Fuel for the Fire: Harrisburg vs Maryville
With the HUE 2020 upon us, the perceived rivalry between two of the top esports schools is heating up. Harrisburg and Maryville Universities both have amazing programs filled with talent. And at HUE they’ll hope to meet in both Overwatch and League of Legends. The teams have both won championships in the last year and look to start 20/21 with the same fervor. With that said, we asked both schools how they felt about the other and if this could be the first true collegiate esport rivalry. Harrisburg vs Maryville.
Tespa Champs, HUStorm
Harrisburg University is hosting the HUE 2020 event and has one of the top Overwatch teams in the land. They’ve performed consistently well over the spring and summer and made it to the TESPA OW Finals. With their new former pros Elijah Hudson “Elk” Gallagher and coach Joe “Joemeister” Gramano, they ended up dominating Maryville 3-0. Even though they came away with a convincing win when asked Harrisburg’s Director of Esports, Chad Smeltz if he felt there was animus between the teams.
[…] in terms of seeing them as rivals, I would say, yeah. I’m good friends with Dan Clark or Clarkie, who is the director of their program. And we’ll call you know, we **** talk to each other all the time.
But then we’ll also go back and talk a lot about collegiate and about like furthering our programs and furthering the entire scene as a whole and things that are very holistic in that sense. And so I think it’s a really cool rivalry to have because, one, obviously it’s very competitive. And so I and the players, the players love going at each other. Obviously, it’s so much fun to see them be like ultra-competitive. And we both encourage that.
Harrisburg University’s Director of Esports, Chad Smeltz, on Maryville rivalry
By winning the TESPA tournament, Harrisburg is the best college Overwatch team in North America. Something that surely doesn’t sit well with Maryville’s squad.
A League of Their Own
On the other hand, there hasn’t been a college team more dominant that Maryville. In League of Legends that is. In the official Riot Games-sponsored event, MU’s won it three times in four years. We talked to Aiden “Niles” Tidwell, top laner for Maryville’s League team, and here’s what he had to say about Harrisburg’s squad.
I think that [with] Harrisburg I don’t know what’s going on with the rosters. We scrimed them a little bit. It seems like some of the players I respect and like are not all on the same team. So I think that the rosters that they’re doing are not competitive at all towards us. Yeah, I wouldn’t even consider them like a second-best team…I think that there are a lot of other teams that we have to worry about besides them.
Maryville’s Starting Top Laner, “Niles” on Harrisburg’s League Roster.
Hopefully we get Harrisburg vs Maryville in both esports over the weekend. So make sure you tune into HUE 2020 on Twitch. For Overwatch, head here. And for League of Legends, go here.