Henry “Henry” Leverette showed he was ready for the Ultimate Madden Bowl on Wednesday, using a walk-off, 37-yard field goal to beat John “Mr Football 88” Britt 20-17 in the Ultimate Wild Card championship game and take home his record fifth career Madden Championship Series belt.
Henry, who won the Madden Ultimate Kickoff in September and now has two of the three belts won so far this season, takes home $75,000 to go with his latest belt.
Henry entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in the MCS Power Rankings and will be the top seed when the Ultimate Madden Bowl begins, giving him one of the two byes into the quarterfinals. That tournament begins Jan. 23.
“Before I would just make all these tournaments but never do anything. I always felt like I was really good but nothing would come from it,” said the 19-year-old Henry, who holds the MCS record for most individual belts (four) and total belts (five). “But recently … clearly, I’ve gotten over that hump and I’m just playing my game and it’s finally paying off. It feels good.”
But the path to victory was anything but easy for Henry. In the day’s first semifinal, Henry needed nearly every second of that game, as well, beating Cole “Cole” Anthony 24-21 with a field goal with two seconds remaining in the game.
Cole was in the semis thanks to a stunning upset of No. 3-ranked Dwayne “Cleff The God” Wood in the quarterfinals Friday. Henry played as the Chicago Bears with Justin Tucker delivering the winning kicks.
The win looked like it would set up a dream final, but No. 2-ranked Peyton “Dez” Tuma — who became the youngest MCS champion in history at 17 years old when he won the Madden Ultimate Thanksgiving championship in November — fell to Mr Football 88 in the other semifinal, 31-24.
Despite the loss, Dez will get the other first-round bye in the Ultimate Madden Bowl, holding on to his No. 2 ranking.
Next up in the MCS is the Last Chance Qualifier next weekend, where the final two spots into the Ultimate Madden Bowl will be won.
Madden Ultimate Wild Card prize pool:
1. $75,000 — Henry “Henry” Leverette
2. $40,000 — John “Mr Football 88” Britt
3-4. $27,500 — Cole “Cole” Anthony, Peyton “Dez” Tuma
5-8. $15,000 — Dwayne “Cleff The God” Wood, “Astro,” “KCP,” “Cobo”
–Field Level Media