Coaches Message

WCMS Esports Coaches

Coach Megan spent the first 11 years of her educational career as the librarian at Wartburg Central Middle School. This is her second year as an MCCTC Career Coach and Work-Based Learning Coordinator. Her focus is career awareness and exploration for middle schoolers, but she also helps with high school data tracking, academic planning, and building industry partnerships. Her goal is to make students aware of the many opportunities available to them in both high school and beyond. She will always do what she can to help them succeed and meet their goals. Coach Megan and her husband, Roger, are also the coaches of the district's first-ever esports team. Their Central Middle School esports team will be starting its second season this year after a successful, championship-winning first year.

Coach Roger Liles - [email protected]

Coach Roger is the Student Information System (SIS) Administrator and Computer Technician for Morgan County Schools.

Get Your Game On! Esports Comes to Morgan County Schools

Esports, short for electronic sports, is a team sport in the form of competition via video games that is taking the world by storm and is rapidly growing in K-12 education. Students are exposed to numerous strategic, situational, and skill-building benefits such as game theory, problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, gathering and analyzing data, team building, and constant hands-on exposure to computers, networks, and technology.

At the beginning of the school year, Wartburg Central Middle School formed the school and district’s first-ever Esports team. Esports gives students who might not be a traditional athlete an opportunity to be a part of a team and compete in something that interests them. For the entire school year, the Bulldogs practiced and competed in the Middle School Esports League.

The WCMS Esports team had an amazing first season, known as the Fall Major. During the Fall Major, the Bulldogs competed against schools from all across the country and Canada in a game called Rocket League. Students played in both 2v2 and 3v3 matches and in their first season made it to the playoffs for both games.

Out of over 200 teams, the Bulldogs made it to round two of the 3v3 playoffs and the Quarterfinals for 2v2 where they finished as one of the top 8 teams. With an amazing Fall Major, the team was excited to try some new games during the league’s Winter Warmup as they prepared for the Spring Major, hoping to make it even further in those playoffs.

During the Spring Major, we added Brawlhalla to our lineup and players competed in 1v1 competition. 418 players were competing and every Bulldog ended the regular season in the top 112. We had two players competing in the Atlantic Gold Bracket Playoffs and three competing in the Atlantic Champ Bracket Playoffs. Our top-ranking player ended the regular season in 24th place and made it to Round Three of the Atlantic Champ Bracket Playoffs which made him one of the top 16 players in the Atlantic Region.

In Rocket League 3v3, we had two team rosters compete and finish the regular season in the top 34 out of 89 team rosters. Our top team roster, ranked 11th in the regular season, advanced to the Champ Bracket Playoffs and ended the season in the Quarterfinals, which made them one of the top 8 team rosters across the United States.

In Rocket League 2v2, we had three team rosters and finished the regular season in the top 160 out of 331. We had two rosters advance to the Atlantic Gold Bracket Playoffs. Our top team roster battled and won 1st place making them the top team in the Atlantic Gold Bracket.

Coaches Megan and Roger Liles are very proud of their players and can not wait to see what next school year brings for their team. They would also like to thank the Highland Connection for sponsoring the team this year by providing team jerseys and some much-needed gaming equipment.