Curtiss Dokey (So.-Manitowoc, Wis.) completed a perfect regular season while Isaiah Vance (Sr.-Zion, Ill.) and Byron Dean won their final regular season matchups for the Lakeland University Esports team in the eighth week of Madden Mondays.

Dean took the field first, defeating familiar foe SwaggyP11k of Elms (Mass.) College 28-14 and 18-0 to sweep the best-of-three series. Dean's record now sits at 5-2 overall, good for third place heading into Monday's games.

Dokey squared off against teammate Otis Watts (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) and won 37-31 and 15-0. The win gave Dokey a perfect 8-0 record thus far and the top seed going into the playoffs. Watts falls to 4-3 overall, which puts him in fifth place in the New England Collegiate Conference standings.

While he handed one of his teammates a loss tonight, Lakeland Head Esports Coach Ahman Green has been impressed by Dokey's leadership throughout the season: "Curtiss Dokey, our team captain, he's done an outstanding job of helping the other players, bringing them along with what he knows from the game as well."

Vance competed in perhaps the most exciting series of the season against Ozzy Traill of Eastern Nazarene (Mass.) College.

"From game one to game three, Isaiah played a heck of a game, and Ozzy Traill did outstanding as well to make those plays like they did, those throws, catches, big runs like it was in the first game," said Green. "It was fun to watch."

Just when it appeared Traill would score first, Vance picked off a pass in the red zone and returned it 97 yards for his first touchdown of the game. Traill scored on a big play of his own just two plays later with a 75-yard touchdown run to even up the score.

Both players scored touchdowns in the second quarter, but Vance hit a field goal as time expired to take a 17-14 lead into halftime. Vance extended his lead to ten after scoring on his opening drive but Traill cut the lead back to three with 0:35 remaining in the third.

Vance threw an interception with just over two minutes to play and Traill capitalized, taking his first lead of the game with a touchdown at the 0:44 mark to take the 28-24 lead. Vance responded with a touchdown with just 12 seconds left on the clock, but an 89-yard touchdown run as time expired gave Traill the walk off 34-31 victory.

Game two began in the same way as Vance led 17-14 at halftime. Vance scored his touchdowns on successive drives, including the second after a successful onside kick, the first in NECC Madden Monday history. The similarities continued into the second half as Vance once again led 24-21 after a Traill touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Two huge runs helped Vance outscore Traill 14-3 in the final three and a half minutes and force a deciding game three with a 38-14 victory.

The final game continued the trend of close games as Traill led 14-7 at halftime. Vance tied the game at 14-14 after scoring with 35 seconds remaining in the third quarter and Traill took his time to retake the lead, scoring a touchdown at the 0:23 mark to make the score 21-14. Vance scored just 12 seconds later and successfully completed the two-point conversion to take the lead 22-21 with 11 seconds remaining in the game. An interception with one second left sealed the game three victory and 2-1 series win for Vance and the Muskies.

"I was very proud of Isaiah doing his thing, a lot of the players here at Lakeland," Green said following the win. "We have a lot going on the past few weeks, and Isaiah had personal things going on in his family so he had to visit home for a little so he's been up and down emotionally, so for him to pull through with what's going on his life is a big hats off to him."

Fans can watch Vance's thrilling win and hear more from Coach Green's postgame interview on the NECC's Esports Twitch channel by clicking here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/790182178