Forty teams compete at FIRST Robotics Competition at BHS

From March 12 to 15, the FIRST Robotics state district competition for 2025 was held at Belleville High School and drew a large crowd. There were 40 teams, including Belleville High School’s Bellevillians, and the robots the teams created did a variety of activities to make points.
BHS ranked #17 of the 40 in points for this competition.
Mentor Mark Laginess clarified the competition: “Belleville finished 17 in the qualifying rounds and was selected to play in the playoff round as part of the third alliance. They played through the winners’ bracket of the double-elimination format until the last match when their alliance scored 214 points — and lost! 214 would have won probably any other match on the day. They then won in the losers’ bracket to play a best 2 of 3 rematch with the first alliance, and they lost both matches, finishing second overall.”