BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — On a night that featured nine of 2018’s finalists and saw four of the top five corps separated by just over 2.5 points, Bluecoats remained undefeated by a strong margin at Tuesday’s DCI Broken Arrow event.
1. Bluecoats » 89.375
2. Blue Devils » 88.725
3. Santa Clara Vanguard » 88.050
Bluecoats earned first place in each major caption, and nearly swept all subcaptions were it not for percussion, which went to Santa Clara Vanguard, with Blue Devils a close second. Tuesday also marked the Canton corps’ first time beating Blue Devils head-to-head since its lone World Championship-winning season in 2016.
After back-to-back meetings separated by five hundredths of a point — both of which went the way of the Concord corps — Blue Devils gained a little more breathing room from Santa Clara Vanguard.
The two were split by 0.65 points Tuesday night, with Blue Devils’ main advantage coming in general effect. Vanguard earned an edge in music by less than a tenth of a point, while falling just behind its fellow Bay Area competitor in visual.
4. Carolina Crown » 86.850
5. Boston Crusaders » 86.150
6. The Cavaliers » 84.350
Carolina Crown only beat the Boston Crusaders in one of the three overall captions, but its resounding music scores were enough to top Boston Crusaders for the second straight meeting. The overall gap, compared to the 0.85 points that separated the two Saturday in Memphis, was three tenths smaller, largely due to Boston’s head-to-head wins in general effect and visual.
On top of its advantage over Carolina Crown in multiple major captions, Boston finished as high as second in color guard, a caption it won overall for the first time in 2018.
In comparison to the top portion of Tuesday’s standings, Crown and Boston both continue to hang right behind the top three; the margins separating the two from third-place Vanguard are both significantly lower than they were at any point in 2018.
There was certainly a decent distance between fifth and sixth places, but The Cavaliers had a handful of standout marks on the scoresheets — including a percussion caption that defeated Boston head-to-head — keeping things relatively close.
7. The Cadets » 82.300
8. Blue Stars » 81.900
9. Phantom Regiment » 79.100
The Cadets and Blue Stars had one of the more intriguing races of the night, largely when it came to the breakdown of caption scores.
In general effect? Tied. In visual? Tied. Brass and music analysis? Both airtight.
But in percussion, which continues to be a major boon for the Allentown corps, The Cadets defeated the Blue Stars by a resounding 1.1 points, ultimately earning fifth overall in the caption. Essentially, The Cadets’ entire lead of fourth tenths over the Wisconsin corps came in percussion.
That said, Blue Stars continue to be a sleeper; the gap between themselves and The Cadets is the closest they’ve been all season, not to mention the closest they’ve been in more than 30 years, beating a previous low of 1.15 set last month in Zionsville.
For Phantom Regiment, the corps nearly passed 80 points for the first time this season, with strengths lying in the color guard and visual proficiency captions.
With one of the most highly-anticipated events of the 2019 season to date in the books, all of Tuesday night’s corps will continue south for a week’s worth of events in the Lone Star State.
