The Aubrey Chaparrals esports team recently completed their season with a second- place finish at the 2026 PlayVS Cup National High School Championship.
The Chaps’ Splatoon 3 team of Logan Goff, Elias Kane, Ella Guerra and Korvin Lampkin entered the event as the 11th seed before earning their spot in the championship match, where they fell to Florida Virtual School 3-1.
“I’m so proud of them,” team sponsor Paul Burrow said. “ … Just going to Nationals as the 11th seed and coming out in second place. There’s only one team that ends their season with a win. This year it wasn’t us, but next year will be.”
In Splatoon the players use a variety of ink-based weapons to cover their environment, which they can use to rapidly traverse the map, hide from enemies, refill ammunition and damage opponents in a medley of game modes.
After a slow start at the beginning of the season, Aubrey’s squad proved to be one of the best teams in their region, finishing the regular season with over 50 wins.
“We dropped one to Abilene in the fall, but since that loss we went on a 50game win streak from then through the entirety of the spring season,” team member Elias Kane said. “We didn’t lose a single match in any of the best of five. People just couldn’t keep up; even some of the teams that had challenged us before, we didn’t lose a single game to them, which was really motivating to us.”
After rolling through the regular season, the Chaps traveled to Waco to compete in the 2026 TexSEF Undisputed Esports State Championship, qualifying in Splatoon 3, Overwatch 2, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
The Splatoon 3 team finished as State runners-up after losing to Science Academy in the championship match but punched their ticket to the 2026 PlayVS Cup National Championship.
The Chaps’ Overwatch 2 team—Goff, Luke Odell, Jacob Owens, Jack Duncan and Kaiden Hill—finished third overall.
The Mario Kart team of Goff, Kane, Odell, Mikaylyn McGlothin and Matthew Wheeler was unable to compete because of player con- flicts.
Kane also represented the Chaps in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, finishing ninth at the event.
The Chaps entered the PlaysVS Cup as the 11th seed but continued to roll through the competition, recording a 9-1 match record on their way to the finals against the defending national champion, Florida Virtual School.
Goff, the squad’s lone senior, highlighted the Chaps’ mental preparation heading into “Going in as level-headed as possible is what gave us the strong start in the match,” he said. “We went into it knowing it was going to be our last match this season, and my last match with the team, and we pushed that all to the back, locked in, and said, ‘We have a game to play.’” Aubrey took the win in the first round of the best of five series, but Florida Virtual School was able to turn the tables on them in Round 2 despite a comeback attempt by the Chaps, evening the series 1-1.
Florida Virtual School went on to defeat Aubrey 3-1, winning the PlayVS Cup National Championship for the second year in a row.
“They had some incredible players on their team; high-level competitive players even outside of high school,” Kane said. “… Even when we were more coordinated, they would get behind us in positions that we had never encountered before, which was really difficult.”
Despite the loss, Aubrey High School principal Dr. Vanessa Zavar had nothing but praise for what the Chaps’ esports team accomplished this season.
“They work really hard, and I’m just super proud of them,” she said. “They spend a lot of time together learning strategies, structure and team dynamics, all these things that help their education, and they’ve proven that you can earn scholarships for college from playing esports.'
She added that the team’s success encouraged the district to add esports as a part of Aubrey High School’s course catalog.
“We’re excited to be able to offer that to our other students, and hopefully we can continue to grow great leaders and game players in our school,” Dr. Zavar said.
The Chaps’ Splatoon 3 team earned a $1,500 scholarship divided between the four students for their PlayVS Cup runner-up finish. Goff also received a scholarship from the University of North Texas as one of the newest members of the Mean Green’s esports team.
“I’ve made a lot of friends here in Aubrey, and this Esports program has grown a lot,” he said. “… That first year, none of our teams were great, but I like to think I helped turn this school into a perennial contender. We got third in Overwatch twice and second in Splatoon twice in a row. We did a lot in these three years, and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made.”
Kane was also elected to the All-Texas Team for his performance in Splatoon 3, and he gave most of the credit for his award to his teammates.
“I’m just really proud of all of us,” he said. “I put in a lot of work, but so did my whole team, and it was just so much fun getting to do something we all love, together.”
