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App Inventor can assist in the basic's but is no better when complex auto actions are required. There has to be a better paradigm. The goal of FIRST is to bring more kids into technology. This current system could potentially push all but the best away at an early age. I don't have the answer but am sure this is not it. Now for teams that are high school level this may not be too bad. 7 and 8th graders, No.
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For Middle Schoolers, FIRST offers FLL with the EV3 GUI-based programming environment. For Middle and High Schoolers, FIRST offers FTC with AppInventor, a hybrid GUI/Text programming environment, and Java, a full fledged advanced text programming environment.
What I'm trying to suggest is that middle schoolers with no programming experience or only experience with GUI-type programming like Scratch, Labview, etc., may be better served doing FTC with AppInventor or FLL with EV3 programming. High schoolers taking AP-CS are better served with Java and Android Studio.
My opinion only: if you go with Java, you have chosen the most advanced programming environment for your 7th and 8th graders, and you are expecting them to be able to perform complex auto actions that are competitive with advanced FTC high school teams. ("Smart but not geniuses." "Right know I have 2 students that are good enough to take this on. Unfortunately, the rest are most likely going to be blown away and give up on programming." "App Inventor can assist in the basic's but is no better when complex auto actions are required.")
I would humbly suggest that some options are:
1. Stick with FTC and Java which only your top 2 students can do, be as competitive as possible, but leave many of your team members out of programming.
2. Try FTC and AppInventor, get all of the kids learning how to do it, and perhaps sacrifice a bit of competitiveness when it comes to autonomous routines, but have a kick-butt teleop with simple autonomous routines and a full team of kids who are engaged and contributing to the programming.
3. Have some of the kids who aren't the best programmers consider doing an FLL team (instead of or in addition to FTC). They may be jazzed by the simpler EV3 programming environment, may get more turned on by technology and programming, and may be more motivated to move towards FTC and advanced programming in future years.
How you decide to balance all of this is your choice, of course. But I might humbly suggest that perhaps the expectation that your "non genius" 7th and 8th graders will be able to compete with complex autonomous routines against advanced high schoolers who have been coding in Java for multiple years might be contributing to some of your frustrations?
I'm not trying to be "flame-y": hopefully it's not coming across that way. I'm just trying to point out that there are other options out there to you and to others in your situation who might be reading this thread.