By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio has itself a national champion, but not in a sport you’d expect.
Sabien Escareño, 22, recently received his National Junior College Athletic Association Esports National Championship ring and plaque for being one half of the Call of Duty: Gunfight Championship team at Navarro College. Escareño teamed up with Roy Escobedo to win the title in December 2021. He reached the semifinals again this season with a different teammate after Escobedo transferred, but was unable to repeat as national champion.
Escareño, who graduated from Del Rio High School in 2018, narrowly missed out on being a two-time national champion as his Call of Duty 4v4 team, which was the No. 1 seed, lost in the championships to St. Clair College.
“I always wanted to compete in Call of Duty since I was about 16. I really started to get into the competitive side at that point and I started to get invested in the competitive scene, but I never really competed for money. I just competed in more competitive amateur matches, online tournaments and websites that would host tournaments,” Escareño said.
Navarro College, located in Corsicana, established its esports team in the fall of 2020. It has grown to field teams in Call of Duty, Overwatch, Fortnite, Rocket League and Madden.
Winning the school’s first national championship was a big milestone for Escareño and his teammates, especially for such a young program.
“It’s all still very new. Last semester was my first time competing for them, and it was very new to a lot of my teammates and very new to our coach as well. But we made it work and wound up as one of only two junior colleges to place in the national tournament. Now we’ve got eyes on our program, and this semester it has grown tremendously. It’s quickly becoming place to pay esports at the junior college level. I mean, we had to beat one of our own teams to get to the national finals,” Escareño said.
It’s not easy work to become a national champion in anything, and esports is no exception. Escareño estimates he spends five to six hours a day playing and practicing to develop strategies and to get the lay of the land on the maps he plays. He admits that it isn’t easy for some people to understand how he can put so much time into something like video games, but he said the results speak for themselves.
“Monday through Friday … a common schedule is playing about five to six hours a day. Sometimes it can cause problems if it goes longer. Friends and family may think you’re spending too much time playing video games and sometimes they’re right and you just have to get out of the house, but if you want to compete at this level those are the kinds of things you have to do and the kinds of sacrifices you have to make. I would tell people to just keep grinding because it will all pay off, if that’s what your goal is,” Escareño said.
“When you’re playing online get your voice out there, be social. Gaming usually involves being antisocial or cooped up in the house, but even if it comes to random people on line then go for it,” Escareño added. “Yeah, it can be toxic sometimes and you can make a lot more enemies than allies, but you can also meet people that have the same interests as you. Find a teammate or someone to play games with you. They can be motivating. Or just find someone with the same goal as you. When you find someone who has the same common goals and interests as you that can take you a long way.”
Escareño is still playing and is still enjoying the fruits of his work. He has his sights set on winning another national championship but he understands that there’s now a target on his back and on his teammates’ backs after their successful 2021 campaign.
Escareño said it wouldn’t change the way he prepares.
“What makes a good or a great player is really awareness. You have to be very aware as to what’s going on at all times … where the enemies are, what’s the objective, where is it … there are a lot of things that go into the game beside pointing and shooting,” Escareño said. “Sometimes I’ll play without sound. What I’m really trying to do is just focus on the games in front of me. It helps to focus on different things on the screen instead of waiting for an audio cue.”
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
