Waynesburg, Pa. (May 9) - For the first time since 1966, the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets are national champions. The esports Overwatch team won the NECC Division IX national championship beating East Central University 4-1.

Waynesburg entered the national tournament as the #2 seed. The Jackets defeated Saint Vincent College (#7) 3-0 in the quarterfinals. They went on to beat Oklahoma City University (#6) 3-1 in the semifinals. The #5 seed, East Central University awaited Waynesburg in the finals. East Central managed to defeat Morningside (#1) in a confident fashion, so the Jackets knew they had their work cut out for them. Losing map 1 in the best of seven series made for a difficult start, but the team rallied together and secured a close map two, tying the series 1-1. The Jackets used the momentum to win the next two maps, and with an overtime win on King's Row in the fifth map they secured the national championship trophy, beating East Central 4-1. Several team records were broken during the match.  Senior Jacob Parks recorded 165 eliminations; senior Ryan Sullivan tallied 62,000 healing, and junior Felicia Duffy had a record 140 assists. Freshman Jordan Parkins and Freshman Jackson Medvec combined for 243 eliminations and had numerous clutch ultimates across the 5-map series.

This national championship marks the first time since 1966 that the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets have won a national title.  The Waynesburg football team beat Wisconsic-Whitewater in the NAIA national championship game 42-21 when the two met in Tulsa, Ok.  The win comes as the esports program completes only its third full year as an athletic program on the Waynesburg campus.  In addition to the national championship, the Overwatch team also won the NECC Division IX East conference title.  The team will look to start their national title defense in September when the fall esports season kicks off.

However, the esports team's season is not quite finished.  The Rocket League team is also scheduled to play in their national championship match on Monday, May 12.  They will take on Tarleton State University for the NECC Division V national title.  That game will start at 8:00pm and will be streamed live at twitch.tv/theesportcompany.