Esports: Denver East Wins Rocket League State Championship

LAKEWOOD – On Tuesday at Localhost, Denver East – Jacob Malek, Will Turner and Austin Green – won 4-1 over Valor Christian in the Rocket League state title match.

In doing so, the Angels became esports state champions for the first time in school history.

“This is a huge win for us,” Denver East head coach Adam Paull said. “This is the first season we were a part of esports and we had a great squad. We’ve been very blessed with these guys and they’re very hardworking kids. It was just an awesome, awesome season. We had great support from our administration and everyone at our school.

“At East, it’s the standard that we come to state and we compete with all of our programs at our school and we’re very proud that we could follow through with our school’s tradition of being competitive.”

The Angels also won 4-1 over 2022 champion Cherry Creek in the semifinals. In the title match, the Angels were dominant and clinched their victory with a last-second goal in the final game.

“We’re super proud of them,” Angels assistant coach Nolan Taylor said. “They really clutched up and played their game. We just gave them the space to do what they needed to do and they brought it. We’re just super happy and super proud of them.”

Also in the semifinals, Valor Christian won 4-1 over Bear Creek.

In Tuesday’s quarterfinals, Bear Creek won 4-1 over Centaurus, Valor Christian won 4-0 over Rocky Mountain, Cherry Creek won 4-1 over Widefield and Denver East won 4-1 over Chatfield.

This year’s state championships marked the third season with Rocket League as an officially sanctioned esports title.