Success. The St. Louis U. High Marvel Rivals season concluded with a very close rematch against the very strong opponent, Battle High. The team has vastly grown in skill since they first began their season. At the beginning of the season, four out of the six players were bronze and silver rated and had just started getting into the game. The season concluded with those exact players earning platinum or above, with two players who are grand masters.

The Jr. Bills achieved this remarkable feat by practicing with each other during off time and in between practices, allowing them to develop the fundamentals, such as knowing what maps are good for their characters and keeping track of the enemies’ abilities. From the beginning of the season, SLUH’s odds weren’t looking too hot as they were crushed by nearly every opponent, their morale tanking in the process as well. As the season continued, they began to lose players to other commitments such as track and other sports. With only eight players, the Jr. Bills had to hang on to survive, and survive they did. After a couple of weeks, their growth was noticeable as they scrimmed Vianney, a strong team that had previously beaten them in a very close game. The Jr. Bills won 3-0 but each game was very close and could have easily swung the other way with them losing 0-3.

 As the season began, SLUH started strong with wins against Battle High, Parkway Central, Eureka, Hickman, Lafayette, and Webster. The Jr. Bills suffered a tragic but hard fought loss against Lindbergh that put SLUH in a three way tie for first place in the section with Lindbergh and Battle. For the playoffs, SLUH was bizarrely put into a random number generator along with Battle High and Lindbergh to decide what seed they got. SLUH got the first seed with a bye round while Battle and Lindbergh battled it out. The team regrouped and developed a new team composition to try and counter the one played by Battle in the first round. 

SLUH lost the second map as well and addressed some issues, ending up winning the next two maps and tying up the score 2-2, match point. SLUH came in the last round with an unwavering sense of confidence because they felt that Battle messed up the ban phase and let one of their best players play their main. The goal was payload, which is pushing a cart/vehicle as far as possible while the enemy team tries to stop you, with each team switching sides at halftime. The game was extremely hard fought and it came down to the last few meters, but due to a combination of bad ultimate usage and a foiled portal attempt, SLUH lost. 

SLUH’s morale was shot but was raised as head coach Adam Wellen talked about how far they had come and how proud the Jr. Bills should be of themselves. None of SLUH’s starting six players are seniors, so if they keep practicing, they very well could win state next year.
“The team has really shown a lot of dedication during the season,” said A. Wellen. “With all the evening and weekend practices, I am very proud to have coached this team and am very eager for next year.”
“I am very happy with our growth and how we did during the season,” said junior Scott Wikiera. “We kinda got scammed out of playing in the state title matches but that's whatever, we have them next year easily.”
SLUH will be a very strong competitor and has a very real chance at winning the highly coveted state championship so long as they continue to put their nose to the grindstone.