Category Archives: eSports

On Friday, April 26, the Hay Springs eSports Fortnite team consisting of Arian Mata and Cade McKillip arrived at Concordia University in Seward, NE.  Upon arrival, we learned that we had just missed having to participate in a campus-wide “Shelter” event due to tornadoes in the area.  For the record, we did not see any tornadoes nor were there any reports of tornadoes in Seward itself.  Unfortunately, we also learned that in addition to the Tornado warning, other issues during the day had put the schedule at least 2 hours behind.  We were supposed to start our matches at 7:15 PM, but it was pretty close to 10:00 PM before we were able to begin.  It was going to be a very late night.  With all of those odds conspiring against them, the number 1 ranked Hay Springs team managed to beat number 8 Scribner Snyder and then number 4 ranked Bancroft-Rosalie before taking on the number 2 ranked Kimball team.  In spite of some minor technical issues, Hay Springs came out on top and brought home the Division 4 State Championship trophy!  Congratulations Cade and Arian, you guys are awesome!

The Hay Springs eSports Fortnite team is heading to state! After winning their third round playoff match against #16 ranked Elwood, the #1 ranked Hay Springs team will be driving to Concordia University in Seward, NE to play against 7 other teams in the State Championships. The matches will take place from 7:15 PM – 10:00 PM Central Time on Friday, April 26. All of the matches will be streamed on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/nsesa and the Awards Ceremonies will be streamed as well at https://www.twitch.tv/cune_esports. Students on the team are Cade McKillip and Arian Mata.

NSESA Spring E-Sports Championships 2024 T-Shirts are available at https://nsesaspringesports24.itemorder.com/ for anyone wanting to purchase one.  There is an option to have your shirt “picked up” at the event.  Obviously, the eSports team can pick up shirts and bring them back to Hay Springs for those wanting to choose this method!  The deadline for orders is Friday, April 19, 2024 (9:00 AM MT/10:00 AM CT).

Congratulations to the Hay Springs eSports team on their 3rd place win at the NSeSA State Championships held in York, NE.  Well played, Larry, Tanner, Taden, and Cooper, well played!

This is the second year in a row the team has brought home the bronze from State, and they are thinking maybe some silver or gold would go well with it…stay tuned!

The Hay Springs eSports Mario Kart team is heading to state! After winning their third round playoff match against #6 ranked Arcadia, the #3 ranked Hay Springs team will be driving to York University in York, NE to play against 3 other teams in the State Championships. The matches will take place from 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM Central Time on Friday, February 2. All of the matches will be streamed on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/nsesa and the Awards Ceremonies will be streamed as well at https://www.twitch.tv/yorkpantheresports. Students making the trip include Taden Tobiasson, Tanner Tobiasson, Abigail Nelson, Cooper Krotz, and Larry Nelson.

Update: NSESA Winter E-Sports Championships 2024 T-Shirts are available at https://nsesawinterchampionships24.itemorder.com/ for anyone wanting to purchase one.  There is an option to have your shirt “picked up” at the event.  Obviously, the eSports team can pick up shirts and bring them back to Hay Springs for those wanting to choose this method!  The deadline for orders is Friday, January 26, 2024 (9:00 AM MST/10:00 AM CST).

The Hay Springs eSports team is heading to Concordia University in Seward, NE to participate in state finals. Our matches will take place beginning at 8:00 AM MT on Friday, April 28th, 2023. The team has qualified for state in all three seasons this year, Fall, Winter, and now Spring! This is the last event of the 2022-2023 eSports season, so if you would like to watch our team play, you can tune in to the live stream at: https://www.twitch.tv/CUNE_esports Go (Gamer) Hawks!

