Competitive Edge: July 1-7, 2019

Bluecoats stand tall: For the first time since early in 2017, Bluecoats defeated Santa Clara Vanguard head-to-head, by 0.65 points, Friday in Lisle. Then, over the next two days, they did it again, twice. Each time, the Canton corps’ leads grew slightly — first to 0.8 in Whitewater, and then to 0.9 in Menomonie. What’s interesting, though, is that pretty much all of Bluecoats’ Friday lead came in general effect, but at Sunday’s event, the corps held varying leads across all captions, except percussion. Blue Devils obviously haven’t joined these two yet, but the last time they faced off with Vanguard — June 30 in San Bernardino — the Concord corps became the only other corps to earn a head-to-head win against the defending champions, even if just by 0.05.

Goliath rising: It’s early, but it appears the Boston Crusaders plan to continue their impressive rise through the World Class ranks this season. Friday in Lexington, South Carolina, the corps defeated Carolina Crown head-to-head, outright, for the first time since 2006. The win came by just 0.15 points, thanks to somewhat close wins in both the general effect and visual captions. Carolina Crown, despite the slim defeat, still handedly won the music caption, which kept things tight overall. 

Open Class contenders abound: Two weeks into the season, it’s quite difficult to make sweeping proclamations about the Open Class ranks; most of the competitors haven’t seen one another as they’re largely competing regionally. Early returns, though, suggest it’s going to be a tight race for Open Class glory between the likes of Spartans, Legends and Gold. Spartans and Legends are the only Open Class corps that have broken 60 points to date, and while Gold was off this entire past week, its most recent numbers out west are more than comparable to what the other two aforementioned corps were scoring around the same time. 

Cadets drumming up competitive intrigue: This past week was a strong one for The Cadets, as it saw the Allentown corps score within 1.05 of The Cavaliers head-to-head in Lisle, marking the closest the two had scored — other than last year’s World Championship Finals — since early on in 2017. The Rosemont corps gained a little more breathing room the following night in Whitewater, but The Cadets’ music numbers continued to standout through the weekend. In particular, the corps’ percussion section has been thriving; to date, the group owns the third-best percussion score in World Class competition, just one tenth of a point behind Bluecoats. 

Regiment picking up steam: Phantom Regiment emphatically flipped its script this week. The Rockford corps had found itself as many as 1.45 points behind Spirit of Atlanta as recently as June 28, and lost the first four meetings it had with the Georgia corps. Friday in Lexington, though, Regiment took a major step in the right direction, flying ahead of Spirit to the tune of a 1.25-point win, thanks largely to an impressive lead in the music caption. If recent averages are any indicator, these two will carry a large portion of the focus at the Top 12 cut-off line as the season rages on. 

Surfing out of the gates: Jersey Surf turned many heads when it popped out a score of 63.950 in its 2019 debut, Tuesday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. That number was the highest the corps had opened a season with in a full decade, and it carried into the weekend; Friday in Lexington, Surf outscored its 2018 output from the same event by more than seven full points. Furthermore, the corps’ opening deficit against Music City (1.6) was the closest those two had been since 2016. For reference, Jersey Surf and Music City were 4.8 poins apart at the start of 2018, and 7.937 apart by the time the summer came to a close. 

River City Rhythm (RCR) starts strong: The Minneapolis Open Class corps has been particularly impressive in three performances to start 2019. After its all-time best finish of eighth place at the Open Class World Championships last season, RCR looks poised to continue an upward climb. In Menomonie on Sunday, the corps earned a score of 57.350, which is just over four points more than it scored on the same date in 2018. River City Rhythm has been especially strong in the music captions; its percussion finished just one tenth of a point behind Legends on Sunday. 

Crossmen push forward: From a raw numbers perspective, the San Antonio corps came out of nowhere this week in its head-to-head race with the Blue Stars. When the two first met this season, June 22 in Madison, they were separated by nearly 2.5 points. Even as recently as Wednesday in Cedarburg, Blue Stars still held a lead of 1.95. Suddenly, though, Crossmen pulled within 0.6 points of the La Crosse, Wisconsin corps Friday in Whitewater before seeing that deficit grow to 1.1 in Menomonie. Regardless, making up about a point in a week’s time is no small matter, and it’s largely attributed to the visual captions. In Menomonie, Crossmen pulled within 0.15 of Blue Stars in terms of its overall visual score, with head-to-head wins in the visual analysis and color guard subcaptions.