Recap – Rocket League Division 1 and 2 Student Champs Grand Finals 2020/21

Bryony-Hope

14 min read | 27 Jul 2021

Last week, we saw our Rocket League finalists battle it out for the Division 1 and 2 trophies at the British Esports Student Champs grand finals.

We look back on the action, and give some of the highlights from the games!

Division 2:
Forth Valley:
Jamzzy
Masxn10
Digi-i

Team.eXe:
eXePression
eXeOsphere
eXetreme37

Game 1:
In the first twenty seconds, Forth Valley made it very clear that they were ready to fight, and Masxn pulled off an early demolition on eXe’s eXePression. Coming straight off the demo, eXePression managed to get a clear shot on goal, but Jamzzy swept in to make an incredible save.

Team eXe then pulled off a very good save between them all, but a quick pass from Jamzzy to Digi-i for Forth Valley was enough to give them their first goal of the series.

Then, eXe managed to get revenge on their opponents by getting a swift demolition on Jamzzy, and kept possession of the ball for a short period. Pressure was on for Exeter, and all three players pulled off incredible saves to prevent conceding another goal for the time being.

Unfortunately, this was not enough to protect the blue teams’ goal, and Forth Valley ended up winning 6-0 – giving them the first point of the series. Game 2:
Under a lot of pressure after losing the first game, Team eXe needed to step up their game, and that is exactly what they did. Although the first goals of this game was scored by Forth Valley eXe’s confidence remained unshaken and they were able to pull off some incredible airborne saves.

eXePression came out from the kick-off after Forth Valley’s third goal, and managed to have great control over the ball to ensure that their teammates could be in the right positions. This paid off and eXetreme37 scored the first goal for Team eXe to put them back on the board.

With just under two minutes remaining, Forth Valley’s Jamzzy was craving another goal, but eXe’s double commit to protect their goal worked in their favour and kept the ball away for a bit longer.

Determined to grab another goal for the team, eXeTreme37 had a very good shot on target, but Masxn prevented that goal at the last second. The relief from Forth Valley’s save was cut short as eXeOsphere came out of nowhere to grab a second goal for Team eXe.

With less than a minute on the clock, Jamzzy managed to get another swift goal from kick-off, putting Forth Valley at a 4-2 advantage. However, eXePression made an appearance to keep eXe from being counted out, scoring a third goal for the team.

The ending was very tight, with both sides upping their game – eXe became very offensive on the ball to try get another point on the board, but the defence from Forth Valley secured them a second series point. Game 3:
This match started out stronger than the others, with both sides being incredibly offensive from kick-off to try and get goals scored. A fast demolition came out from eXeOsphere on Masxn which gave eXe an advantage, but they were unable to follow that through.

The pressure was on for both teams and there were a lot more shots on goal and saves than seen in the last two games. Another incredible demo play came out around a minute and a half into the match from Digi-i; leaving the eXe net wide open for a Forth Valley goal.

Not long after this, Forth Valley were able to draw eXe away from their post and give Jamzzy a clear space to score yet another goal for the team.

Forth Valley’s two goals in about 15 seconds put a lot of pressure on Team eXe, and their strong formation began to break. Small mistakes were being made that allowed their opponents to trap them in a corner, and unfortunately eXe struggled to make a comeback from this.

Although there were several amazing saves from both sides in this game, Forth Valley once again maintained a five-goal lead to secure themselves another point in this series. Game 4:
The stakes were even higher in this game, as it was match-point for Forth Valley already earning 3 points in the series so far.

From kick-off, eXe managed to push forward and remain in orange territory to put pressure on Forth Valley. However, Digi-i was having none of it, and went straight in for a double demo on eXeOsphere and eXePression to open up the field.

Even though this was not the start they were hoping for, Team eXe utilised their aerial positions to fake, and give eXetreme37 room to score. Forth Valley came straight off of conceding this goal to force eXe into their back corner, giving room for Jamzzy to close down eXeTreme37 very quickly.

Digi-i used his teammates as a distraction to fly straight in and even out the score, putting Forth Valley neck and neck with Team eXe. This changed fast when Forth Valley actually had a double commit on their own goal, which meant that eXeTreme37 used this to score once again.

This particular game was very back and forth between both sides, but eXe started to break formation once again and let some goals slip by them. Jamzzy was able to finish off yet another hattrick in this series and bring the score up for Forth Valley.

The last minute of the match was incredibly tense for both sides, especially with Team eXe consistently going for the equaliser point to keep them in the fight. Forth Valley were able to fend off some incoming shots on target from eXe, but Masxn pulled out a clutch goal at the very last second making the final score 4-2.

This game win meant that Forth Valley took home the Division 2 Rocket League trophy!

