UPDATE: Yellowhammers finish inaugural esports season in Texas Top 32

Rotan ISD’s first Yellowhammer esports team wrapped up its inaugural season with a Top 32 finish at the state level, competing against schools ranging from Class 1A through 6A.

The team traveled to Baylor University in Waco for the Texas UNDISPUTED Esports State Championships after qualifying through competition in Abilene.

“We had a great end to our inaugural year of Yellowhammer eSports,” the team’s teacher said following the tournament. “Our Yellowhammer team made it into the top 32 across the state of Texas, ranging from 1A to 6A schools. This weekend brought a lot of insight into this growing program and how it could impact our students and their future opportunities. Thank you to everyone who has supported this new event at Rotan ISD!”

The students also earned praise for something beyond their performance.

Adam Tarver, who served as a tournament official for the Fortnite competition, commented after the event that the Rotan students stood out for their conduct.

“I was the Tournament Official for the Fortnite event! Your teams showed great sportsmanship and were a pleasure to have!” Tarver wrote.

For a program that began with a tournament flyer and a group of students willing to give competitive gaming a shot, Rotan’s first esports season ended with the Yellowhammers among the final 32 teams in Texas and with a clearer picture of where the program could go next.

Rotan ISD’s first esports team qualifies for state championship

Seven Rotan students turned a new school activity into a state-qualifying team and will compete at Baylor University in Waco.

Rotan High School’s first esports team is already headed to state.

Students Jason Ortiz, Rhylon Lester, Ethan Brouillette, Christian Garcia, Chris Newton, Braxton Mollett and Sebastian Garcia qualified for the Texas UNDISPUTED Esports State Championships after competing in Abilene.

The state tournament is scheduled for April 30 through May 2 at Baylor University’s Mark and Paula Hurd Welcome Center in Waco.

For a program that barely existed before the students learned about the competition, the trip to state came quickly.

A teacher shared a tournament flyer with the group shortly before the Abilene competition. They decided to enter, drawing on years of playing the same kinds of games now becoming part of organized school competition.

“We did football and other sports in middle school and high school,” Lester said. “We’ve been playing video games since we were little. We’ve basically had practice our whole lives.”

Competitive gaming, school style

While esports may look very different from football, basketball or track, the students said the competitive side feels familiar.

Tournament play involves brackets, elimination rounds, long competition days and the pressure of advancing against other teams.

Recent competitions included games such as Fortnite, Rocket League and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

“It also depends on how quickly you eliminate your opponent,” Brouillette said.

The students described preparation as less about formal team practices and more about repetition, reaction time and constantly playing against people who force them to improve.

“It’s just like muscle memory,” Brouillette said. “The best way to get good at it is just by doing it.”

Garcia said teammates frequently compete against one another as a warm-up.

“We’d all get into a game and then we play against each other to warm up,” he said.

Rotan makes its mark in Abilene

That experience translated quickly into tournament success.

Garcia said Rotan’s players performed well against the field in Abilene.

“We had beaten all the Abilene teams,” Garcia said. “All the other teams that were there, we beat them too. So the top three teams were Rotan.”

The team’s success is even more notable considering esports is new at Rotan ISD.

Several of the students are also involved in traditional school activities. When the Double Mountain Chronicle interviewed the team, Mollett and Sebastian Garcia were absent because they were competing in a tennis tournament.

That overlap reflects what school esports can look like: not necessarily students choosing gaming instead of other activities, but adding another competitive outlet.

Esports can extend beyond high school

Competitive gaming has also become part of the college landscape.

McMurry University in Abilene offers esports scholarship opportunities, with its scholarship information listing awards ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 for participating students.

At the professional level, esports can involve much larger prize pools. The original DMC reporting noted that the 2025 Fortnite Champion Series Global Championship carried a prize pool of more than $2 million, while the 2025 Esports World Cup promoted $70 million in prize money across its competitions.

The Rotan students talked about scholarships, streaming and the growing competitive-gaming industry, but they were not presenting themselves as future professional gamers.

Their plans included college, military service, physical therapy and electrical lineman work.

For them, esports has simply created another place to compete, spend time with teammates and represent their school.

In Rotan ISD’s first year with an esports team, that opportunity has already taken them from a tournament flyer to the state stage in Waco.