Bellevillains earn district banner, berth in state district championships

By Mark Laginess
On the heels of a finalist (second place) finish at the FIRST Robotics Belleville District Event, the Bellevillains of Belleville High School Team 6615 and their alliance partners finished as winners of the Detroit Renaissance High School District Event on March 28-29.
The team also garnered the Engineering Inspiration Award for their third trophy in two weeks. The district banner is the second one earned in the team’s nine-year history.
After finishing 17th at the end of qualifying matches in the Belleville event, the Bellevillains improved to the 7th seed at Renaissance. This guaranteed them a spot in the playoffs as the top eight teams were assured of that status.
However, in an interesting turn of events, the captain of Alliance 1, Team 2960, Automation Nation, of Birmingham Groves and Seaholm High Schools, was forced to make an alternate selection when their first choice, RoboCubs of Team 1701 from University of Detroit Jesuit High School, opted to form their own team as Alliance 2 captain instead of accepting Automation Nation’s invitation.
Team 2960 turned its attention to Team 6615 next, and the Bellevillains agreed to partner with them. Team 9252, Wingspan, from Pontiac Academy for Excellence, rounded out the three-team alliance.
In their first playoff match, Alliance 1 edged Alliance 8, made up of alliance captain and homefield team RoboPhoenix (Team 2224, Renaissance HS), Robo Falcons (Team 8179, Dearborn Divine Child HS), and D-Tech (Team 3632, Detroit School of Arts), by a score of 142-132.
Next up was another close 173-167 victory over Alliance 4 (alliance captain The Atoms Family, Team 4405 from Plymouth Christian Academy; Robocanes, Team 7145 from Detroit Douglass Academy; and Team 5577, Kinematic Wolves from Detroit Cristo Rey HS), and that was followed by a more convincing 163-140 semi-final win over Alliance 2 (RoboCubs and their partners Team 7656 MC Hammers from Michigan Center HS and Team 4851 from Detroit Southeastern HS), placing Alliance 1 in the finals.
Alliance 2 would emerge from the loser’s bracket to claim the other finals’ spot, and after a nail-biter which saw Alliance 1 escape with a 131-126 win, the second match in the best two-of-three final wasn’t close. Alliance 1 swept the finals with a 138-89 victory.
Just prior to claiming their first-place finish awards, the Bellevillains were honored by the event judges with the Engineering Inspiration Award.
According to FIRST, “The Engineering Inspiration Award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school or organization, and community. Inspiring others to respect science and technology requires passion, knowledge, and commitment, and we recognize these qualities through this award.”
As is generally the case when awards are issued by the judges, the script which is read as the winner is announced contains hints as to whom the award would be given. That was certainly the case from the start with the judges’ description which read, “MWAH-HA-HA (evil laugh), this team has a master plan for worldwide education. Filling young minds with ideas of STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math] and Gracious Professionalism, their influence isn’t actually SINISTER at all. With this award in their grasp, nothing can stop them from enacting their plan of inspirational VILLANY. Congratulations, Team 6615!”
The Bellevillains’ district performance vaulted them into a tie for 24th place out of the 528 teams competing this year in the state of Michigan. This earned them an invitation to the state district championship at Saginaw Valley State University on April 3-5 where the top 160 teams compete for a state title and the potential to advance to the world championships in Houston, Texas from April 17-19.
Because of the large number of teams in Michigan, the top 80 teams at the end of the state championships will receive invitations to Houston.