The Encinal High School (EHS) Esports team, Encinal Astros, won the High School Esports League (HSEL) Summer Invitational Overwatch Series last month, making them the best high school Overwatch team in the country.

Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer, first-person shooter video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. In Overwatch, each team needs to complete an objective to win a match. The two objectives are either securing 100 percent control of checkpoints on a map or pushing a cart through various checkpoints while the enemy team tries to stop the team. In the tournament players compete on individual PCs and team together in an Overwatch digital lobby.

The Astros were one of 15 teams to participate in the Summer Invitational. The tournament started with a group stage where the 15 teams were divided into four groups. The Astros were in group one. They went 2-1 in the round-robin group stage. They beat Syosset BraveSports from Syosset High School of Syosset, N.Y., 3-1, and the AESHS Patriots from Adlai E. Stevenson High School of Lincolnshire, Ill., 3-0. Their only defeat was at the hands of Haltom High School of Haltom, Tex., 3-0.  

The top two teams of each group faced off in an eight-team playoff to determine the winner. The Astros won their first match by forfeit after Vandegrift Esports from Vandegrift High School of Austin, Tex., decided to drop out of the tournament on June 25.

The Astros took down AB Esports from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School of Acton, Mass., 3-0, in the semifinal on June 27.

The Astros faced the Haltom team that beat them in the group stage in the final on June 29. The final was played in a best-of-seven format. After being down, 2-1, the Astros rebounded with two objective wins to take a 3-2 lead. Haltom won the sixth game to tie the match at 3-3. The Astros won the final match, a push-the-cart match, to win the tournament, 4-3.

The Summer Invitational was the culmination of an almost year-long tournament with more than 500 participating teams. The tournament started with the winter session. The Astros came in third place.

They advanced to the spring session where they finished in fourth place. Their play in the spring session enabled them to qualify for the Summer Invitational. 

The Astros seven-member team includes Munkhdul Bat-Erdene (gamer tag: “Plat1num”), Thomas Moon (Chromiac), Andrew Moon (“Bluedoo”), Feng Jin (“Tophatsnek”), Nicholas Wong (“MonkaS”), Anthony Anderson (“NerfMe”) and Cameron Hoy (“Camerdude”).

To watch Encinal Astros’ HSEL tournament final victory, visit www.twitch.tv/videos/445519847.