia of Huntsville, coached by De’Meiko Merriweather,  won the Splatoon 3 championship 3-0 over Charles Henderson in the best-of-five finals.
  Team captain Jaidon Bailey, Brandon Barber, Seanic Games, and Jeremiah Dale claimed the championship for the Eagles.
• Mario Kart: James Clemens, coached by Pamela Paquette, won the best-of-three racing competition 2-1 over Huntsville’s Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering.
  The Jets – team captain Courtney Smith, Jameson Hoiland, Sophia Rogers, and Embree Conyers – won the first circuit 131-103.
  ASCTE, coached by Matt Bohon with Aiden Brisendine, Isabel Schelmbauer, Nicholas Sifuentes, and Alex Davis, battled back to win the second circuit 121-111.
  James Clemens clinched the state title winning the third circuit 132-102. Each circuit had six races.
• Super Smash Brothers: Hoover, coached by Hunter Curtis, swept the best-of-5 competition 3-0 over Arab. The Knights were coached by Jason Watts.
  Chase Gayton of the Bucs beat Arab’s Kayden Cantrell 2-0; Kingston Boatman downed Tyler Willis 2-0, and Rehan Jiwani defeated James Drake 2-0.
• Madden NFL: Wenonah’s Dragons won its first E-Sports state title beating St. Paul’s Episcopal 31-28 in the football competition. Amari Megginson, who chose the Baltimore Ravens, beat Kristopher Dotson, who chose the Philadelphia Eagles.