OKMULGEE – College of Muscogee Nation Student Riley Barnett (Mvskoke) and the Ravens esports team made history on Monday, Dec. 8, when they won the D-1 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Tekken 8 Championship. The win comes just barely a year after the Ravens esports team joined the NJCAA in September 2024.
Tekken 8 is an online fantasy fighter game where players battle one-on-one in an arena, similar to other games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. The game hosts players on PlayStation, Xbox and Personal Computer (PC). The goal is to eliminate your opponent before they eliminate you. The character Barnett used for the tournament was Heihachi Mishima.
In a best of four double elimination, Barnett and the Ravens competed against Bryan Estrada from Salt Lake Community College. Going into the match, Barnett was undefeated. Soon, the tide would change. According to CMN Recruiter/Esports Coach Thomas Berryhill (Mvskoke), Estrada “threw a wrench in their plans” by playing as a new character he had never played before. Barnett found himself down 0-3.
“The opponent was taking us on,” Berryhill said. “Riley on the fly had to learn how he was going to play him (Brian) and change his playing style. It was rough at first.”
Barnett explained that Estrada used an obscure character, Shaheen, to fight with. According to Barnett, Shaheen is not generally used by many online or local players. Although Barnett had a learning curve to overcome, he picked up on his opponent’s strategy very quickly. Initially, he was frustrated and tried to speed up the tempo of the fight. When that did not work, Barnett took time to restrategize.
“I really had to stop and think about it the whole time,” Barnett said. “I just took a breath and started being more patient. I started creating more space.”
One of Barnett’s strengths is his ability to observe his opponent during a fight. Slowly but surely, after piecing together his opponent’s attack rhythms, Barnett developed a game plan.
“From there, I found out everything that I didn’t know, and in those next three matches I ended up closing it after that.” Barnett said.
Barnett’s focus paid off, winning the match 4-3.
“Riley’s one of the nicest, coolest people you’ll ever meet. He doesn’t say a bad thing about anyone. I wish I could be like that.” – Colton Wood
Flare
Barnett is known on his streaming and social media platforms by his username Flare. He initially started in grassroots esports tournaments across the state. After graduating from Preston High School, Barnett enrolled at CMN after hearing about their esports program. He was also interested in the Mvskoke language classes they offer, as well as generally being more immersed in Mvskoke culture.
CMN General Studies Coordinator Colton Wood (Mvskoke) is the program’s esports director. Wood described Barnett as an “outstanding athlete.” Wood remarked that he was blown away by Barnett’s cool demeanor throughout the match, especially knowing what was at stake.
“Being down 0-3, one match, and it’s going to ruin his undefeated streak, the whole time he’s losing, he just keeps saying ‘nice’, ‘nice’, ‘oh that’s good.’ I’m not sure if the guy (Brian) could hear him or not but he was just having these words of encouragement for this guy.” Wood said.
According to Barnett, the reason he said “nice” was because he was happy his opponent found a good opening to attack. Barnett said it is important to keep your cool as an example for others. For him, sportsmanship in esports is just as important as in any other sport.
“I try to keep that as a core value as us Mvskoke like to say, to keep good sportsmanship toward other players,” Barnett said. “That alone will help you keep your cool.”
Barnett regularly attends tournaments like Citadel and Combo Breaker. The latter is a three-day tournament that annually occurs over Memorial Day weekend. Combo Breaker is recognized as a “supermajor” tournament due to its strong pool of player talent. It typically sees 1,000 players, half of whom are from other countries.
CMN Esports Program
Wood said the esports team is still in its infancy. The program currently has seven active team members. The team practices in an esports lab with six gaming computers. The program was initially funded by the CARES Act. This year marks the first year the team has competed in the NJCAA. Unlike the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Basketball Tournament, the esports team competes year round.
Growing the program involves commitment, accountability and consistency. Wood said that not only does Barnett bring these qualities to the team, he models them for other team members.
The program is looking to expand to competing in Call of Duty, Super Smash Bros, Rocket League, and Valorant competitions. Berryhill said each competition has three tiers that student athletes can compete in. Each tier presents a different level of skilled players. Berryhill said the first tier is for competitive players, the second is for more casual players, the third for new players. The competition is not just for students; it is also open to CMN coaches and alumni.
“We were students here one time, Colton and myself, and we loved playing games,” Berryhill said. “As Native citizens we’re very competitive already, whether it be video games, who can make their bed the best, whatever it is we’re going to make a competition out of it. It’s great that we’re giving them a place to be competitive.”
Berryhill said the win legitimizes the hard work that has gone into recruiting and training. It also helps secure funding for the esports program in the future. Wood said that although they have seen small victories in the past, the Tekken Championship win is a victory visible to faculty and students outside the program.
Barnett said that he is planning to attend tournaments in Missouri, Texas and California next year. He is also looking to attend his first international tournament in either South Korea or Japan.
The Ravens esports team will appear in the Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) tournament in January 2026. To stay up to date on CMN Raven sports, follow their Facebook page, College of Muscogee Nation.
