Esports: Valor Christian Wins First Rocket League State Title
LAKEWOOD – As a freshman three years ago, Craig Birkhead and the Valor Christian esports team finished runner-up at the state championships back before esports was a CHSAA-sanctioned activity.
Ever since, Valor Christian has been chasing its elusive first esports title. On Monday at Localhost, the No. 4-seeded Valor Christian RL Alpha Team won 4-0 against No. 2 Fort Collins in the Rocket League state title match.
Not only was it the program’s first title, Valor Christian accomplished its goal of sending Birkhead off with a state title in his final high school season.
“It feels good, it doesn’t feel real,” Birkhead said. “I’ve been so close – even made the finals one time, the semifinals. But now we finally did it so it feels great.”
Valor Christian lost to eventual champion Cherry Creek in last year’s Rocket League semifinals. On Monday, the Valor Christian squad was dominant in the finals after a far-narrower 4-2 win over Chaparral in the semifinals.
“The semifinals match was scary,” Birkhead said. “That was a good prep for the finals, so we felt pretty confident in the championship. I felt like we probably even played a little messy in the finals, but we cleaned it up and were able to win.”
In order to reach the title match, Fort Collins overcame a 3-1 deficit against Bear Creek in the semifinals to eventually win 4-3 in the best-of-seven contest. Until Monday, top-seeded Chaparral – Zacier Nhava, Matthe Sigg and Andrew Gustafson – had not lost a game throughout the 32-team playoffs. Valor Christian – Craig Birkhead, Matt Birkhead and Evan Hacker – also had not lost a postseason game until Monday’s upset of Chaparral in the semifinals.
“It all goes out to the players at the end of the day,” Valor Christian head coach Nate Higgins said. “They put in the practice time and came here with the energy. Our senior this year, Craig Birkhead, has been chasing this for a long time. We had a strong team his freshman year and really he’s been leading us. It was time for him to step up and win one before he graduated and he did.”
In the quarterfinals on Monday, Valor Christian won 4-0 over No. 12 Green Mountain, Chaparral won 4-0 over No. 8 Cherokee Trail, No. 6 Bear Creek won 4-1 over No. 14 Centaurus and Fort Collins won 4-1 over Vista PEAK.
The 2023 school year is the second year the Colorado High School Activities Association is crowning officially sanctioned champions. Last fall, Cherry Creek won the first sanctioned Rocket League title.
