Auburn, ME – It was a brief eruption of cheers that sounded when Mustangs Esports won the final round in their ECAC Division C Valorant Championship match. After all, it was right around midnight with Tuesday night turning into Wednesday morning, and the five-player squad of Kason "MARAUDER" Dalton, Caden "Asylum" Bedney, Lillianna "Beanz" Noel, Owen "Glakknar" Brousseau, and Brayden "Bumble" Hiltz were feeling pretty exhausted following a come-from-behind effort in a match that lasted more than three and a half hours.

The Valorant team won the first title for the Mustangs Esports program after a 3-1 victory over #1 seed St. Clair College. The Saints, based out of Windsor, Ontario in Canada, had not only gone undefeated over the course of the ECAC fall season, they also hadn't lost a single map.

It looked like that might stay the case when they took an early lead at the start of the championship bout playing on "Split" for map one. Down 6-1, the Mustangs used their first timeout of the entire campaign to try and regroup against the best opponent they had faced during the season. It didn't seem to make a difference, as the Saints cruised to the 13-3 victory to go up 1-0 in the best of five.

Moving over to CMCC's choice of "Sunset" for map two, the Mustangs went up 3-2 while starting on offense. However, after a seesaw back-and-forth in the early rounds, St. Clair went up 9-5 and looked to be in pole position to take an overwhelming 2-0 lead, that's when the comeback started.

Central Maine rallied to claim a 10-9 lead and set up a close battle to the finish. CMCC had a chance to close it out while up 12-11, but Asylum's attempt to go one vs. three came up one kill shy, sending the map to a win-by-two overtime. Asylum won a one-on-one duel to make it 13-12, but St. Clair tied things up with a flawless round. The Mustangs again brought it to match point. Bumble then closed it out with a double kill to even the series at 1-1.

"I think it was definitely a little bit of nerves going into the Grand Finals," said Bedney. "We started playing a little scared, but in the second half of the second map we decided to go into it like any other match and tried to swing with the utmost confidence."

Map three moved to "Bind" with both teams looking to settle in having already played two hours. The Saints recovered from their disappointment over not going up by two maps, taking a 5-1 lead on offense. They were up 8-3 just before halftime when CMCC responded again.

The Mustangs stampeded over the defenders, winning five straight rounds to tie it at 8-8. That included an ace from Asylum (killing all five opposing players in the same round without an assist) forcing St. Clair to spend another timeout to try and regroup. It had little effect. Central Maine ran its win streak to eight straight rounds to go up 11-8 before finishing things off for a 13-10 map win and a 2-1 lead in the series. Asylum had a particularly impressive map posting a 28/14/6 Kills-Deaths-Assists ratio and the only Mustangs gamer finishing with more kills than deaths.

Map four gave the #2 seeded Mustangs the chance to clinch the championship with the action switching to "Pearl". St. Clair again won the first round, as they had on every map in the series, but the momentum had definitely shifted.

CMCC went up 5-3 on defense before choosing to use another timeout to think over tactics. The Saints never retook the lead from then on, only getting as close as tying it at 6-6 at halftime. The Mustangs were a force to be reckoned with on offense, showcasing some of their best teamwork of the season and taking a flawless round of their own to lead 8-6. They won seven straight rounds to take the map 13-6 and the match 3-1.

Bumble and Asylum had the honor of securing championship point in a two vs. three situation. Bumble paced the squad for the map with a 24/10/13 while Asylum posted a 22/9/11.

"Being the first team to be champions for Mustangs Esports, it's an amazing feeling," said Bedney. "Andrew recruited me here. I'm from Wisconsin so I made a very long trip. We were always just putting in the time here and it was all worth it in the end."

"We put in at least 12 hours minimum a week in practice time," said Dalton, the team captain. "You can go back and maybe nitpick some moments here and there, but over the course of the season everybody had their moment, everyone had their time to shine. I'm very proud that we've achieved this."

"The Valorant team went through its ups and downs, but showed good resiliency," said Esports Coordinator Andrew Garza. "They showed just how far a team that was thrown together for the first time can go when they have the same mindset and the same goal to work towards."

The Valorant team ends their fall season with a 13-2 overall record, having also reached the C-Val (Collegiate Valorant) semifinals to go along with their ECAC championship.

Watch the entire match here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2323644149

Mustangs Esports is on a quest to win 60 matches this year to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of Central Maine Community College. Valorant's win brings the program's total record to 37-24 at the end of the first semester in the 2024-25 campaign.