On Saturday, February 15th, 2025, the Robotics Club hosted the Sonoran Last Chance Qualifier in the McConnell Gym. The tournament hosted 37 teams and had 58 qualifier matches before the bracket round, where 16 groups competed for the Tournament Championship awards. It was the final tournament of the season, which made it the last chance for teams to qualify for the State Championships.
Sahuaro entered three teams into the tournament: Goal Dozer, HelloKittyKillJoy, and the all-girls team, VEXVERGENT. Mr. Davis and Mr. Christain have trained these three teams this season to compete in four different tournaments throughout the year and were the sole reason this tournament and our first tournament ran so smoothly.
The teams started to arrive around 8 a.m., went through an inspection, got their bots in order, and then it was time for the drivers’ meeting, where Mr. Christian explained the rules of the game.
After the rundown of the rules, the qualifying matches came to a raging start. Our all-girls team (92610D) was the first of our teams to compete, and they won with a score of 20-7 in qualifier round 2. When going into a match, there are two teams on each side (red and blue sides) who ally to play the other two teams.
When going into a match, there are two teams on each side (red and blue sides) who ally to play the other two teams. Their alliance partners were Neurological Dead Zone (24755B), whose driver, Micah Hoffard, said, “This is like my fourth year doing this, so I’ve been to a lot of schools…I like this one” referring to Sahuaro’s welcoming environment. Micah went on to say, “I feel like it’s a big game changer because it kind of gives the environment a much more positive spin to it.”
Then came HelloKittyKillJoy (92610A), whose bot went through some unfortunate mishaps before the tournament, as well as losing the main driver that day. The impromptu driver, Jonny Garcia, said that he disputes the worries: “Having people with me made me forget how scary it was, and I had a good time even if I didn’t win every round.” Fortunately, they won their first match of the night with a score of 14-9 in qualifying round 5.
Our third team, Goal Dozer (92610B), started off the night in the 5th qualifier as well, against their sister team. They lost their first match but ended up winning two others throughout the night and made it into the bracket.
Though the matches are the main priority, most teams focus on the skills aspect, which qualifies them for the state meet on March 7th and 8th. If you are in the top 50 teams, you automatically qualify, but there are many other ways. If you win a tournament, you automatically qualify for state no matter your skills ranking. The other way is to win the Excellence and Robot Skills Champion awards.
Nearing the end of the day, the alliance picks for the Elimination Bracket started. How it works is each team sends down a representative to pick the alliance you want until the finals. It goes down the list from the 1st-ranked to the 37th, and only 36 teams/ and 18 alliances go into the bracket.
Our girls’ team was ranked 9th and decided to team up with their first alliance of the night, Neurological Dead Zone, because of the great chemistry and teamwork they displayed throughout the first round.
Goal Dozer was ranked 22nd and only made it to the first round of elimination. They were taken out of the bracket by their sister team, VEXVERGENT, and their alliance partners.
Our other team, HelloKittyKillJoy, was ranked 34th at the time of elimination and, unfortunately, didn’t make it into the bracket. Their ending record of the night was 1-5 and didn’t really get any big wins throughout the night because of their broken robot.
VEXVERGENT competed in the fourth elimination round and won 20-7. Going into the Quarter Finals match 2, they won 6-0. Now that they were in the top 4 teams, their opponents were ranked 1st and 2nd. They sadly lost the Semi Final with a score of 44-10.
Now all that was left were the awards. Categories are Tournament Champion (which goes out to the two teams in the alliance that win finals), Judges Award, Excellence Award, Robot Skills Champion, and Design Award. None of our teams won a trophy, but the chances were high with our all-girls team getting a second interview.
Now that the last tournament is over, our robotic teams are focusing on organizing their workshop, putting down ground rules for next season, and patiently waiting for the VEX game reveal in April where they upload the criteria and rules for next season’s game. Congratulations to all of the winners and best of luck to the teams next year.
