Nemesis Soars Through the FMA District Championship
Nemesis soared through this year’s First Mid-Atlantic competition. The championship, hosted at Lehigh University, was the first regional event Nemesis attended since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event, spanning over 3 days, was packed with 60 teams, almost double that of Nemesis’ other district events! The first day was made up of 33 qualifier matches, of which Nemesis played and won 3, setting a high score in their first game, along with team 1807, and team 316. This high score would last until the late end of day 3! The second day began with a win, but was followed by a narrow defeat. Just 3 points separated our team from its fifth win. Nemesis’ third match for the day also saw a defeat for our team. Nemesis, undaunted, proceeded to win the next two matches. For our final match of the day, however, our robot unexpectedly shut off early in the game, leaving our alliance with just 2 robots. Despite great efforts from our partners, the disadvantage of only running two robots in the match left us with a stinging defeat to end the day.
In spite of this, we were confident in our position for the third day of competing. A strategy meeting was held at the end of the second day, in which our scouting team used our extensive and precise scouting data to determine the strengths and weaknesses of every team, including our own. We developed scenarios based on the potential placements of each team, and how it would impact the alliance selection process.
The third day saw us gain an additional 3 wins before the qualifiers came to a close. We ended the qualifiers ranked 6th with an amazing record of 9-3. The first seed team 5895, Peddie Robotics, chose us as their first pick, followed by team 1923, MidKnight Robotics. Peddie was also our alliance partner at Seneca, and we proved to be an excellent combination, going undefeated in the district playoffs.
With an outstanding alliance assembled, we prepared for what would be an intense and all-important playoff series. The quarter finals saw our alliance win the first 2 matches of our series, with triple digit scores in both! The semi-finals opened with a win for Nemesis, followed by a close defeat. The tie breaker game would decide whether we went to the finals or not, and it seemed as if time itself slowed as the match progressed. When the dust cleared, our alliance scored 143 points, shattering the competition record. This brilliant display of teamwork and coordination sent us to the finals to face off against the second seed alliance, made up of teams 2539, the Krypton Cougars, 341, Miss Daisy, and 1914, the MidKnight Inventors.
The first finals match saw our alliance narrowly steal victory from the jaws of defeat, by a margin of just 3 points, with a single penalty by our opponents pushing us to the finish line. The second match was critical: if we won, we’d be the winners of the First Mid-Atlantic District Championship and go straight to Houston for the World Championship. Robots sped across the field, balls zoomed in the air, and screams of joy echoed through the stands. We won! The whole stadium seemed to shake from the roars of our victory. We had clinched a spot to Houston in the most exciting way possible. We commend our opponents in Alliance 2, all of whom are excited to attend Worlds. Their incredible grit and skill was apparent throughout the competition. The rest of the teams were clearly very talented and skillful, as seen through the event.
The awards ceremony ensued, as our team eagerly awaited the announcement of all of the awards. The award our team most coveted was the Engineering Inspiration Award. This award recognizes a team for their excellent efforts in expanding engineering, something our team has worked tirelessly to do since our inception. The air seemed to thicken as the suspense intensified. Finally, the judges announced “Our Engineering Inspiration winner: Nemesis 2590!”. We are excited for Houston, and can’t wait to spread our wings again after 3 long years.