Here is a recap from the Springside-Chestnut Hill district event.

Well…. We did it again.  Just like the Hatboro-Horsham event, we made it to the finals, only to fall to 2-1. 

Our main goal at the district events to gain enough ranking points to be invited to the Mid Atlantic Robotics Regional Championship event on April 11^th to the 13^th at Lehigh University.  After our success at Hatboro-Horsham, we only needed a good showing to make sure that happened.  We meet that goal and then some.

We again started the competition with a winning streak of 6 matches and finished the first day with a 7-1 record.  Our 5^th match was notable as one of our alliance partners missed the match due to technical issued, yet we managed to win with 2 robots against 3.  On Sat we went 2-2 to finish 9-3 and finished ranked 5^th.  Again we were one of the top scoring robots.

Here is a picture of the area at SCH.  You can see the 2 pyramids and 6 robots on the field.  The three robots of the blue alliance will be shooting at the blue goals at the far end of the arena and the 3 robots from the red alliance will be shooting at the near goals.  

For elimination phase of the completion we were the captain of the 4^th seeded alliance.  In the first match, it was Wyncote vs. Wyncote as we went against a alliance that included Cheltenham H.S.  We won that match 2-1, then defected the 1^st seeded alliance 2-0.  In the finals we faced off against the same team that defeated us at Hatboro-Horsham (Wissahickon) allied with teams from York Pa. (Tech Fire) and West Grove Pa. (AGR).  We countered with an alliance that included a team from Carney’s point named the LuNaTeCs and the Metal Moose from Westtown Pa.  We won the first match 127 to 102, the second match went the other way  156-87.  In the final match we lost 114 – 49.

We had a lot of supporters visit us during the competition.  Thank you all for coming.  We hope you had a fun time and based on the picture below, we are glad you made it home safely.

In addition to reaching the finals, we won an the Quality Award sponsored by Motorola.  Here is how the award is described.

The Motorola Quality Award celebrates machine robustness in concept and fabrication. Winners of this award have strong, well-built robots that require little maintenance. Although the award criteria do not include on-field performance, winners of this award are typically among the highest ranked teams at the competition. As durable and reliable machines, the Motorola Quality Award winning robots are effective competitors and valued partners.

Special thanks for McDevitt Alum Bill Leimbach, who’s custom fabricated parts impressed the Judges. 

Here is a glimpse at the pit area of the arena where the teams work on their robots between matches.

We also competed for the District Chairman’s award.  This is the highest award a team can earn.  We did not win, but I would like to share a comment from one the judges.

“Second year and very impressive with great sponsor involvement and use of alumni.  This team is will on track for FRC excellence.  They are a team to watch.”

These 2 trophies will be added to the McDevitt trophy case next week.

At this point we are a lock to attend the Regional Championship at Lehigh.  Attending this event has always been our team’s goal, however, If we continue to perform well we may have a shot at being invited the world championship event in St. Louis on April 24^th.  If any of you plan to visit us at Lehigh, please let me know so I can make sure your visit is enjoyable.