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Splash Smash drop second match of season
Long County E-Sports

LUDOWICI -- The inaugural esports regular season is winding down for the Long County Blue Tide and the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team had a chance to solidify their spot in the playoffs.

Splash Smash took on the Upson-Lee Knights, also entering the game 4-1 and ranked in the top 40 in the state, on Wednesday, March 30 and fought hard, but fell in the contest 4-1.

Freshman Patrick McClennon took to the sticks first and used his main Ludwig to take on Byleth, a long sword magic user from the Fire Emblem franchise.

McClennon found himself in a hole quickly, but started to make a comeback, taking the next two stocks to even the score. Byleth, using her upsmash attack to neutralize Ludwig, was able to take the third stock to win Game 1 1-0.

Byleth opened with a fury of attacks in the opening minute of Game 2, dealing out 123 percent damage on Ludwig and taking the first stock. Byleth got Ludwig’s second stock before taking more than 100 damage and it looked like McClennon was in trouble.
However, he was able to quickly take out Byleth’s first stock and used a fury of ground offense to even the score with one stock left. On Byleth’s third stock, however, Ludwig had 124 damage, just too much to overcome and complete the comeback as McClennon dropped the first set 2-0.

Freshman Ben Stokes took the sticks with his main Steve from Minecraft and took on another Byleth main. It was a close battle, but Steve was able to get the job done, using his lava edge guard technique to pull out the win.

Staying Steve in Game 2, Stokes was faced with an issue as he took on Hero from the DragonQuest franchise. Since he won the first game, he was not able to make the counter pick after seeing his opponent switch.

Hero took the first stock from Steve, only taking 11 damage in the process. A self-destruct evened the score at one apiece and the game was one from there.

Steve continued to use his edge guard technique and continued to mine the field, looking for the ever-elusive diamond. He lost his second stock and eventually took down Hero’s second at 114 damage.

Despite it looking like Stokes would lose the second game, he jumped at the chance to make a comeback against all odds. He slowly worked down Hero and eventually they were even at 130 damage each.

Celebrations exuded from Splash Smash as Steve used his upsmash lava block to get a kill screen. However, Hero was just able to survive and get off one down smash to even the set at one apiece.

Hero was able to use his momentum in Game 3 as Stokes was confident enough to stay with Steve and not switch to his second main Captain Falcon. Hero got up two stocks and looked to record the first three stock of the season against Splash Smash.

However, Steve was able to make a comeback and eventually get Hero down to just one stock with over 100 damage. This was just too much for him to overcome as the Knights pulled out the win.

With their second match loss of the season and the first since Week 1, Splash Smash are now 4-2 on the season with one regular season match left.

They will face off against the Westminster Wildcats on Wednesday, April 6 before taking a week off for spring break and awaiting their playoff fate. 

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