The Lytle Junior High TechnoPirates participated in the first meet of its robotics competition season Saturday. The team traveled to McCollum High School to the South San Antonio Metro League Meet where it competed with 15 other high schools and middle schools from around San Antonio. The TechnoPirates suffered from several technical problems that caused the robot to lose power and cost them two matches. A penalty called on their robot cost them their third match and a loose gear brought them down in another.
The highlight of the competition, however, came when TechnoPirates robot driver Faustino Ruiz grabbed a high-scoring element and rushed across the field with it in the robot's claw and threw it out of the game field to score 40 points - the only team of 35 that competed all day to accomplish the feat. Many in the crowd watching the match jumped to their feet and cheered the Lytle team for finally showing it could be done.
At the end of the meet, the disappointing losses left the TechnoPirates in 11th place of 15 teams. The meet is only the first of five, however, and the team will have time to make up the difference before the final championship meet Jan. 27.
