PRESCOTT, Ariz. – 16 months after hiring Kevin Lewis as the Head Coach of E-Sports at Yavapai College, the program has now claimed its first national championship.

That championship came on Saturday, April 22, when Champion Reifenkugel capped off a perfect 10-0 season in Hearthstone to capture the title. 

"Being a part of E-Sports and athletics as a whole has kept me afloat this school year," said Reifenkugel. "Everyone's efforts having a successful result is awesome."

Those successful results started in the fall of 2022 when Reifenkugel, hailing from Clarkdale, Arizona, enrolled at YC and joined the Roughriders as the lone Hearthstone competitor. During the fall, Reifenkugel achieved a perfect 7-0 record in the regular season, before falling in the first round of the playoffs. 

During the spring season in 2023, Reifenkugel repeated the perfect 7-0 regular season, before locking in for the playoffs with a 3-0 victory over Gogebic CC, 3-2 victory over Northland Community and Technical College and 3-0 victory in the championship match over Harrisburg Area CC. Of Reifenkugel's 10 Hearthstone wins in 2023, nine were clean 3-0 sweeps. 

"I'm incredibly proud of Champion and what he was able to accomplish this season," Head Coach Kevin Lewis said after watching his player capture the championship. "He's a great person and has been great for our program."

The E-Sports program built by Lewis started in the spring of 2022 with just one competitor competing in FIFA. Now, in addition to a trophy in the case, the roster claims 10 competitors that compete in three different games.

As the program continues to grow, the 2023 fall semester will feature six titles, including NBA 2K, Overwatch 2, Hearthstone, Rocket League, Street Fighter 6, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Make sure to support the program by tuning into their stream at https://www.twitch.tv/yavapai_e_sports/schedule. 

About Hearthstone
Hearthstone is a free-to-play online digital collectible card game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. The game is a turn-based card game between two opponents, using constructed decks of 30-40 cards along with a selected hero with a unique power. Players use their limited mana crystals to play abilities or summon minions to attack the opponent, with the goal of destroying the opponent's hero.