Temple, Alvernia & NOVA take home top spots at MACS esports tournament

The Fall 2025 edition of Nerd Street’s Mid-Atlantic Championship Series concluded with Temple University, Alvernia University and NOVA (Northern Virginia Community College) lifting trophies in three different esports competitions.

Temple won the League of Legends tournament that took place Oct. 26, Alvernia finished first in the Overwatch 2 tournament that took place Nov. 9, and NOVA took home the top spot in the VALORANT tournament that was held Nov. 23. All three tournaments took place in-person on LAN at Localhost Philadelphia, Nerd Street’s esports and gaming venue in the heart of Philly.

League of Legends

Temple came out on top of the four-team League of Legends tournament. Temple beat both Drexel’s Dragons and Gold teams to secure a spot in the best-of-three grand final. In the final, Temple beat the Drexel Dragons without dropping a map to cap off a perfect tournament run.

It was revenge after Drexel beat Temple in the spring MACS League of Legends tournament. This was actually the third MACS in a row that the two teams faced off in the final. Temple came out on top over Drexel in the fall 2024 edition of MACS.

Overwatch 2

Eleven teams competed in the MACS Overwatch 2 tournament this fall. Similar to League of Legends, this was the third MACS in a row with the same finals matchup. Alvernia University faced off against Arcadia University yet again. Alvernia finally came out on top after Arcadia won MACS Overwatch 2 in fall 2024 and spring 2025.

Photo credit: Nerd Street

VALORANT

The NOVA Nighthawks finished atop the eight-team MACS VALORANT field. NOVA beat the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Red team in the final. Both teams went 3-0 in group play and won their respective semifinals before meeting in the grand final. NJIT won a hard-fought triple-overtime semifinal, 17-15. NOVA, on the other hand, won their semifinal easily, 13-2, and then swept NJIT in the final, winning both maps to be crowned champions.

Harrisburg University had won the previous MACS VALORANT tournament in the spring. This was NOVA’s first MACS VALORANT championship, but the school had previously won the MACS Rainbow Six Siege tournament in fall 2024 that was held at Localhost Rowan.

Lead photo credit: Nerd Street