Before a crowd of more than 50 people watching inside College Hall on Blue Bell Campus, the Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) Mustangs eSports Rocket League team capped an undefeated season with a win in the online National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association Esports (NJCAAE) championship.

The 4-3 victory earlier last month was over the Wolfpack of Madison Community College, from Madison, Wisconsin.   

Additionally, the Mustangs Overwatch team placed second in its national final in a 3-2 loss to the Tigers of Marshalltown Community College, from Marshalltown, Iowa, Wednesday, Dec. 6. The Overwatch team went undefeated during the regular season. 

MCCC Director of Athletics and Campus Recreation Kelly Dunbar congratulated both teams on their success.  

“I’m really proud of the athletes,” she said. “Being a student-athlete is tough between balancing academics and competition. Both teams did a tremendous job this season.”  

The Mustangs eSports program is the Athletics’ eighth collegiate sport and its first all-gender team. The Mustangs eSports team members compete against colleges nationally as part of the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE), which is composed of more than 170 member schools with more than 5,000 student-athletes.

The Mustangs also compete as part of the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports (NJCAAE), composed of more than 60 two-year colleges from across the country. 

The esports program began at MCCC in the spring of 2020 and has grown from 13 student-athletes playing Rocket League, to the program now offering six video games titles including Valorant, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and 85 student-athletes currently listed on the Mustangs eSports roster.  

Rocket League student-athletes Joe Romano, of Blue Bell, Anthony Bodenstein, of Norristown, and Ethan Peyton, of North Wales, called winning the national title surreal. 

“I keep expecting it to hit me, but it doesn’t feel real,” said Romano, a 2022 Wissahickon High School graduate. 

“It feels amazing, said Bodenstein, who graduated from Emmaus High School in 2023. “It feels great.” 

“It feels really good,” said Peyton, a 2022 North Penn High School graduate. “We definitely trained and practiced hard. We were ready for anything. We were flawless in the league’s regular season, and in the playoffs, we came ready to win.” 

For more information about Mustang Athletics and the Mustang eSports team visit the Mustang Athletics website.

More about Montgomery County Community College eSports.