Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Sheffield Area High School eSports team member Drew Morgan (right) crushes his McDowell High School opponent at Smash Brothers while teammates (from left) Liam Smaroff, Owen Cable (not pictured) and Conner Winslow await their matches.

Smashing and demolishing opponents aren’t typically encouraged with varsity programs, but in eSports, they’re the name of the game.

Electronic sports — eSports — is competitive, organized online gaming.

Some members of the Sheffield Area High School eSports team recently missed track practice to compete against students at McDowell High School who were on spring break.

Later, some of those Wolverines competed in a different event against students from Nazareth Area School District in Northampton County.

This spring, they have also competed against teams from Upper Saint Clair and Central Bucks.

The Sheffield eSports team competes at Smash Brothers and Rocket League through the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Esports Association (PIEA).

“These guys have done really well,” Advisor and Coach Chip Hayes said. “We’ve gotten some wins.”

“I think it’s cool that our small school can compete with schools that are much bigger,” Conner Winslow said.

The team has been getting together once a week after school to practice. “In October, we started playing for the fun of it,” Hayes said.

Some of the students were already playing some of the games at home.

The venue at Sheffield has two big screens and multiple gaming systems. One of the most important advantages is fast and reliable internet.

“Tech support was a big hurdle,” Hayes said. But he credited the district with working with the program to allow privileges that are not typically available at school.

The school district set up its season for the spring — eSports is not restricted to one season or another.

Their seasons are now winding down.

Five team members compete at Smash Brothers once a week. Monday, April 3, was their seventh-match in the eight-week season.

On Monday, Drew Morgan defeated his McDowell opponent four times out of five. Unfortunately, he was the only member of the team to score even one win in a 4-to-21 loss.

The three players on the Rocket League team finished six regular season matches last week. “We made the playoffs,” Hayes said.

The 11th-ranked Wolverines faced off against the 6th-seeded Eagles.

The sixth-seeded Eagles defeated the 11th seeded Wolverines 3-to-1 in the best-of-five match.

Liam Smaroff, Owen Cable, and Winslow lost 1-0 in the first, won the second game 4-3 in overtime, lost the third 6-0, and were edged 3-2 in the fourth.

“GG”

Instead of shaking hands after the match, the team passed on a short-hand “Good Game” to its opponent from across the state.

Hayes said the trash-talking that can be seen when the players are practicing amongst themselves is not present in most of the interscholastic events.

“Teams have been gracious in winning and losing,” Hayes said.

PIEA generally arranges matchups between schools and lets the teams handle the details.

That flexibility allows busy students to participate.

“For the playoff tonight, they said they could only play at a certain time,” Cable said. “We said, ‘Ok,’ and were able to coordinate.”

Cable and Winslow missed track practice for Monday’s Smash Brothers match after school. Smaroff left early for a trap event. Some members work on top of that.

“These guys don’t stop,” Hayes said.

“We have yet to forfeit,” he said. “Sometimes, the best ability is dependability.”

He applied the same saying to Winslow’s participation on the Rocket League team. While he is not the strongest player and had only logged 12 hours of game time as of Monday, he shows up every time.

“It gets me out of the house,” Winslow said. “And it lets me play games I can’t play at home.”

“It’s also nice being around people that I know and like,” he said.

“It’s fun,” Cable said.

The eSports team was formed a few years ago. “We were just getting heated up when COVID hit,” Hayes said.

COVID actually proved to be a boon for the eSports movement, as young people were forced to stay home and found eSports to be a way to socialize, interact, and compete.

It has taken some time to return, but eSports is now a varsity program. “These guys will letter,” Hayes said. “The requirement is to play 80 percent of available matches in either Rocket League or Smash Brothers.”

“Win or lose, it’s about participating. It’s been positive,” he said. “The credit goes to these guys.”