FIRST Robotics a crowd-pleaser at Belleville High School

Although some of the people who came to the FIRST Robotics competition at Belleville High School last weekend didn’t understand all the details, here is what happened.
At the end of match play, the top eight teams were given the task of picking an alliance to compete in the playoff matches. In the style of picking teams for a playground baseball game, these teams each chose two other teams from the remaining field of 41 teams to form the alliances.
The quarterfinal, semi-final, and finals were all best 2 of 3 matches, and unlike the match play where alliances changed from match to match, the alliances during the playoff matches remained constant.
While 24 teams played in the quarterfinals and while Belleville finished in 17th place, they were not selected by any of the first eight to be part of their alliance. However, because of an issue with the robot from Dundee, Belleville, by virtue of being the highest ranking team not selected, was pressed into service to replace the disabled robot. They competed in the second quarterfinal match but did not progress to the semi-finals.
In the end, the alliance of teams from Grosse Pointe North High School / Grosse Pointe South High School (The Gearheads), Plymouth Christian Academy (The Atoms Family), and Mercy Education Project (Mercy Midnight Storm) prevailed, defeating Southgate Anderson High School (Titans), Memphis High School (Jacked Up Jackets), and Greenhills School (The Lawnmowers) in two close matches.
The feedback received from several participants and volunteers about the event itself was very positive. We hope the community received a bit of a boost during the competition, and we hope to secure even more sponsors for both the team and event next year. We are looking forward to hosting again!
For the result details, go to www.firstinmichigan.org, select FRC Events from the drop-down menu bar, and pick the 2018 season to get a listing of all district tournaments for this year. The Belleville district is about half way down the list.
– Mark Laginess