Current Rankings
Based on average scores, June 26-July 3
1. Bluecoats
75.400
2. Blue Devis
75.300
3. Carolina Crown
74.950
4. Santa Clara Vanguard
73.833
5. The Cadets (+1)
73.650
6. The Cavaliers (-1)
73.150
7. Boston Crusaders
70.175
8. Blue Knights
69.667
9. Crossmen (+2)
69.200
10. Phantom Regiment (-1)
68.883
11. Blue Stars (-1)
68.733
12. Madison Scouts
67.667
13. Mandarins – (+1) – 66.367
14. The Academy – (-1) – 64.600
15. Colts – (+2) – 63.725
16. Troopers – (-1) – 63.075
17. Spirit of Atlanta – (New) – 62.800
18. Pacific Crest – (-2) – 62.667
19. Blue Devils B – (-1) – 58.150*
20. Vanguard Cadets – (-1) – 56.800*
21. Genesis – (New) – 55.200
22. Jersey Surf – (New) – 53.900
23. Gold – (New) – 53.117
24. Golden Empire – (-4) – 52.700
25. 7th Regiment – (New) – 52.600
26. Music City – (New) – 52.400
27. Legends – (New) – 51.100
28. Pioneer – (-7) – 48.533
29. Watchmen – (New) – 47.667
30. Raiders – (New) – 46.900
31. Colt Cadets – (-8) – 45.200
32. Impulse – (New) – 44.850
33. Blue Devils C – (-11) – 44.100*
34. Incognito – (New) – 42.300
*Corps has not performed since last week
Top Caption Scores
World Class
General Effect: Carolina Crown (31.0), Bluecoats (30.9), Blue Devils (30.4)
Brass: Blue Devils (15.2), Bluecoats (15.0), Santa Clara Vanguard (15.0)
Percussion: Santa Clara Vanguard (15.4), Blue Devils (15.0), Bluecoats (14.8)
Color Guard: Blue Devils (15.6), The Cadets (15.3), Santa Clara Vanguard (15.1)
Open Class
General Effect: Blue Devils B (23.7), Vanguard Cadets (23.4), Gold (21.8)
Brass: Blue Devils B (11.5), Vanguard Cadets (11.4), Legends (10.9)
Percussion: Vanguard Cadets (11.6), Blue Devils B (11.2), Golden Empire (10.9)
Color Guard: Blue Devils B (11.5), Vanguard Cadets (11.0), Gold (11.0)
Storylines to Watch
Battle of the California Golds: After three head-to-head meetings between Gold and Golden Empire, the two similarly-named California Open Class corps traded places on all three occasions, with Gold taking the first and third matchups. Although Golden Empire's regionally-focused tour ends on July 16, its win in Pasadena marked just the third time the corps has finished ahead of Gold in its four-year existence.
Those 70s shows: Several corps this week broke the 75- and 70-point milestones, with the Bluecoats being the first to reach 75 on July 1; Carolina Crown, Blue Devils and Santa Clara Vanguard all followed suit the next day. With Blue Knights and Phantom Regiment each crossing the 70-point threshold this past weekend, 10 corps have now scored higher than a 70, also including the Cadets, Cavaliers, Boston Crusaders and Crossmen.
Sneaking ahead: In the two corps' sixth matchup of the young season, Phantom Regiment topped the Blue Knights for the first time Sunday in Riverside, California. Taking the advantage by one tenth of a point, this was just one night after Phantom fell to the Knights by 1.4. The key advantage for Phantom appears to be in the visual caption, where they held a 0.45 lead over BK on Sunday. The Knights made up for that gap in music, however, up 0.65 over the Rockford corps.
GE soaring: Possibly a result of adding a new ending to their production for the first time on July 2 in Clifton, New Jersey, Carolina Crown put up the season's top general effect score to date on Sunday at 31.0 points. The general effect caption had been the major discrepancy between Carolina Crown and the Bluecoats in previous matchups, but the two won't compete head-to-head again until the Tour of Champions series event in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, on July 18.
Riding the scoring roller coaster: In just over 24 hours this past weekend, the gap between the Madison Scouts and Blue Stars changed substantially. The Scouts — who were just a half-point behind the Stars on Wednesday in Evansville, Indiana — saw that gap grow to 2.4 points on Saturday, only to turn around and come back to within three tenths of the La Crosse corps the following night. The two corps will have the opportunity to compete head-to-head twice this week.
Closing in in Clifton: After starting the season with a nearly three-point gap between themselves and Carolina Crown, The Cadets made an impressive jump in overall score to finish just over a point behind on Sunday in Clifton, New Jersey. The two will meet head-to-head four times this week, which should provide a clearer picture of where they stand against one another.
Color guard contender: While the Mandarins have been consistently holding a near two-point lead over The Academy, the corps' color guard section has been standing out as a strength on the score sheets. This weekend, the Sacramento corps finished third in the color guard subcaption in Pasadena and Riverside, topping Phantom Regiment and Blue Knights on both occasions.
Kicking things off: While 34 World and Open Class corps have made their 2017 debuts, several more are set to kick of their respective seasons this week including River City Rhythm (July 3, Mankato, MN), Spartans (July 3, Cranston, RI), Shadow (July 6, Wausau, WI), Seattle Cascades (July 7, Hillsboro, OR); Oregon Crusaders (July 7, Hillsboro, OR), The Battalion (July 7, Hillsboro, OR), Columbians (July 7, Hillsboro, OR) and Heat Wave (July 8, Orlando, FL).
Upcoming Events
Monday, July 3
Cranston, RI
Cedarburg, WI
Mankato, MN
Mesa, AZ
Tuesday, July 4
Lynn, MA – Watch LIVE via Flo Marching
Wednesday, July 5
Chickasha, OK
Thursday, July 6
Wausau, WI
Friday, July 7
Columbia, SC
Rockford, IL
Hillsboro, OR
Saturday, July 8
Orlando, FL
Minneapolis, MN – Watch LIVE via Flo Marching
Sacramento, CA
Shoreline, WA
Sunday, July 9
Madison, WI
Rochester, MN
Pleasant Hill, CA