Vaughan, Jones named first Football Canada Madden tournament champions

In mid-July, football fans nationwide got their football fix thanks to the 2020 Madden Canada Cup, a virtual madden tournament run by Football Canada and AirKJax Communications. The purpose of the e-sports event – which aired from July 10-11 – was to bring the football community together during the pandemic, and was a huge success. On total, over 90 participants took part, including at least one from every province.

The format for the Madden Canada Cup was double elimination, with one national champion each for the XBOX and PS4. Junior Mustangs TV live streamed the entire tournament via YouTube and also provided commentary. Click here to view Friday’s action. To check out Saturday’s contests, click here. There were also a number of special guests present on both days, including Football Canada President Jim Mullin, who stressed the importance of “patience and perseverance” during these unprecedented times.

The XBOX side of the bracket was won by 18-year-old Hamilton, Ontario native Quincy Vaughan. The 6’4” pro-style quarterback – whose father and eldest brother are CFL alum – recently starred for university prep school Clarkson Football North and will be taking his talents to NCAA Division 1 North Dakota this season. Playing as the Kansas City Chiefs, he won a 34-28 barn-burner in overtime in the championship game and was undefeated overall. As national champion, he took home $500 and a Football Canada backpack. Runner-up Charlie Taggart, a fellow Hamiltonian who previously played for Guelph, received $100, while third place finisher Ethan Mackinnon took home a $100 XBOX1 gift card.

The national champion on the PS4 side was 16-year-old Ethan Jones from Ontario. He knocked off fellow Ontarian Anthony Colisimo 17-7 in an all Kansas City final. Elijah Trench rounded out the top three. Information about the tournament winners, along with all raffle winners can be found below. For a detailed look at each of the brackets, click here (for PS4), or here (for XBOX).

“We all know of young athletes that have been drawn to the sport of Football through gaming. We want to recognize that and encourage that passion to create a better bridge between the two,” commented Aaron Geisler, Director of Sport.  “The success and excitement around our first e-sports event was fantastic and we want to build off of that and hopefully grow this into an annual process. We are even looking into providing a high-performance pathway for gaming to support Canadian talent on the National and International stage.”

After the success of this event, Football Canada hopes to run more Madden tournaments in the future. Stay tuned for more details.

Tournament Winners