DIVISION 1:
AGSB:
FourkeS
Nxc
Sxm

Luxinate:
Sushi
Awesomes64
Tommy

Game 1:
The first match started out incredibly strong for both sides, and Tommy from Luxinate managed to pull off a very quick demolition on FourkeS to put further pressure on AGSB. However, the pressure quickly switched to being on Lux, as nxc had an incredible shot on goal early on.

Luxinate were able to gain back possession of the ball, whilst AwesomeS64 took out nxc with a smooth demo midfield. AGSB wanted to make themselves even, and FourkeS took out Tommy to ensure that pressure stayed on throughout the match.

As the score remained 0-0 after 5 minutes, this was the first match of the finals to go to overtime. Sushi unfortunately made a position mistake in this overtime period, and gave space for SXM to score the first goal of the series for AGSB. This goal gave them the first point in this best-of-seven!
Game 2:
Only seconds into the second game, we saw that tensions were very high between both teams – with a lot of offensive plays from the get-go. AGSB took their time trying to be aggressive from kick-off, and that gave Tommy the perfect space to score Luxinate’s first goal.

With Luxinate having scored, AGSB stepped up their defence to try and get back on the board. This worked very well, and allowed NXC to pull off some good saves, as well as SXM scoring another goal for AGSB. It was clear from the get-go that both teams had adapted their strategies to ensure they outperformed their opponents. 

However, this game was pulled back by Tommy getting a hattrick for Luxinate, giving them a 4-1 lead. With just 7 seconds remaining, SXM scored once more for AGSB, but this wasn’t enough for them to catch up; giving Luxinate their first point of the series.
Game 3:
This third game started out very strong for Luxinate, as AwesomeS64 managed to gain possession of the ball and hit a very solid shot on goal. The ball hit the backboard and SXM opened up the game for AGSB by demoing Tommy.

FourkeS followed up SXM’s offensive play by taking out the other two members of the Luxinate team (AwesomeS64 and Sushi) and giving AGSB the advantage. Shortly after this, SXM made full use of breaking the Luxinate formation and managed to score another goal.

Regaining strength, Tommy, Sushi and AwesomeS64 from Luxinate set out to protect their goal, and managed to get some incredible saves in the process. But it was not long again until SXM snuck through and scored yet again. This secured AGSB their second point for the series so far.Game 4:
Straight from kick-off, Luxinate were ready to fight and get another point on the board; Sushi came straight in and got a demo on NXC before sending the ball straight into the goal.

Four seconds later, NXC got revenge on Luxinate, and scored insanely fast to put AGSB back in the fight. AwesomeS64 ended up becoming more defensive in their plays, and pulled off some great saves to fend off AGSB, but this luck didn’t last long as NXC brought the score up to 2-1.

All of the demo plays came out in the last 20 seconds of the game, with picks from FourkeS on Sushi, and then Tommy on FourkeS. However, these were not enough to delay the AGSB win for game 4, giving them three series points. 
Game 5:
Luxinate needed to step up their game coming into this game, as AGSB were only 1 series point away from victory. This is exactly what they did, and were able to fight back to keep them in the running for the win.

Both sides played very defensively for the majority of the match, which was different to what they had been doing thus far. About halfway through, Luxinate decided to change their tactic to be more offensive, and AwesomeS64 was able to score with ease.

Once their goal was secured, Luxinate went back to the defensive strategy to ensure that they kept possession of the ball and did not concede any goals. This was really beneficial for them, and they managed to fend off AGSB to make the overall score 2-3. 
Game 6:
Once more, tensions were running high for both teams as Luxinate were slowly catching up with leaders AGSB. Sushi came out strong with a fast demo on SXM, and made space for Luxinate to take a shot. Unfortunately the AGSB defence was very strong, and they were able to keep the ball away from their goal.

Everyone on the Luxinate side was consistently bringing out the demo’s this game to tackle their biggest contenders, but it just wasn’t enough to keep AGSB from coming back stronger. NXC and SXM both managed to score early goals to put them ahead, but the fight was not over just yet.

Tommy pulled off a clutch goal to bring Luxinate back into the game, however AGSB were not happy with that and sent SXM to score in retaliation.

This was the final turning point, and AGSB left Luxinate in the dust with their 3-1 win in this game to take the Division 1 trophy!Congratulations to our division winners, finalists and everyone that took part in the Champs this year!

You can watch the full games and highlights over on our YouTube Channel, and see what else happened at the 2020/21 Grand finals below.

“We completely didn’t expect it, and we had no idea they’d all be rooting for us! It was a really good atmosphere and it was really good to play.”
Jamzzy, Forth Valley Gamers 

“I’m a bit speechless at the moment, we just got off the stage and emotions are running high obviously – but it feels great to finally get the win!”
FourkeS, AGSB Esports