All-age drum and bugle corps sanctioning body Drum Corps Associates (DCA) marked its 50th anniversary over the Labor Day holiday, with an action-packed weekend of celebration and competition in Rochester, New York. Sitting in third place after the preliminary competition at Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester, the Reading (Pa.) Buccaneers rallied to take home the 2014 DCA World Championship title on Sunday, Aug. 31. Nine tenths of a point behind the Caballeros of Hawthorne, New Jersey after Saturday’s Prelims, the Buccaneers grabbed the gold medal with a score of 97.55 out of 100 points, doing what they’ve done 12 other times in DCA history. Even after a one-point penalty assessed during the Finals, the Caballeros would have come up short on the surging Bucs, having to settle for third place with a score of 95.53. That put them behind members of the Minnesota Brass who scored 96.53, to take second place. Both the Caballeros and Minnesota Brass are former DCA World Champions, with their most recent titles won in 2003 and 2011 respectively. 2014 marks the Buccaneers’ third straight title after Minnesota’s win three years ago broke up the Bucs’ six-year streak. Other Open Class finalists included Fusion Core (4th, 94.40), Cadets2 (5th, 92.60), Atlanta CV (6th, 92.40), Bushwackers (7th, 89.80), Hurricanes (8th, 87.35), Carolina Gold (9th, 85.20) and Alliance (10th, 84.05).
In A-Class competition, the White Sabers of Dansville, New York took home their second-straight DCA Championship title, outscoring the nearest competition by more than four and a half points. The corps finished with first-place marks across all captions adding up to a final score of 88.60. Other Class A corps that advanced to the Finals competition included the Govenaires (2nd, 83.98), Sun Devils (3rd, 81.00) and Cincinnati Tradition (4th, 75.05). View all scores from the 2014 DCA World Championships.
