ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Carolina Crown found itself with a strong advantage over two of its closest 2019 competitors and earned a resounding victory on Saturday night’s portion of the DCI Eastern Classic pres. by Big, Loud & Live.
The Cavaliers
1. Carolina Crown » 93.638
2. The Cavaliers » 92.650
3. Boston Crusaders » 91.975
Carolina Crown earned first place in all captions except color guard, which went to Boston Crusaders. The 1.663 points separating those two corps is Crown’s strongest head-to-head advantage of the season.
Saturday’s event also capped off a breakout stretch that saw the Rosemont corps push ahead of the Boston Crusaders earlier this week for the first time this season. The Cavaliers also found themselves within 0.175 of Carolina Crown, the closest the two had been since 2011. Crown widened that gap to nearly a point in Allentown.
Cavaliers brass caption head Kevin LeBeouf says that the group’s recent success can be attributed to something simple — rehearsal. Early on this season the corps found practice time at a minimum while traveling lengthy distances to and from California for the first time in more than a decade.
“As the season has gone on and as the scheduling has dictated, over the last three weeks we’ve had some really great, smart rehearsal days to clean this tricky, tricky show,” LeBeouf said. “We are starting to see the benefits of that rehearsal time. Now we’re starting to dig in and the beauty of our show is being revealed.”
Crossmen
4. The Cadets » 87.875
5. Mandarins » 87.125
6. Crossmen » 86.625
7. Phantom Regiment » 85.900
8. Spirit of Atlanta » 84.600
The Cadets kept their distance ahead of Mandarins, but the gap separating the two also included a half-point penalty for the Sacramento corps.
The caption disparity between the two was quite haphazard; Mandarins owned a lead of 0.65 in visual, and The Cadets owned a lead of 0.85 in music. The closest of the two captions, general effect, went the way of The Cadets by a rail-thin margin.
Heading into the final week of the season, a trip home to Allentown — especially in the corps’ 85th anniversary season — may be just the spark The Cadets need to take things to another level next weekend in Indianapolis.
“The corps has certainly been stepping up, and over the last week it’s been unbelievable how much this drum corps has transformed,” Cadets director Scott Litzenberg said. “Today we talked about how important it is that the emotion they are feeling is projected to these people in the stands and hopefully that emotion comes right back to them.
“(J. Birney Crum Stadium) is a great place, and with how many alumni of ours through the years have marched in this stadium it’s just a great connection for us not only as a home but also as an amazing venue to perform in.”
Crossmen marked a more than two point jump from its last recorded score on July 30 in Salem, Virginia. The corps’ strongest finish on the scoresheets on Saturday came in the music caption, two tenths ahead of the Mandarins.
As the DCI World Championships loom, Phantom Regiment’s quest to keep its impressive 45-year streak of Top 12 finishes alive is in business, as Saturday marked its third-straight time holding a lead of more than a point over Spirit of Atlanta head-to-head.
While Spirit overtook Regiment in color guard, the Rockford corps otherwise held solid advantages across the board. Phantom Regiment also remains within close striking distance of Crossmen; the gap between the two has hovered around half a point for the past week or so.
“Once you get about to August, the competition changes so much,” Regiment program coordinator Will Pitts said. “You cannot slip up, you cannot have a performance that’s not great… That helps us from a motivational standpoint, to be able to say, ‘You have to be huge tonight, because everyone else will surely be trying to be.’”
Colts
9. Colts » 82.863
10. Pacific Crest » 82.575
Pacific Crest continues to hang right on the edge of a historic finish, with less than half a point once again separating the Southern California corps from Colts. While the Iowa corps held close leads in the general effect and music captions, visual was a noticeable strong suit for the Diamond Bar organization.
The slim margin separating the two continues to legitimize Pacific Crest’s chances at earning its all-time best placement; the corps has never finished higher than 16th, and enters the final week of the season just inches outside its first Top 15 finish.
“The corps members are definitely aware of (being on the precipice of history), but we’ve been trying not to let the scores seep more than skin deep on us right now,” Pacific Crest corps manager Chris Henderson said. “We’re just trying to be the best versions of ourselves this year. Our family and alumni at home are absolutely ecstatic about what the corps can possibly do this season.”
Seattle Cascades
11. Jersey Surf » 76.625
12. Seattle Cascades » 71.950
Jersey Surf capped off a very strong week in Allentown to continue what has been arguably its most successful season in at least five years.
Earlier in the week, the New Jersey corps pulled in under half a point from Music City — the closest the two had been since 2014 — and at Saturday’s event, Surf shattered its final score from that season.
With a tally of 76.625, Surf is already more than six full points ahead of its top score from a year ago, and is in perfect position to make its first return to the DCI World Championship Semifinals in half a decade.
“It was amazing,” Jersey Surf drum major Dante Salina said. “This was the loudest crowd reaction we’ve had since I’ve been here. It was really special.”
Cascades also showed vast improvement year over year on Saturday, finishing more than three points ahead of its 2018 Allentown output.