Blue Devils
It was the Blue Devils on top again Saturday night at San Antonio's Alamodome following the conclusion of the DCI Southwestern Championship. The Devils continued their undefeated streak, clinching their victory with a first place finish in the General Effect and Visual captions for a score of 92.375, good for the gold medal. The Cavaliers (90.975) seized the silver medal, while Carolina Crown (90.025), hot off its victory in Orlando last Saturday, took the bronze. These three medalists recording scores in the 90s tonight, marks the first point in the 2008 season that barrier has been passed. When asked where the Blue Devils would be headed with their production, "Constantly Risking Absurdity," executive director David Gibbs said, "I wouldn't even know how to predict this show. We're still at about 70 percent. There are a lot of things we need to add, and fix, and do at this point, and there are some pretty good changes we're going to put in this week coming into Murfreesboro and Atlanta." Gibbs also talked about the successes and challenges of performing an intentionally "absurd" show. He said, "The corps is just doing really well, and the members are very talented. They're on a really nice roll getting a handle on this production and really getting comfortable with it."

The Cavaliers
 
The Cavaliers, now opening their show with a full-fledged duel between two authentically-costumed samurai, received an enthusiastic response from the Texas audience tonight. Cavaliers color guard captain William Martin said, "Tonight the energy on the field stuck out, more so than any costume, more so than any uniform. The guys pulled together, in the color guard as well as the corps as a whole. We had a lot of energy. After the show there were some tears shed, almost like it was Finals night, so it felt really good." Phantom Regiment (4th, 89.775) took top honors in percussion as well as the entire music caption this evening. The Cadets (5th, 88.725) couldn't be passed by the Bluecoats (6th, 86.650), but the team from Canton did edge out the Santa Clara Vanguard (7th, 86.425). The top qualifying corps from the afternoon competition, the Blue Knights (8th, 82.700), passed up the Boston Crusaders (9th, 82.450), while the Blue Stars (10th, 80.675), Glassmen (11th, 79.950) and hometown Crossmen (12th, 77.275) rounded out tonight's competition. The top eight corps from tonight's competition will compete at the end of this upcoming week at Pearl Presents the Masters of the Summer Music Games in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Following that, all of DCI's World Class corps will meet up for the second time this season at the DCI Southeastern Championship, held Saturday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. This is the most pivotal point in the season, where the last substantial changes to shows are made and a corps could gain enough momentum to shake things up in the standings en route to the 2008 World Championships in Bloomington, Ind.