If anyone thought it was a fluke, they now have a definitive answer.
Kaden Crockett IS a worthy grand champion…again.
The Madison College Esports freshman followed up his remarkable run to a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate grand championship in the
Fall 2020 semester with a successful defense of his title. On Sunday, Crockett won a 4-2 match over Jackson F. of Ocean County College (NJ) to become a repeat grand champion in the Spring 2021 semester.
(Watch video above in story image for reaction from Kaden Crockett and coach Joe Hanson)
Crockett, a Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, native, was part of an impressive team of SSBU players in WolfPack uniforms. Five players represented Madison College in the field of 64, and would combine to 11-4 in their postseason matches.
After all, but
Mark Wiersma moved on to the second round, the WolfPack lost two more as Thomas Llamas and
Mario Rea-Garcia succumbed to their competition. For the second semester in a row,
Kaden Crockett and long-time friend and teammate
Baxter Beckwith were left standing.
Unfortunately, the tandem from Monona Grove HS was on a collision course, and after each won their third-round matches, Crockett and Beckwith found themselves preparing for Frenemies 2.0. A semifinal showdown in the fall went in favor of Crockett, and proved to be his toughest challenge en route to the national title. This time the meeting came in the quarterfinals, but it again lived up to the hype with Crockett winning in seven games. Beckwith finished the semester 10-2, and tallied a 20-3 record for the academic year.
The drama did not end there for Crockett, who also went the full seven games against Derek M. from Mott Community College (MI) in the semifinals. The decisive seventh game was a true nail-biter, and set the stage for the championship match. The defending champ dropped the first two games, placing himself in an early hole and some-what unfamiliar territory. He responded with victories in games three and four to even the score.
"Game 5 is where the adrenaline must have kicked in because Kaden floored it, picking up the pace, and never looking back," boasts Esports head coach Joe Hansoen. "Kaden claimed game 5 to lead the series 3-2 and knew he then was sitting 1 game away from a second consecutive title. In game 6, he truly turned it to "11" and didn't even allow OCC's Jackson F. to damage him before Kaden took the first stock of the match – and had only taken 8% by the time that he had taken the second stock. Kaden won that final game without even losing a single one of the three stocks each player start the game with."
The Spring 2021 semester, the second season of Esports at Madison College after it debuted in the fall, featured 21 players representing the WolfPack across four game titles. Teams competing in Overwatch, Rocket League, and Call of Duty: Cold War enjoyed various levels of success, and narrowly missed their respective postseasons.
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