Launched in 2022, Concordia's Esports program offers students an opportunity to game together in a safe school environment by teaming up with fellow Crusaders as they work together to compete against other TAPPS and UIL schools across Texas and the USA.
The team competes in several different games including League of Legends, Splatoon 3, NBA2K, Super Smash, Rocket League, Mario Kart, Overwatch, and Madden NFL. The team has weekly matches after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in the Esports Arena on campus. Matches can be streamed on Twitch.TV.
Concordia's Esports program is comprised of almost 10% of the student population and competes in two seasons: Fall and Spring.
In the first full year of Concordia’s Esports program, the Crusaders were incredibly successful with many top results. While we did not have a State Champion like Spring 2022 when Ben Fritsche ’22 won the TAPPS title for Madden NFL, we had three teams narrowly miss out as they lost in the State Championship and an additional four teams reach the State Final Four.
For each game, playoff brackets consisted of the top 16 teams based on league play. All of the Fall teams (seven) and all of the Spring teams (six) qualified for the TAPPS playoffs! See the results below:
Fall 2022 Season:
- Super Smash A (Darian Peters ’24, Nick Ronchetto ’23, and Lucas Sagar ’23) finished as State Runners-Up following a grueling match against Fort Worth Nolan Catholic. The teams dueled in the maximum number of games and were barely eclipsed in the end.
- NBA2K (Caleb Blackburn ’23) made it to the State Final Four after finishing league play as the 3 seed.
- League of Legends (Jordan Brown ’26, Nick Harvey ’24, Nate Held ’25, Addy Wirth ’26, and Aven Wirth ’26) made it to the State Final Four.
- Rocket League (Grayson Blackburn ’24, Travis Guy ’26, and Alberto Vich ’24) also made it to the State Final Four.
- Mario Kart (Christina Carmichael ’25, Guy, Parker Hunziker ’26, Peters, and Jonathan Shivers ’26) made it to the Regional round.
- Splatoon (Carmichael, Peters, Sagar, and Trevor Whitt ’25) also made it to the Regional round.
- Super Smash B (Held, Vernon Sutton ’25, Blake Talley ’26, and Whitt) made it to the Area round.
Spring 2023 Season:
- Super Smash A (Peters, Ronchetto, and Sagar) lost in the State Championship for the second consecutive playoffs to Dallas Bishop Lynch Catholic to claim their second State Runner-Up title for the Crusaders.
- League of Legends (G. Blackburn, Brown, Held, Ad. Wirth, and Av. Wirth) also had a great spring season as they narrowly lost in the State Championship to The Village School.
- Rocket League (G. Blackburn, Benji Semro ’25, and Vich) made it to the State Final Four matching the team’s success from the Fall.
- Mario Kart (C. Blackburn, Hunziker, Shivers, and Whitt) made it to the Regional round.
- Splatoon (Carmichael, Peters, Vich, and Whitt) also made it to the Regional round.
- Super Smash B (G. Blackburn, Sara Eisenbraun ’26, Shivers, and Whitt) made it to the Area round.
The program has been overwhelmed by the support this season from the administration, faculty/staff, students, and parents. The players have loved that many fans showed up to watch matches online and in-person in the new arena on campus. The coaches and team members are grateful to the donors who supported the Back to School Challenge from 2021-2022 school year that helped fund and launch the program with the state of the art facility that is on level with many small colleges.
One of the best results about the Esports program is that it forces students to interface with other students that they might not have normally interacted with in daily life at Concordia. Several of the teams are comprised of students of various grade levels with some that are members of varsity athletic programs and others are involved in fine arts and ag. These teams need to assimilate quickly, identify each other’s individual strengths, and work together toward a common goal with their best effort. We believe this will translate well for these students in their future work life and families as sometimes employees may not always be able to pick their co-workers/teammates but they must use the best of their abilities to do what is right for the team.
For more information about the Esports program at Concordia, visit www.sadernationtx.com/esports
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Some end of year national rankings included:
- USA Today High School Esports 2023 – Texas – Final Rocket League Power Rankings: CLHS finished ranked #4 between both public and private schools.
- USA Today High School Esports 2023 – Texas – Final League of Legends Power Rankings: CLHS finished ranked #3 among private schools.
Crusader Esports in the News: