We want to congratulate all participants to the FIRST Tech Challenge Regional and extend our gratitude to the game host and the smooth games.
Nov 18th, we experienced many FIRSTs at the FIRST Tech Challenge. Just a word of caution, it is always easy to brag if you are successful.
We met early in the morning around 6 a.m. to pack everything and leave for the FIRST Arizona/New Mexico Regional Qualifier. It is the first time we are at the first regional (our 1st 1st). I know that ValleyX (World Champions of 2015) are not at this competition; however, the Jaegers who advanced to the World Division Finals in 2016 and the Wolves are here. After some electrical hick-ups, the pit was set-up in no time. The games started on time (another FIRST… kind of), we received our game schedule, and except for the last game where we play against the Jaegers, the opponents seem reasonable. We play six games with only five counting towards the qualifier points. Our FIRST game started with a funny problem, we elected the blue instead of the red autonomous, ended up entirely wrong, and did not score points – this is not a first. However luckily for us, our partner and we pulled it off, and we barely win which is good in FIRST Competition Qualifiers. One win, three more potential wins (playing against Jaegers is a calculated lost. The second game is a LOST? According to the judges, we lost 38 to 42 points. However, both of our alliance robots ended in the save zone after autonomous (10 points each), and we stopped on the balance board at the end of the game, so we should have a minimum of 40 points. I asked the team captain to request a clarification of the score. The Judges missed 10 points, and we ended up winning. Another FIRST at FIRST: the games advance smoothly, and the lunch break starts 30 minutes early. All other games went smoothly. The fourth qualifier game is with the Jaegers; we had hit the high score with 181 (another FIRST with scoring that high in the first regional). In the last game where we are facing off against the Jaegers. Up to now, we were always among the top four teams, which is a nice experience for a change. After a nail-biting competition against the Jaegers, we await the scoring. We gave them a run for their money, and we should not lose too badly. After painful minutes, the score came in with 111:102 for The Paragon Panthers. We won against the Jaegers (another FIRST) and ended up as NUMBER ONE after the qualifiers and the only team that won all of their games today – 
thank you Jaegers. After all of this excitement, the alliance selection had surprises, our preferred partner Jaegers will choose their mentored junior team and are not available for an alliance, while we know this, out of courtesy, we asked them, and then we choose the Wolves as our alliance partner. The Jaegers are choosing their mentored team as a partner, which took their captain by surprise. After some convincing from the audience, they finally agreed. Most likely, we will face the Jaegers in the finals. The semifinals games were easy, and we reached the finals facing off against the Jaegers. We went to the “slaughterhouse”, the Jaegers released all of their furies on us and obliterated us 228:88 and another 200+:~100 score. There is no shame losing against the Jaegers. During the award ceremonies, we recevied the PTC Design Award, the 3rd place in Think Award and the finalist alliance captain award (another FIRST for us so early in the games). We ranked number seven on the advancement order list, with only three advances for this competition, which means, the probability of advancing is ZERO – so I thought. I am in for a huge surprise:
Thank you Queen Creek for hosting!
- 1st Inspire Award: Jaegers (pre-qualified)
- Winning Alliance Captain: Jaegers (pre-qualified)
- 2nd Inspire Award: Wolves (pre-qualified)
- Winning Alliance 1st pick: 1st team to advance
- 3rd Inspire Award: Beep Patrol (I believe), 2nd team to advance
- Think Award Winner: don’t remember but already advanced or pre-qualified
- Finalist Alliance Captain: #12241 Paragon Panthers
Another FIRST: we qualify for state at the first competition.
- Participating at the 1st regional
- Games started on time
- Games run so smoothly; the lunch break starts 30 minutes early
- multiple 150+ points games at the 1st competition (in general they range in the 40s – 60s)
- Winning against the Jaegers – we were so lucky
- Ranking #1 after all qualification games
- Qualifying to State competition at the 1st competition
The finalist Alliance: alliance captain Panther Robotics #12241 and their partner The Wolves #5661