From March 22 through 25, we competed at the Iowa Regional in Cedar Falls, Iowa. It was the first time our team attended a second regional in one season, and our first time competing at a regional outside Minnesota. We arrived determined to perform even better than at our last competition and to qualify for the FIRST Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.
After nine qualification matches, we were ranked 3rd out of 54 teams. As the third alliance captain, we invited the Metal Mustangs from Overland Park, Kansas, and the PioNerds from St. Paul, Minnesota, to “chill with us” during eliminations.
Quarterfinals
We faced the sixth-ranked alliance, led by our friends at Denfeld DNA Robotics. We won the first two matches to move on to the semifinals.
An unprecedented semifinal
Our alliance then faced the second-ranked alliance. We won the first match, tied the next three, lost the fifth, and then won the sixth tiebreaker match. People across the robotics community talked about that semifinal for the next week.
Finals
In the finals we faced the first-ranked alliance, which included another Northland team, the Duluth East Daredevils. We lost the first match, but our drive team pulled it together and won the next two!
That victory made us the Iowa Regional Champions and earned us a spot at the FIRST Championship in St. Louis. We are incredibly proud of the drive team that helped us climb to the top!