Thrills and Skills: Thetford Academy Robotics Shines at Haunted Harvest Tournament
November 09, 2025
The air at Thetford Academy was electric with the sounds of whirring motors this past weekend as the school hosted its second annual Haunted Harvest Vex Robotics Tournament. The event saw teams from across the region gather for a day of intense competition, but it was the home teams that truly stole the show.
Thetford Academy was well-represented, fielding an impressive eight teams—six from the high school and two from the middle school. As the day progressed, the friendly competition grew fiercer, with each match becoming more strategic and hard-fought, leading to a nail-biting conclusion that had spectators on the edge of their seats.
The final match was an all-Thetford affair on one side of the court, creating a thrilling hometown showdown. The alliance of TA’s own 4886S String Theory (Connor Kutter-Walker, Duncan MacPhee) and 4886Y Yogurt (Rowan Moody-A’ness, Jay Hill, Aiden Ouelette, Tristan Woodward, Lucca Huling) faced off against the formidable alliance of TA’s 4886B Brainstorm (Bennett Mellen, Connor Sansom, Brycen Crossett) and 77275B Hello Kitty from Spark Academy.
The championship match was a tense, back-and-forth battle. With the clock ticking down, the outcome hung in the balance. In a stunning display of skill and quick thinking, Duncan MacPhee of team String Theory executed a brilliant maneuver in the final seconds, de-scoring a large number of opponent points to clinch the victory for his alliance. The crowd erupted as the final buzzer sounded, cementing the win for teams 4886S and 4886Y and qualifying them both for the NH/VT Vex Regional Tournament in February.
Thetford Academy’s success didn’t stop with the tournament title. The school’s robotics program swept all but one award, a testament to the students’ hard work and innovation:
- Innovate Award: 4886A Arachnid (Meredith Sloop, Peter Horan, Ira Corbett, Zac Adams)
- Vex Tournament Champions: 4886Y Yogurt and 4886S String Theory
- Robot Skills Champion: 4886S String Theory
- Excellence Award: 4886S String Theory (the highest award in Vex Robotics)
Congratulations to all the Thetford Academy teams for their incredible performance and to the TA community for hosting another successful and exciting tournament! We can’t wait to see what you achieve during the rest of the regular season and at States.
