The Keene State Esports team rounded out its 2025/2026 season strongly. Highlights included a national championship in the PlayVS College League (PCL), a charity livestream and a solid showing in the playoffs.
Esports saw four of its five teams reach the playoffs: Valorant, Rocket League Varsity, Overwatch and Super Smash Bros. While Overwatch, Super Smash Bros. and Rocket League Varsity fell in the quarterfinals, Valorant made it to the bronze medal match before falling to the College of New Jersey.
Following the conclusion of the spring season, Head Coach Noah Drouin said he felt that the team was successful.
“We had four of five teams make it to the playoffs, and one reached as far as the top four in their division,” Drouin said. “I measure success in our program in a lot of different ways, but of course one of our primary objectives is team success. It’s on par for what our programs expect from one another. In the last two school years, we’ve only had one or two teams miss a playoff bracket.”
A major highlight of the season was the Valorant team winning the PCL Ranked 6 national championship over Redlands College. The Owls swept Redlands 2-0 to bring home their second national-level trophy, following an Overwatch national championship in 2024. Drouin spoke highly of the accomplishment. “That was definitely our biggest individual team achievement the entire school year, let alone [in the fall season],” Drouin said.
First-year Valorant player Gavin Pierce said it felt good to win the championship.
“It felt really good to win the championship. There’s a video on Instagram of us winning it, and you can see me pick up my teammate over my shoulder and spin him around like a helicopter,” Pierce said. “It was something we were really working for and it was something that we were really excited for. That last game took a lot out of us, so the fact that we were able to get there and win meant a lot to us.” Pierce scored a double kill in the second game of the championship to contribute to the victory.
Another highlight mentioned was the esports charity livestream. As previously reported by The Equinox, the Owls raised over $500 for the charity Extra Life, a gaming-based fundraiser for children’s hospitals. As part of the 14-hour livestream, Pierce did over 200 pushups and part of the team sang karaoke. Drouin commented that his goal is to do more public-facing charity work through the Owls esports team.
“I had a large amount of students on my roster that hosted segments of a live stream. We raised a lot of money doing it, [and] they had a great time. The public reaction was very positive, so I want to continue to use the platform that we have to do more good for the community,” he said.
First-year Overwatch player Emily Percy said the highlight of her season was making it to the quarterfinals in the spring.
“I would say getting to the quarterfinals stood out to me. We didn’t make it past that, but considering that we didn’t make it [last semester], it was really exciting even being there. The stakes were higher, everybody was really high energy, everybody was really excited,” said Percy.
Drouin said he feels strong going into the fall semester and the future of the program, with a skilled recruitment class coming in and another team being thrown into the mix. “This is a pretty competitive recruitment class [for us],” Drouin said. “Because of that, for lack of a better term, I’m scaling the program. We’re retaining the same five programs we have now, but starting in fall 2026, we’re going to have an academy Smash Bros. team. We’re basically adding a second Smash team because recruitment [for that program] has been so competitive. Other than that, the goal is to keep business as usual.”
Drouin continued, saying, “We have a great foundation, I think. I think my coaching staff is extremely good at what they do. I have no doubt that these students are going to continue to perform well and continue to grow.”
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