📝 Northwood wins OWCC Open upper bracket; Winthrop and St. Clair eye rematch

The double-elimination phase of the 2026 Overwatch Collegiate Championships - Open bracket began on Saturday, featuring the final eight teams.

Two teams were eliminated by the end of the day’s competition, while one team locked in its spot in the OWC LAN in Orlando, Florida, next month for the OWCC Open Grand Final.

OWCC Open Upper Quarterfinals Recap:

Round of 32 results:

• #2 Northwood 3-0 #12 Bellevue
• #7 Cumberland 3-0 #6 Fisher Navy
• #3 Fisher 3-1 #16 Cleveland State
• #1 Winthrop 3-2 #4 St. Clair

Main takeaways:

The OWCC Open stream began with one of the best collegiate games of the school year: Winthrop versus St. Clair.

On Friday, St. Clair DPS Thierry “Noxious” Whitehead said that he was confident that they could upset the Eagles during the first round.

And they were eerily close to doing so.

Both teams traded the first four maps, with Winthrop sending the final map of the series to Blizzard World. Due to Winthrop banning Zarya first, they couldn’t ban Boston “Infekted” Fine’s Wrecking Ball, setting the game up perfectly for Winthrop.

After a fantastic hold during the second phase by Winthrop, they eventually were able to break through the St. Clair defense and won the series 3-2.

It was a great showcase of resilience from a Winthrop roster that rarely faces it, but also a testament to how close the Saints are to beating one of the top two teams.

The other notable result was Cumberland’s sweep over Fisher Navy for two reasons.

Firstly, Fisher Navy got the better of the Phoenix just last week during the superweekend, 2-0. The game gave Fisher Navy fantastic seeding and was Cumberland’s only loss in the entire Swiss stage.

But more importantly, there were major questions about whether main support, Stijn “Schef” Scheffers or hitscan Kurtis “Kabe” Bogner, would even be able to play the series due to a mandatory graduate class seminar. Thankfully for Cumberland, the timing worked out so that both could play the series, while still making it to their class.

It’s the latest impressive result for Cumberland after upsetting St. Clair during the final round of the Swiss stage.

OWCC Open Upper Semifinals / Lower Round 1 Recap:

Notable results:

• #2 Northwood 3-0 #7 Cumberland
• #1 Winthrop 3-0 #3 Fisher
• #12 Bellevue 3-0 #6 Fisher Navy
• #4 St. Clair 3-0 #16 Cleveland State

Main takeaways:

The upper semifinals were less exciting than the quarterfinals, as both Winthrop and Northwood took care of business against their lower-seeded opponents.

Meanwhile, in the lower bracket, Bellevue knocked out Fisher Navy in another sweep to stay alive in the bracket.

The roster full of stars from Calling All Heroes not only moved on to the final day of the tournament, but also locked in the program’s best finish in an OWC event in school history.

On the other side of the coin, it was an abrupt end to an otherwise very positive season for Fisher Navy. It is by far the highest-performing “academy” roster in all of collegiate Overwatch, but it just wasn’t their best result on Saturday.

OWCC Open Upper Finals Recap:

Match result:

• #2 Northwood 3-1 #1 Winthrop

Main takeaways:

In a perfect way to end Day 2, the top two teams in the country battled for the first spot in the OWCC Open Grand Finals.

Even though Northwood was missing starting main support Joseph “Lep” Cambriani due to their involvement with Team Argentina in the Overwatch World Cup - Conference Cup, the Timberwolves did not miss a beat with Diego “Vega” Moran stepping in.

Northwood was dominant through most of the series, including a near full-cap on Espercanca to send the series to 2-1.

The victory marked the second occasion in two weeks that the Timberwolves bested Winthrop, after not beating them in nearly a year. The win also locked in their spot for the OWC LAN next month and will now await the winner from the lower bracket.

The loss was another bump in the road for Winthrop, which have looked more vulnerable over the past two weeks than they have in the last two years. It isn’t time to hit the panic button yet, but there is a chance that they have to fend off St. Clair once more to make it to the grand finals.

OWCC Open Lower Quarterfinals:

• #3 Fisher vs. #12 Bellevue
• #4 St. Clair vs. #7 Cumberland

Looking ahead:

Day 3 of the OWCC Open Playoffs will kick off with a rematch from one of the best games from the Swiss stage. St. Clair will be looking to start its revenge tour against Cumberland, who stunned them with a 2-1 win during the end of the Swiss stage.

St. Clair appears to have taken the reality check well, considering how close they were to upsetting Winthrop in the upper quarterfinals. If it can continue that momentum and put on the finishing touches, St. Clair could have a nice path to a rematch with Winthrop.

Cumberland won’t have any roster concerns going into the match, but the shock value of some of their compositions won’t work as well this time around. The Phoenix’s unique comps with Domina and Mei have reaped fantastic rewards so far, and still can if the level of execution remains high.

They would be the first to admit that their showing against Northwood in the upper semifinals was far from their best performance. But if Cumberland wants to continue its dark horse run, they cannot afford to dip into that kind of form.

Regardless of Bellevue’s historic performance so far in the tournament, it will need another big performance to move into the top four against Fisher. The Falcons will be a very dangerous opponent after being swept by Winthrop and will also be eyeing a rematch with the Eagles in the lower finals.

Remaining OWCC Open Playoffs schedule:

• Sunday, March 15
  • Lower Round 2A: 2 PM EDT
  • Lower Round 2B: 3:30 PM EDT
  • Lower Semifinal: 5 PM EDT
  • Lower Final: 6:30 PM EDT

All remaining matches will be streamed today on the OW Esports Twitch and YouTube pages, starting around 1:50 PM EDT.