John Bapst and Cape Robotics shared the co-title of Tournament Champions at the 2019 VEX Maine state competition Saturday, February 23 in South Portland. The competition was held at the Point Community Center. Both teams are now invited, along with three other teams, to represent the State of Maine in Louisville Kentucky during the last full week in April competing with 575 other high school teams from all over the world. More than 200 middle and high school students participated in the south Portland event.
The state robotics competition was an all day affair for the John Bapst Robotics Team, with 50 top teams from all over the state battling for a title. Only six teams were selected to represent the State of Maine on the world stage. Qualifiers lasted for 100 rounds, with each team getting eight shots at making their mark. In the end, two of John Bapst’s four teams in attendance – team 2142E and team 2142D – placed 6th and 9th respectively. In final alliances, both teams had left good impressions on their peers and were selected by the first and second place teams as partners. Team 2142D was picked the number one team from Biddeford, and team 2142E was picked by the number two team from Cape Elizabeth.
Fourteen additional team alliances were formed and final battles began, with 15 sudden death matches played. Both alliances swept through their first match on the round of 16. In the quarter finals, the number one seeded team, Elm Street Vault from Biddeford and Loong from John Bapst were taken down in an upset loss. Team 2142D became disabled as it slid off of a platform and tipped over at the very beginning of the match. It was a stunning blow as the 8th seed unseated the 1st seed in a dramatic turn. The second seed easily defeated their opponent in their second match up. The field was now narrowed to four alliances. John Bapst and Cape Robotics faced a fierce fight from a two-team alliance from York High School. When the dust settled, it appeared that 2142E and Cape had been taken down in another upset victory. The score tallied at 26 to 8. But an intense conference ensued between match officials. After ten minutes of tense waiting, event organizers announced that the team from York was to be disqualified due to an illegal maneuver which caused the Cape robot to be incapacitated for the majority of the match.
John Bapst’s “The Flat Earth Society” robot 2142E stood beside Cape Robotics “The Long Earth Society” team and their robot 56J for a tense two minute strategic competition. In the end, John Bapst and Cape Robotics endured in a close match of 22 to 15.
