Virtual success Aubrey Esports teams place in Top 10 at state
The competitive gaming season reached its final phase with the Aubery Chaparrals’ Esports team competing at the 2025 Texas Scholastic Esports Federation’s Undisputed State Championship Tournament hosted at Baylor University on May 1-3.
The Chaps’ 14-member team competed at the Mark & Paula Hurd Welcome Center along with nearly 1,400 middle and high school students from across the state and left with multiple Top 10 finishes.
“We had a fantastic spring season,” Aubrey Esports sponsor Paul Burrow said. “… Every week after school, they were getting together, practicing, playing all the games and working out strategies to get to the next level. It seemed like every afternoon they were playing a different game and working on their craft.”
The Chaps’ Splatoon 3 squad of Elias Kane, Ella Guerra, Jacob Owens and Gavin Jones headlined Aubrey’s competitors, winning silver.
“Ella and I were already somewhat experienced with the game, but we had two brand new players joining our team, so we really had to figure out how to play as a team from the ground up,” Kane said. “We had four or five months before the state tournament, [but] we managed to come together to get second at Undisputed.”
One of the team’s newest members, Guerra, who is a sophomore, emphasized how much she enjoyed the experience.
“I was able to make a lot of friends and show how good I am at the game, and because of that I was able to help my team with positioning and getting picks,” she said.
The Chaps’ Overwatch 2 team—Luke Odell, Logan Goff, Alex Terry, Jack Duncan, Nathaniel Babalola, Jayden Rosado and Mykih Pierce—also did well in the Overwatch 2 tournament, finishing third and winning a bronze medal.
Much like Splatoon, Overwatch is a multiplayer game that relies heavily on teamwork, and Odell said that was the part he enjoyed the most this season.
“Our communication was what I enjoyed the most—us building this bond from the halfway point of the season to now,” he said. “We were able to communicate and do what we designed our [game plan] to do at such a high level compared to the 32 other teams that made it.”
On the individual side of the event, Kane and Savion Still competed in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament, with Still defeating Kane in head-to-head play on his way to a ninthplace finish.
Still, who is a senior, said he’s pleased with the growth he saw from the Chaps’ Esports program during his time with the team.
“Honestly, I knew it would get this far,” he said. “I just knew that there was a lot of potential when I first came here, and I'm really happy that I got to see it happen, and I also got to be a mascot of one of my favorite games.”
Still and Kane were also invited to participate in an interstate matchup between Texas and Oklahoma, where the best Super Smash Bros. players from each state will face off Friday at the DreamHack Tournament hosted at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention in Dallas.
