2015 CAS/NE FIRST Connecticut State Championship

[MooreteP]

What a great State Championship.

Thank you to the Connecticut Association of Schools for providing Recognition of Robotics commensurate with other High School sports.

Congratulations to the winning alliance of 2067 Apple Pi, 228 GUS, and 3146 Granby Grunts, Augustus Pius Gruntus. Three exciting Final matches where small miscues on either alliance made the difference.
Canburgling was not as extreme as it was on Einstein, but the strategies were more creative. I asked Apple Pi, "Did you always have that autonomous?" A: "As of 5 minutes ago. Apple Pi is full of sweet surprises." Their RC showdown with the Cyberknights was most entertaining.
GUS hadn't shown this kind of gameplay all season, but today, all of the sudden, they were making a minimum of two capped six-stacks consistently by the playoffs.
Granby Grunts really bookended their season, starting with their first competition win in Springfield, being on the 6th seeded Galileo alliance, and being the second pick steal by the third alliance today. A very inspirational year for them indeed.

The finalists of 2836 Team Beta, 195 Cyberknights, and 1071 Team Max, the BetaMax Knights, put up a valiant fight, but in the end, ramp misalignment and tether issues were their downfall. Team Beta has been a consistent bridesmaid, reaching a high point this year as the #1 seed on Galileo, but still missing a competition win. Cyberknights now have an effective can burglar, but they need to tether another team (in todays competition, it was Team Max) to their ramp. Most interesting cheesecake to date.

One of my favorite moments was when 181 Birds of Prey received the Connecticut's Choice Award, voted on by each team at the competition. I knew it was coming, so I got to see the surprise and joy on their faces when it was announced.

A quick one day competition where each team had 7 matches.

A hearty thanks to 155 The Technonuts, and the other teams that helped to run the event, as well as Stacey Gray, David Givens, and Carol Scully, who organized one of the more successful events to close out our season.