Manual’s esports win League of Legends State Championship

Michelle Quan
January 3, 2021

Manual esports won the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) League of Legends State Championship against three-time state champs Lafayette High School 2-0. Manual’s Rocket League team also competed in the State Championships, which resulted in a loss against Shelby County in a close game of 4-3. 

Both teams competed live on Twitch on Nov. 16, with recordings available on JCPS Esports and Manual Esports for the League of Legends and Rocket League games respectively.

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) played on PC with five players on each team. Rocket League is a hybrid of soccer and cars played on console and PC with three players on each team. 

“I could not be more proud of our teams. There have been so many dark points throughout the last year where communities were forced into quarantining students and cancelling sporting events and other activities. Manual esports was able to maintain a sense of community through these games that I know was healthy for all involved because I know it was something the players looked forward to. While we wanted more from Rocket League, that set of games was easily the most exciting best of seven I have seen in a long time,” said Coach Jacob Jury (Math).

“We’re all really excited about our win yesterday, Roshan and I, especially, as captains. We were nervous going into it because our last match was against the only team [Lafayette High School] that beat us during the regular season,” Hamade (12, MST) said. He described it as very “pog.”

Scholarships will also be available to some of the players, according to Jury, as he awaits word from PlayVS officials and other schools. PlayVS is the platform that coordinates varsity esports across high schools nationwide. 

Outside of the state team, Manual’s League of Legends regional team one made it to the elite eight eastern-region teams. 

“Going into the future, we are looking forward to our spring season where we look to win the state title again,” Pourghasemi (12, MST) said.