Esports 2/17/2026 9:54:00 AM

Blinn Overwatch, Call of Duty teams come up short

Both teams open their NJCAA Esports seasons this week

Esports 2/17/2026 9:54:00 AM

Blinn Overwatch, Call of Duty teams come up short

Both teams open their NJCAA Esports seasons this week

The Blinn College esports Overwatch and Call of Duty teams came up short in a pair of matches Monday.

Up first Monday was the Buccaneer Overwatch team, which dropped a 3-1 decision to Grand View University in a best-of-five National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) clash.

The team of Joseph Mares, Donnivan Straight, Salvador Castaneda, Robert Vaughan, and Charles Tomlinson competed for the Bucs, who dropped to 2-2 in the NACE West-Central Conference.

Overwatch is a team-based, first-person-shooter in which players select heroes with unique abilities and work together to complete objectives across multiple map modes. Each team can strategically choose its maps based on team strengths and opponent weaknesses.

Each round Monday included a different win condition based on the following modes:

Control: Teams fight to capture and hold a single point. The first team to reach 100% control wins two rounds in a best-of-three format, where the loser of each round picks the next map.
Escort: The attacking team moves a payload to its destination while defenders try to stop them. The payload moves when attackers are near it, and the attackers aim to complete the route before time runs out.
Hybrid: Teams capture a point and then escort a payload. The match is typically one round for attackers, who must secure the point first before moving the payload.
Push: Teams battle to control a robot and push it toward the opponent's side. The first team to push it farther than their opponents wins, with the loser picking the next map.
Flashpoint: Two teams fight to control capture zones that keep moving to new locations on the map once a point has been captured. The goal is to capture each point until one side has captured three zones.

The match was contested in the Control (Nepal map), Flashpoint (New Junk City), Push (Runasapi), and Escort (Shambali Monastery) modes.

Grand View prevailed 2-0 in the Control round and took a 2-0 series lead with a 3-2 triumph in the Flashpoint round.

Blinn avoided a sweep with a victory in Push play. Grand View closed out the series with a 1-0 victory in Escort.

"Overall, this match marked an important step forward for this roster," Blinn head coach and Overwatch coach Kyle Murto said. "We've begun to solidify our team composition, communication continues to improve, and the synergy is steadily building. While the result didn't go our way, this performance showed just how much upside this team has moving forward."

Blinn's Overwatch season continues with its NJCAA Esports opener against San Jacinto College-South at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18.

Finishing out the night of action was the Buccaneer Call of Duty team, which fell to the University of Houston 3-1 in a best-of-five Collegiate Call of Duty (CCL) tilt.

Competing for Blinn was Jaden Navarro, Aariz Ali, Semaj Howard, and Daniel Gonzalez.

The Bucs are now 3-2 in the CCL West Sun Belt Conference.

Monday's matchup pitted the four Bucs against the Cougars, with the teams attempting to collect three wins across three modes of play in the first-person-shooter game:

Hardpoint: Teams secure rotating capture points, earning points for control. A team wins by reaching 250 points first.
Search and Destroy: Teams alternate attacking and defending, with the goal to plant or defuse an objective. The first team to win 6 rounds claims victory.
Overload: Teams placed on separate areas on a map compete to capture an Overload Device, and must transport it to one of two detonation zones on the opposing team's area. The match ends when either team scores eight points.

In the opening Hardpoint round (Exposure map), Houston took a 250-198 win. The Bucs battled back in round two and earned a 6-5 victory in Search and Destroy (Scar). The Cougars went out to finish out the series, however, with a 5-2 win in Overload play (Den) and a 250-130 triumph in the return to Hardpoint (Blackheart).

"We continue to see progress with this team, especially from Semaj and Daniel, as we continue to review and practice," Blinn assistant coach and Call of Duty coach Ryan Lucich said. "Hopefully some of these match results will start to show that progress in the near future."

Blinn opens play in the NJCAAe with a matchup against Lake Area Technical College at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

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Players Mentioned

Joseph Mares: Sophomore; Overwatch

Donnivan Straight: Sophomore; Overwatch

Aariz Ali: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Semaj Howard: Freshman; Call of Duty

Jaden Navarro: Freshman; Call of Duty

Salvador Castaneda: Freshman; Overwatch

Daniel Gonzalez: Freshman; Call of Duty

Charles Tomlinson: Freshman; Overwatch

Players Mentioned

Joseph Mares
: Sophomore; Overwatch

Donnivan Straight
: Sophomore; Overwatch

Aariz Ali
: Sophomore; Call of Duty

Semaj Howard
: Freshman; Call of Duty

Jaden Navarro
: Freshman; Call of Duty

Salvador Castaneda
: Freshman; Overwatch

Daniel Gonzalez
: Freshman; Call of Duty

Charles Tomlinson
: Freshman; Overwatch