Long County’s Splash Smash falls in the state quarterfinals

Long County Blue Tide Super Smash Bros. team Splash Smash and its seniors knew they had one last chance to win a state championship. They were looking to advance past the third round for the first time in team history, but fell to the Perry Panthers on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Splash Smash, ranked fourth in the state in the playoffs, had already beaten Cambridge and Gilmer in the first two rounds, winning 3-1 and 3-0. They faced Perry, a rematch of the first game of the season which they lost.

Things were going well for Splash Smash as Kody Heredia gave his team an early advantage by using his Fox man to defeat a Yoshi and Donkey Kong user 2-1 in the first set.

Next up was Patrick McClennon, who took on a Captain Falcon user. This was a duel of the best players from both teams as McClennon started with his Bowser.

In the first game he lost 2-0 after falling behind 3-1 at the start of the game and was unable to recover. He switched to Mario for the second game and came closer to victory, but lost 0-1, increasing the score to 1-1.

Ben Stokes was next and took advantage of Steve to defeat his opponent 2-0. He defeated King K. Rool 1-0 in the first game and then defeated Sora 2-0 in the second game. In the fourth set they took a 2-1 lead.

Stokes took on Captain Falcon’s user in the set and came close in both games, losing them 1-0 after falling behind at the start of both games. It came to the deciding fifth set when McClennon defeated King K. Rool’s player from Stokes’ first set.

McClennon defeated his opponent Mario 1-0 in the first game and took a 1-0 lead. His opponent switched to the joker in the second game and seemed to flip the script for McClennon.

He lost the second game 2-0 and made the game a final. Trailing 2-1, McClennon tied the game 1-1 while suffering 49 points of damage in his final life.

McClennon used a series of aerial moves and off-stage attacks to eliminate his opponent. He appeared to have the upper hand before a false jump back onto the stage went wrong as he fell, turning the game into a 1-0 win for the Joker.

With the loss, Splash Smash finished the season at 9-2 and ranked fifth in the state out of over 100 teams.