Colton, CA—Week 7 of the PlayVS league proved to be a challenging one for Colton’s 25th ranked eSports team. This week, they faced off against number 24 Paraclete High School from Lancaster, and went home with a loss, 2-1.

This drops their record to 3-3 on the season with one more game to play before playoffs. With this defeat, the team dropped to number 36 in the league.

“As long as we’re in the top 64, we’re going to the playoffs,” said head coach Alexandra Buskirk. PlayVS has 150 teams currently involved in this season.

This week’s match against Paraclete High featured starters Benjamin Velarde, Samuel Duran, and Lucas Duran. Colton played as the “away” team for the match, requiring Paraclete’s team to set up the arena for virtual game play in Nintendo’s “Super Smash Brothers.”

After joining the arena, the Yellowjackets got ready to face what they didn’t expect would become one of their more formidable opponents this season.

The charge was led by Benjamin Velarde and his Little Mac. In his match, he fought against . . . himself. His opponent also selected Little Mac, making this a “ditto match.” The battle was a confusing one since both players used the same exact skin.

Velarde saw past the confusion, beating his opponent using his KO punch while only losing one life to go up 1-0 in their best-of-three series.

After seeing that they were outmatched with Little Mac, the opponent changed to Ness from “Earthbound” to gain an edge with the character’s vast amount of projectiles. Velarde, however, was unaffected by this, keeping the pressure on and taking another win and the series.

“I thought he was gonna get me, but not really, since I’m too good,” said Velarde.

With the momentum from Velarde’s victory, Samuel Duran kicked off the second match with his main Dark Pit against the opponent’s Mii Gunner from “Smash Brothers.” The battle began, but technical issues became immediately apparent, so the arena had to be reset. 

After the reset, the battle resumed, but Duran’s signature defensive and calculating gameplay wasn’t working. He lost the first game, his enemy barely losing a single life.

Duran realized that the opponent wasn’t killing him off the arena stage, making him believe it was a safe bet to play as a Mii Brawler. Despite the adjustment, the second game went the same, with Duran’s opponent losing only one life. This brought the match score to 1-1 between the teams.

This brought up Lucas Duran to fight for the victory. Duran chose the “Super Mario” character Yoshi to fight against Terry from “Fatal Fury.” At first, the opponents traded blows. Terry achieved his “GO meter,” and Yoshi threw eggs to keep his distance. 

Duran struggled to kill the heavy Terry, who kept fighting with all his lives while facing 208% in damages. One final “Buster Wolf” move by Terry and Duran dropped the first match.

Trying to make the right adjustments for the next game in their best-of-three, Duran switched gears and selected Isabelle from “Animal Crossing,” hoping to keep his distance by using projectiles, traps, and many attacks with lots of range against the close ranged fighter Terry. 

The plan worked enough to take a single life from Terry, but it wasn’t enough and Duran lost the game and the match.

“Icarus moment,” Samuel Duran said after the match. “Despite this loss, our team hasn’t lost their spirit.”

The Yellowjackets’ eSports squad has high hopes for their final game before their rank gets solidified, which will determine whether or not they get to advance to the playoffs.