With a state championship in 2024, the Prep’s eSports team looks to go back to back in Fortnite.
A big change has been made, with the two vs. two box fights being replaced with a four player squad battle royale. This, however, has proved to be no challenge for the former state champs.
Junior Andres Vasquez-Brito speaks on his and his team’s first few matches leading up to state.
“[We] wiped 70, 80% of the lobby, I’d say something like that,” Andres Vasquez-Brito said.
Vasquez-Brito is arguably the best Fortnite player in the state and has qualified for the Fortnite Champion Series, the largest Fortnite tournament in the world. Vasquez-Brito’s skill is matched with his quiet confidence. He knows his team is going to play well.
“I don’t think there is any [competition], really,” Vasquez-Brito said. “I don’t remember any schools or anybody by name that would hit me once.”
Junior Anthony Cann says that the team’s practices are the competitions leading up to the state championships.
“The practice this season, I guess you could call it, [is] the games leading up to the state games,” Cann said.
The games prove to be helpful in their team dynamic as they continue to excel among the other school’s varsity teams. While they don’t know specifically what schools each of the competitors come from, both Cann and Vasquez-Brito don’t seem to mind.
“[In] our most recent game that we played was a practice with 40 people, and we didn’t run into any problems at all,” Cann said.
Freshman Sam Brito is on Prep’s varsity team and talks a little about how he feels leading up to state and the pressure that comes with going back to back.
“Since my brother was on the team last year, I kind of have somewhat high expectations. I don’t feel too much pressure but at the same time I want to win the state,” Brito said.
Sam is the brother of Andres and is the only of the three playing on console. Sam practices at home with his brother often on his PS5. Playing on a controller in a game dominated by the faster reflexes and overall better skills of mouse and keyboard players creates a large disadvantage, but for Sam it’s not on his mind at all.
“I’m pretty good for controller. People get surprised at how good I am for a controller.” Brito said.
Sam watched the state games last year so the new format has changed his mindset and play style quite a bit. He usually likes to play aggressive, but since this is something to take seriously, he recognizes that he has to play more of a team. Sam will be competing in his first ever state championship on March 29th.
“I don’t think we have any [competition], so I don’t think we really need to watch out. But that can’t change our mindset,” Sam Brito said.“We still have to be careful and play strategic.”
