Four members of the Lakeland University Esports team start their journey on Thursday night to claim the first Madden championship in New England Collegiate Conference history.

After an eight-week regular season, Curtiss Dokey (So.-Manitowoc, Wis.), Byron Dean, Otis Watts (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) and McNemon Vincent (Sr.-Vernon Hills, Ill.) are competing in the NECC Madden playoffs, and one is guaranteed a spot in the finals.

Dokey heads into the playoffs as the top overall seed after finishing a perfect 8-0 in the regular season. Dokey had one of the highest-scoring offenses in the league as he routinely scored 30 or more points in each of his games. His defense was equally strong as he held opponents to ten points or less in five games, including a pair of shutouts.

Dean went 5-2 in the regular season to earn the fourth seed in the playoffs. Dean joined in the second week of play and started his season with two wins before falling in week four to Danny McGee of Carroll University, the number two seed in the playoffs, and to teammate Dokey in week five. Dean bounced back with three straight wins to end the season, including back-to-back wins over SwaggyP11k of Elms (Mass.) College in the last two weeks.

Watts earned the fifth seed after finishing 4-3. Watts was 4-1 after six games but dropped his last two games to Dokey and McGee, the top two seeds, to slip to the fifth seed.

Vincent rounds out the Muskies in the field as he sneaks into the playoffs as the eighth seed. Like Dean, Vincent started in the second week with a win. After losing to McGee and Dokey in weeks three and four, Vincent defeated SwaggyP11k in week five. That would be the last win for Vincent, however, as he lost his remaining two games to finished 2-4 in the regular season.

Dokey and Vincent have faced each other once already this season. Back in week four, Dokey swept the best-of-three series with a 77-13 win in game one and a 19-7 victory in game two. The 77 points were the most Dokey scored in one game this season.

Dokey and Vincent play in the first matchup on Thursday at 4:00 p.m., and Dean and Watts follow at 8:30 p.m. in their first meeting this season. Dean and Watt's game will be streamed live on the NECC twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/necc_esports.

The winners of each match will go on to face each other on Monday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals. The winner of the semifinal game will play in the finals next Friday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m., guaranteeing Lakeland a spot in the first-ever NECC Madden Championship.