The Call of Duty esports team looked a little different at their latest match on Oct. 12. Team captain Johnny Albano was sidelined with a concussion, being ruled ineligible to play. However, graduate student Dominik Barela filled in for Albano, and the team smoothly adapted.

As always, the COD matches are determined by three different play styles, and whichever team wins three first wins overall. First up is play style hardpoint, where the goal is to capture certain areas on the map to amass points. Playing on map Embassy, St. Edward’s quickly held an edge over Texas A&M International University, however TAMIU quickly almost tied up the score 32-28. David “Eons” Sauseda held the area to get up to 77-40 before getting grenaded. After Eons recaptured the area for an 112-84 lead, TAMIU pulled through and took the lead 142-127. The Hilltoppers tied up the score with two and a half minutes left. St. Edward’s went on to win the match 250-188. Every second the objective area is captured counts as a point. Eons had the longest of what is called “hill time,” with 1:07 of total captured time.

Next up was the play style Search and Destroy on map Breenbergh Hotel. The first round was almost instantaneously won by St. Edward’s after Lucas “Ballah” Muccio planted a bomb. However, they lost the second round after running out of lives. Mauricio “Thresh” Pallares was the last player alive in the third round but couldn’t kill the remaining enemies. In the fourth round, the Hilltoppers killed all enemy lives, and Thresh defused the planted enemy bomb to secure a win for the round. St. Edward’s then went on to lose the next round, causing TAMIU to go up 3-2. The Hilltoppers responded by winning two rounds in a row. In the eighth overall round, Barela killed the remaining two enemies and defused a bomb to win the round. St. Edward’s ultimately won the last round, having an overall of 6-3.

Usually between the second and third game styles, there is a five minute break that esports players enjoy. However, as Eons had stepped outside, the final play style, Control, started without him. Eons ultimately came back to have a five kill streak to help the Hilltoppers win the round. Unfortunately, St. Edward’s lost the next round by running out of lives. Although Ballah secured point A, they ultimately lost the third round. However, they won the next round after eliminating enemy lives and tied it up 2-2. The Hilltoppers also took home a win for the last round against TAMIU.

Their next match is against Eastern Michigan University this Wednesday. The matches are always streamed live in the Ragsdale building for students and others to watch. Tentatively, their playoff run is set to start in early November. The team currently stands in second place with a 5-1 record in the West-Central Conference of the Varsity Premier league.