Esports 3/20/2026 12:14:00 PM

Blinn esports enjoys perfect night of play with three wins in Call of Duty and Valorant

Up next for both teams will be the CCL and NJCAAe playoffs

Esports 3/20/2026 12:14:00 PM

Blinn esports enjoys perfect night of play with three wins in Call of Duty and Valorant

Up next for both teams will be the CCL and NJCAAe playoffs

The Blinn College esports program turned in a perfect night of competition Thursday, earning three victories across Call of Duty and Valorant play.

CALL OF DUTY
The Buccaneers opened the evening with a 3-1 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State University in a best-of-five Collegiate Call of Duty League (CCL) matchup.

Blinn's lineup of Jaden Navarro, Aariz Ali, Semaj Howard, and Daniel Gonzalez secured the win to even the team's record at 5-5 in the West Sun Belt Conference.

Thursday's matchup pitted the four Bucs against the Bulldogs, 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 six rounds claims victory.
Overload: Teams placed on separate areas on a map compete to capture an Overload Device and transport it to one of two detonation zones on the opposing team's area. The match ends when either team scores eight points.

Blinn fell behind early after dropping the opening Hardpoint map 250-208 despite building a quick 40-3 lead. Southwestern Oklahoma State capitalized on mid-map mistakes and controlled key capture points to close out the opener.

The Buccaneers quickly regrouped. Gonzalez sparked a dominant performance in map two with a decisive flank that resulted in three eliminations, helping Blinn cruise to a 6-1 Search and Destroy victory.

Blinn maintained control in the Overload round, turning back an early Bulldog score to take a 4-1 halftime advantage before securing a 5-2 win. The Bucs closed out the match on Den Hardpoint, overcoming a brief deficit before Ali led a strong second rotation of capture points to seal a 250-183 victory.

"I'm really happy with how we responded after losing map one," Blinn assistant coach and Call of Duty coach Ryan Lucich said. "This was an important match that helped us move up another spot in the standings."

Blinn carried its momentum into a 3-0 sweep of the University of New Mexico to conclude its CCL regular season. Navarro, Ali, Howard, and Gonzalez again competed for the Buccaneers, pushing the team's record to 6-5.

The Bucs opened with a dominant 250-49 Hardpoint win (Scar) as Howard logged extensive control time at key capture points. Blinn followed with a swift 6-0 victory in Search and Destroy (Scar) before wrapping up the series with an 8-1 Overload triumph (Scar) behind strong scoreboard performances from Ali and Navarro.

"I'm happy with the way we closed out our regular season and look forward to taking that momentum into the playoffs," Lucich added.

VALORANT
Blinn's Valorant squad also earned a key victory, defeating Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College 2-1 in a best-of-three NJCAA Esports (NJCAAe) match.

Ilies Dolliazal, Milad Khorsandi, Tyler Hartman, Samuel Long, and Brian Yang competed for the Buccaneers, who improved to 5-2 in NJCAAe play.

Valorant is a tactical, team-based, first-person shooter set in a near-future world. Teams of five players choose unique agents with distinct abilities, combining shooting skills with strategic use of each agent's toolkit. Teams alternate between attacking and defending. Attackers aim to plant a spike at one of the designated sites, while defenders try to prevent this or defuse the spike if planted. The first team to win 13 rounds claims victory. If both teams reach a tie at 12-12, overtime is triggered, and the match continues until one team wins by two rounds, with teams alternating between attacking and defending in each overtime round.

Facing a team that eliminated Blinn from the playoffs last season, the Buccaneers opened the series with a strong 13-6 win on Pearl. Daley said the team controlled the pace from the outset as Dolliazal directed the action while Long and Hayden Rubino delivered early eliminations to help Blinn consistently secure sites.

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M responded in a tightly contested second map on Split. The teams traded rounds throughout regulation before the Norsemen edged Blinn 16-14 in overtime despite several clutch defensive stands and key late-round plays from the Buccaneers.

Blinn regrouped in the deciding map on Lotus, showing resilience after the narrow loss. Long delivered what Daley described as a momentum-shifting ace clutch that energized the team, while Yang and Rubino continued to win critical fights and Khorsandi's utility helped stabilize chaotic rounds. The Bucs closed out a 13-10 victory to clinch the series.

"This was one of the biggest matches of our season," Blinn assistant coach and Valorant coach Patrick Daley said. "The communication, resilience, and energy were exactly what we've been building toward. Beating one of the top teams in NJCAAe — especially one that ended our season last year — made this a statement win."

Times, dates, and matchups for the NJCAAe Valorant tournament have yet to be determined.

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