Ridge Gamers Place 4th In Esports Semifinals

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Ridge High School gamers lost in a close, triple-overtime, reverse-sweep to Gretna High School of Gretna, Nebraska to end in fourth place nationally in the North American Esports Federation (NASEF) Overwatch community play-in league.

The students competed on Dec. 14 and are all part of the Ridge Esports club. They include: Jarrett Early, John Manfredonia, and Ryan Connell who are all in 12th grade, Patrick Kemp in 11th grade and Logan Flores and Thomas Watt both in ninth grade.

The team won a grant of $250 for their national performance.

"The team was disappointed to lose but proud of our undefeated East coast season," said Justin Satter, the lead advisor of Ridge's esports organization. "We have identified where our weaknesses and strengths lie and intend on regular practice over the off-season to prepare for the spring season."

The competition involved students working together as a team to strategize and conquer an opposing school in the team-based multiplayer first-person shooter game called Overwatch.

"Mr. [Steven] Isaacs and I were most proud of how the players came together as a high functioning team in just three months with no prior experience. We give most of the credit to the strong leadership and communication skills consistently coupled with a high level of effort the players put into learning the game. Ridge Overwatch has every intention of continuing to grow as a team with an eye on winning East Coast again," Satter said.

Ridge will also be competing in the NASEF League of Legends spring league. Ridge League of Legends ended in third and fourth place on the East Coast in 2018 and has been working in the off-season under the student leadership of Viktor Teslovic (senior) and Forest Huang (junior) towards taking first place this year. If they win East Coast they will be flown to California for a national final four.

In case you missed it, you can watch the matches here: Quarterfinals or 3rd Place Match.

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