AUTHOR: CHRIS "BEARLIGHT" LEE / @BEARLIGHTCASTS
One of the largest things that stands out about Stay Plugged In's Turbo Tuesday is the massive amount of high school Rocket League competitors who come from all regions to get in great practice and elevate their bid for collegiate opportunities and scholarships. Thanks to Stay Plugged In's involvement in the operations and production efforts of the newly formed CMS Varsity Esports and STEM League, Stay Plugged In has now seen an influx of local Charlotte, NC native talent joining their weekly tournaments. Ardrey Kell High School joins in the fun this week, facing off with McHenry Community High of IHSEA and many others. Check out how these two teams matched up with the rest of the pack in this week's breakdown.
BREAKDOWN & RESULTS
After both schools dropped their first match in the Upper side of the bracket, Ardrey Kell would face McHenry Community High for a battle of the high school esports programs to stay alive this week. Having just formed in the past couple of weeks, Ardrey Kell hit the gate looking for experience against more established teams. In this case, they got what they were looking for. The more established team in McHenry was able to win out and advance to the next round with a big (9-1) win and represent the Illinois region well. Excellent effort from Ardrey Kell though, and we can always appreciate the dedication to improvement. We will continue to follow this team as they grow as a program, and wish them luck this season in the CMS Varsity League as well.
Team "reidthesloth", featuring TIDE and RESONAL, joined back up with TEEKAY this week. After a few weeks apart from their third, they didn't miss a beat and were in the picture as always. However, the story developing throughout the night was the ongoing feud between Team "Brr" and "Reverse Peakers". In their Round 1 match in the Upper Bracket, the 3-2 results of the first two games (one in favor of each team) served to foreshadow their continuous neck-and-neck set of series' capable of forming a new Turbo Tuesday rivalry. The deciding Game 3 of their first tilt would fall the way of "Brr" 3-1, but Reverse Peakers would seek their revenge in the Lower Final.
EON of Reverse Peakers (RP) would lead off the Lower Final series with a hat trick against Brr in Game 1, adding 2 assists and 2 saves to set the tone. There was a quick answer from Brr in Game 2, edging out RP 2-1, but it was STRUUDAL coming through in Game 3 for RP with the first two goals of the game. It was enough to put RP back on top (2-1) in the series. Just as EON had started the series, he would leave it with a hat trick in Game 4 to secure RP's revenge match win against Brr. They would have their shot to take down six-time defending champions TIDE and RESONAL in this week's Final.
Unfortunately for RP, they suffered what many before them have. Although their efforts would fall short in the Grand Final against Team "reidthesloth", it has been quite a while since the team's one-game advantage would come in handy. In other words, the Best of 7 would go the distance, thanks to the 6 goals by MAV and 5 by STRUUDAL. Reverse Peakers stuck around and put on some pressure. You could tell it was as nervous as the defending champions have been since their first bracket win of the current streak, all of those weeks ago. Luckily for Team "reidthesloth", RESONAL was dishing out dimes, ending with a bracket-high 1.15 assists per game and earning this weeks MVP honors.
Congratulations to reidthesloth for another Turbo Tuesday title! To challenge their seven-time defending title and compete in the next Turbo Tuesday, you can find registration on our events page.