Madden 21 Champions Series: Northeastern’s Jacob Wallack Wins First-Ever College Championship
The Madden 21 Champions Series featured the first-ever collegiate tournament over the past several months. A thousand college players competed, representing over 100 schools around the nation. It all came down to Northeastern and Maryland in the Level Next College Esports League Finals. However, Northeastern’s Jacob “JWall” Wallack came out on top, defeating Maryland’s Noah Johnson to win the inaugural title.
JWall & Noah battle in Madden 21 Champions Series for Collegiate title
It was a best-of-three format for the finals with JWall representing Northeastern and Noah repping Maryland. Noah went into the finals with an unblemished record, which he kept intact, at least with the first game. They would use the No. 1 teams in the NFL Playoffs, the AFC’s Kansas City Chiefs, and the NFC’s Green Bay Packers.
In Game 1, Noah was on the ropes in the fourth as JWall got a huge pick and was up by a field goal, 17-14. However, Noah came right back with an interception of his own. He then charged down the field in the final minutes to win it with a TD with two seconds to go, 21-17. That put him ahead 1-0 in the finals, and a win away from the big prize money.
However, JWall didn’t let that first loss rattle him. In the second game, JWall built to a 24-10 lead by the third quarter. He also forced a fumble with under two minutes go in the quarter to further help him in tying the best-of-three series. He connected on a 52-yard field goal to start the fourth, making it 27-10. Noah quit the game so they could go to a deciding third game in this Madden 21 Champions Series tournament.
That third game saw a close battle down the stretch between Noah and JWall. Noah had to settle for three field goals throughout the contest to stay within striking distance. At one point, he had it down to a 10-9 game. In the fourth, JWall was able to get down to the goal line and punched it in to go up 17-9. However, Noah came right back with a score, and two-point conversion to tie it 17-17.
Northeastern’s JWall wins title on field goal
In the end, it came down to big plays which helped JWall move his squad to within field goal range. Despite an attempted timeout by Noah to ice the kicker, JWall faced the pressure and connected on a 33-yarder. That gave him the inaugural college title for the Madden 21 Champions Series. With the win, he gets his name on a shiny trophy, and $25,000 in prize money.
JWall clearly put in some practice time using the Kansas City Chiefs, the team he had to switch to in order to win the National Championship. Following the win, he said “I miss a lot of field goals, especially the ice ones. So I’m very scared of those. Had to calm down and I hit it, so I’m very proud of it,” he commented.
Next up on his schedule, JWall said he’ll be putting in some time on Madden 21 Ultimate Team ahead of the Club Championship.
While Noah finished second, he didn’t walk away empty-handed. He gets $15,000 in prize money for his run with Maryland. San Bernardino finished third, while Notre Dame was fourth. Those players take home $10,000 each.
Congratulations to John Wallack and Northeastern for becoming the first-ever college national champion in Madden 21 Champions Series!
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