The Hay Springs Hawks eSports team traveled to York, NE to compete on Friday, February 3rd in the NSeSA Winter Season State Finals.  The team of four(Kaden Langford, Emily Nelson, Taden Tobiasson, and Tanner Tobiasson) played Mario Kart 8 against the team from Alma, NE.  Hay Springs beat Alma in the first of three “cups” 85-71, but then Alma came back in the second cup race and won with a score of 94-62.  In the last cup race, Alma really found their groove and ended up beating Hay Springs 100-56.  The final score for all three cups was Alma 265 and Hay Springs 203.

After that race, Hay Springs was up again immediately to fight for the Bronze medal against arch-rivals Wynot.  Even without a break, the Hawks put the pressure on Wynot early, handily winning the first cup with a score of 92-64.  The tension was high at the Hawk table as the individual races of the second cup took place with the Hawks scoring very well in each race.  As the final race finished, the excitement from the Team Hawks players was palpable…they had been adding up the scores in their heads and were pretty confident that they had beaten Wynot in the second cup as well.  You could have heard a pin drop as everyone waited on the final tally and the announcement…”Hay Springs 95, Wynot 61!”  The Hay Springs Hawks erupted with high fives and hugs all around…with a final cup score of 187-125, Hay Springs secured 3rd place at State!  After the short celebration, team members congratulated the Wynot players as they walked off stage.

The final placings were as follows: 1st(Gold) place – Cody-Kilgore, 2nd(Silver) place – Alma, 3rd(Bronze) place – Hay Springs, 4th place – Wynot.

Today the Hay Springs eSports Mario Kart Team 1 qualified for state finals in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, beating out Wynot, NE by a margin of 88-68. There were some very tense moments during the four races, but Kaden Langford, Emily Nelson, and the Tobiasson Two(Taden and Tanner) fought on and triumphed in the end! The Nebraska State eSports Association State Finals will be held on Friday, February 3rd in York, Nebraska at York College. Hay Springs(Division 4) matches will go from 9:00AM-12:00PM CT/8:00AM-11:00AM MT and will be streamed live at https://www.twitch.tv/nsesa so be sure to watch and cheer on our team! Thank you Mrs. Beguin for the awesome pictures!

Senior Kaden Langford has received a $5000 eSports scholarship to Hastings College in Hastings, NE.  Kaden is the third year captain of the Hay Springs eSports team and was instrumental in the creation of the team.  During the 2022 Fall season, Kaden qualified for the Nebraska Schools eSports Association State Championship and came home with a 6th place medal in the “Super Smash Brothers Ultimate” tournament.  When asked for a comment, Kaden responded “This is really, really awesome!”  Currently, Kaden and his “Mario Kart” teammates are preparing themselves for the 2022-2023 Winter Season Playoff which begin the week of January 16th.

The Hay Springs eSports club is holding try-outs/sign-ups on Monday, August 29th immediately after school at 4:20 PM in the technology office. If you are interested in competing in the Fall eSports season, please make sure you attend! The games being offered in the Fall competition are: Super Smash Brothers Ultimate(1v1, up to 5 teams) and Rocket League(3v3, up to 2 teams).

On Friday, April 29th, the “Golden Hawks” competed at the 2022 Spring NSeSA State Esports Tournament held at York College in York, NE.  Kaden Langford and Sam Hindman played their first match against Wynot, NE Team 1 at 9:00 AM CT.  The competition was fierce with Wynot managing to pull just ahead of the Hawks in 3 of the 5 games needed to win the match.  Many of the coaches and organizers of the event said that the games were some of the closest they had seen.  Kaden and Sam said they had no regrets and felt that they played extremely well.  The next match the Hawks played was to determine who the 3rd place winners would be.  As fate would have it, they played a second Wynot team(Team 2) and ended up beating them quite soundly thus securing a 3rd place win!  It is rather unfortunate the way the bracket turned out that the Hawks were unable to compete against the team who finished in 2nd place(SEM Team 1).  As our substitute player, Jett Rasmussen, said, “I think we could have come away with the 2nd place medals had we been given a chance to play them.”  In any case, we were very pleased with our performance with this being our first trip to state competitions and “there’s always next year!”