When the robotics community in Minnesota talks about great teams, Becker’s FRC 4607 is always mentioned as one of the top programs courtesy of excellent students, quality mentors and coaches and very good robots.
After winning its third MSHSL state title Saturday at Williams Arena, Becker Robotics cemented itself as a truly elite team that now is one of just three squads in Minnesota with three state titles.
“This title was different for me because we were the team that everyone else had to lean on,” Coach Alex Jurek said. “We didn’t lose a match once the playoffs started. This year, we have the best team in the state.”
Team 5172 from Greenbush and team 2052 from Irondale also have three state titles in team history, and on Saturday, Jurek looked across the playing field and saw those team teams - plus 3276 from New London (perhaps the second best 2024 team in Minnesota) - lined up as part of the “dream team” alliance that Becker would have to defeat to claim the title.
Becker was teamed up with 2129 from Minneapolis Southwest and 6147 from Mound; neither team had ever played in the state playoffs.
“On paper, I’m sure everyone thought that it was going to be a rout for the other team,” Jurek said.
Becker made it to the finals against the three heavyweights by scoring an opening round 101-100 victory over the #4 alliance although the intake on the 2129 robot was completely obliterated. Becker then picked up a back-up team, 3018 from St. Peter to give the alliance a full trio of robots heading into the semifinals. There, 4607’s alliance was again victorious, 135-107 over the “dream team”.
That alliance then won its loser’s bracket match to come back in a best two of three series against Becker and its alliance partners for the trophy. Becker’s alliance won both finals’ matches, 91-71 and 101-98 to claim the MSHSL State Title.
“The state title was all about our Seniors, all 14 of them, who are all really good at their jobs,” Jurek said. “We won the first one in 2013 and you think it might be easy, but it took us ten years to get state title number two (2022).”
This season, Becker showed great poise and engineering ability in its robot, Nightmare, which performed at an elite level all year, including at last month’s World Championships. In the finals, Jurek said his team had a calming influence on the alliance partners.
“We were the veteran team,” Jurek said. “One of our mentors, Eric McCalla, said it best, stating that it wasn’t how we won, but who we won it with.”
Jurek said the team from Mound played “choke-out” defense, employing a game piece depravation strategy that foiled the plans of the offensive juggernauts from the other alliance.
Becker’s drive team was able to adapt to a different game plan in the finals, showing great diversity in being able to compete at an elite level in all game aspects.
“Having our three teams together on the same alliance was serendipitous, because in the end we complimented each other so well,” Jurek said. “People were calling us the alliance of the misfits because no one would expect us to play so well together.”
With the title, Becker accomplished the rarity - a robotics program with three state titles. Because each year’s game challenge is so different, it’s extremely difficult and unusual for teams to sustain a high level of excellence over a period of years. But Jurek credits his senior class for being leaders and ensuring the season was full of high expectations.
“It was so much fun being around this team because for them, this was their capstone,” Jurek said. “This group of seniors is the reason we still exist as a team; coming out of covid and not having competitions for that extended period was very difficult.”
For the students on the team, the State Title was the culmination of hundreds and hundreds of hours of work.
“Winning state for robotics was an amazing experience but didn’t come without its challenges,” said senior Isaac Wentland, the robot driver. “It’s amazing to have all the hours and hours of hard work this year pay off with a regional win and state win.”
