South Super Regionals Day Three, 2018

By Ethan, Evan, Kenna, Charlotte, Austin, Karina, Janavi, Abhi, Tycho, Justin, and Christian

Task: Finish SSR and attend awards ceremony

It was the final day. Tumbleweeds drifted over the land, rolling and turning through the abandoned Athens streets. Over the horizon, a dust cloud rose, brown and shifting and twisting, speckled with the detritus of an abandoned city, flashing and siezing, lighting up the city through its inky blackness, devoid of all light. Under these auspices, with the flashing lights of the looming cloud highlighting every crack, every pore of our grim, stone-cold faces, we trekked through these dark streets, against the cold, whipping winds blowing in, through the debris and detritus of the lost, fallen FTC teams that succumbed to the biting winds and the shooting lightning. Through these harrowing conditions, we perservered and arrived at the fabled Classic Center, the home of all southern FTC teams' dreams, and their doom.

We started out with our 2-5-0 record, so we didn't have a great outlook on alliance selection or for the tournament in general. However, through our discussion the night before, we decided to give our newer team members a shot at driving and working on the robot. So, Justin and Karina became the main drivers for the day, since we didn't have much to lose.

Match 70

We lost this match, 379-267. Even though we lost, we did way better than expected, so this is still a win in our hearts. Had we executed our autonomous correctly, we could've won this match, or at least gotten closer and impressed more people.

Match 78

We won this match, 388-348. It definitely helped that we were partnered with the top team in our division, but it was certainly a morale booster overall. This ended the SSR with a 3-6 record.

With the fresh feeling of defeat in our hearts, as we didn't stand a chance of actually getting picked, we went to a nice italian restruant and talked about potential plans while eating good food. If you ever have the chance, eat at Depalmas Italian Cafe.

We walked back to the tournament, bellies full of prosciutto and cheese, reasonably not confident for our chances to advance to worlds. So, we sat in the stands, waiting, hoping that our names would be called (except for the Promote Award, ours is kind of embarrassing). As we slowly slipped into deep slumber, we heard a but a whisper from the announcer, "And the 2nd place Innovate Award goes to............Team 6832 Iron Reign!". And so, we advanced to Worlds, and rode off into the sunset.