Aidan Maher, Dylan Charles, Autumn Stone, Kreade Stenersen, Dallas Charles, Kimi Leone, and Azrielle Stenersen pose for a photo after receiving the Judges Choice award. Credit: MARK STONE / For the Ledger-Transcript 
Hot Wings high fives superintendent Ruben Duncan and activities director Heather Linstead post match. Credit: MARK STONE / For the Ledger-Transcript 
Autumn Stone, Dylan Charles, Kimi Leone, and Dallas Charles take a dance break with a referee and FIRST Volunteer. Credit: MARK STONE / For the Ledger-Transcript 
Left to right: Aidan Maher, Dallas and Dylan Charles, and Kimi Leone plan out strategy pre match. Credit: MARK STONE / For the Ledger-Transcript 
Kimi Leone loads artifacts into team 25856 Shapleigh Cyber Sharks’ robot while Dylan Charles, Dallas Charles, and Kreade Stenersen drive Hot Wings’ robot Trilobit. Credit: MARK STONE / For the Ledger-Transcript
The Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative Middle High School FIRST Robotics team, Hot Wings, won the Judge’s Choice Award for Gracious Professionalism in the New Hampshire State Championship in Concord on Saturday.
The team placed eighth out of 28 teams during the regular matches. In playoffs, paired with another team as an alliance, the team placed fifth.
With its eighth-place finish, the team advances to one of multiple invitational tournaments held in June, with the location yet to be determined.
This year’s game, DECODE, is part of the FIRST Age theme, celebrating archaeology and history. Teams race to collect “artifacts,” which are multi-colored, oversized wiffle balls, and launch them into a scoring goal. Bonus points are awarded to teams that successfully sequence the artifacts in a randomly generated color pattern, adding an extra layer of strategy and precision.