Grandview esports claims first sanctioned League of Legends championship
LAKEWOOD – The Grandview esports team has won four League of Legends state titles in a row, but there’s something a bit more special about the Wolves’ latest championship.
At Localhost on Friday night, the Grandview squad prevailed 2-0 over Chaparral in the League of Legends state title match. This time around after winning three pilot seasons in the League of Legend title, the Wolves stood atop the pinnacle at the end of the first official Colorado High School Activities Association-sanctioned state championship campaign. Along with that victory came a trophy and a banner to take back to Grandview, as well as a spot in the all-time official record books for Colorado high school esports.
Either way they looked at it Friday – fourth in a row or first ever – the Wolves were glowing with pride after winning the 2022 championship.
“This is the first year we get the actual trophy like the other teams get trophies. This is amazing,” head coach Carlos Nevares said. “For us, we’ve won four in a row and we were coming here thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, please don’t let us lose the year it’s finally official-official.’ But here we are, four-time state champions in our minds and for CHSAA, the first state champions. We’ll take it all.”
Nevares added that he was proud of his players for how they worked together as a team throughout the season. That teamwork was on display in Friday’s championship match, in which the Wolves grinded out a victory in the semifinals and then again in the finals where the Wolves took control relatively early in what can be a lengthy competition and capitalized on that advantage to seal the best-of-three series without having to play a third game.
“We just kept communicating with each other,” Grandview’s Jacob Weir said. “I felt like we were all involved and we all understand what to do in what situations.”
In the semifinals, Grandview won 2-0 over Cherokee Trail to reach the finals. In the opposite semifinal, Chaparral won 2-1 over Pinnacle Charter.
Grandview senior Ryan Tran said Friday’s victory felt especially rewarding considering the program’s success during the pilot seasons and that this year’s team made sure that once the championships were finally CHSAA-official, that Grandview left Locahost with the trophy.
“It’s going to be my last senior being here and a lot of our team last year were seniors,” Tran said. “We’re continuing that legacy and upholding our team, and making sure we’re always going for that win.”
