"It's really neat when you are whipping up on those high school kids," Bevers said as botball does not have grade level distinctions. He also said the Norman High team has shown his students what is possible and given them a positive example to follow.

"When someone else does well, they see it and want to emulate it," he said. "It helps them out a lot that it's someone local."

Whittier may want to imitate Norman High's feats, but they won't abandon their trademark of creating consistent, simple and sturdy robots.

"We try to find one or two things and then do them to perfection," said Bevers, a five-year botball sponsor. Whittier won the Keep It Simple Stupid award for their point scoring machine last year.

In a twist this year, the middle school will feature two teams including an all-girls squad that Bevers will oversee.

Eighth grade team leader Tori Crandall, 13, is in her second year of botball and prefers the all-girl setting and the challenge to build robots.

"Sometimes boys can be a little dominating," she explained. "They take your jobs and tease you. Girls are easier to work and communicate with."

The split between the genders also allows Whittier to have smaller botball learning communities. Seventh-grader Liz Hodgson, 12, said it makes it easier to learn the programming and building.

"You get to think," she said. "You get to participate a lot more, and you get to do more things."

The team will have an opportunity in March to see if girl power will be enough to outduel Norman High.

"Oh yeah, I want to beat (Norman High)," Crandall said. "I'm very competitive."

NNHS also will enter the regional tournament in Oklahoma City, but they don't want to turn the contest into another Crosstown Clash.

"I don't think about it," said freshman Nick Napoli, 15, of facing Norman High. "Our goal is not to beat Norman High. It's to do well and build the best robots we can."

That's the attitude second-year sponsor Kevin Warren likes to hear out of his young team. He said the freshmen from Whittier have energized the squad and added the necessary numbers that led to organization and a wealth of ideas.

"I don't care if we beat Norman High," he said. "It's just as exciting to see something work because they had to come together as a team. It means they worked well as a team and something came out right."