While The Cavaliers (1st-94.475) added 2.525 to their score from the DCI Indianapolis event a week earlier, the Phantom Regiment (2nd-93.775) closed the gap between its in-state rival by 1.3 points by increasing its score by 3.825, well above the 2.85 average increase in scores among the 10 of 12 corps in Phoenix that had met in Indianapolis. (Of all 12 corps in Phoenix, only the Academy and Pacific Crest had been in Denver the week before.)
The Cavaliers’ biggest concerns were their scores in Percussion and Visual Performance, the former coming in .5 under Phantom Regiment and the latter .5 under Carolina Crown. In Indianapolis, the line was just .05 under Phantom. (Remember that only General Effect scores are not divided in two for the total corps score, so that .5 really represents an overall point differential of .25.)
Other than Percussion, the corps took first in every caption except Visual Performance, where its third place score dropped the group .5 under Carolina Crown and .3 under Phantom Regiment. General Effect is the corps’ strongest caption in terms of spreads; the Cavaliers topped Phantom by .3 in GE Visual and .4 in GE Music, taking second place Carolina Crown in that caption by .3. Since Phantom finished .7 behind the Cavaliers, the benefit of being .7 ahead in GE alone is what is currently largely responsible for the spread between the two corps. (In Indianapolis, the spread was 1.2, with GE Visual accounting for a whopping .8 of that.)
Phantom Regiment was tops in the Percussion caption, but placed third in GE Music. Every other caption placed in second.
Carolina Crown (3rd-92.725) added 3.475 from its Denver show score a week earlier and took high Visual Performance, topping the Cavaliers’ third place score by .5. (Although scores can’t be directly compared from different shows on the same night, it’s interesting to note that Crown’s score was higher than Bluecoats’ score from Stanford by .65, making that race in Pasadena an interesting one to watch.)
It’s easy to analyze the recaps for Boston Crusaders (4th-88.425) as the corps took fourth in every caption. General Effect Music, down by 1.3 to third place Crown, was just .1 above the score received by the Colts.
The Colts (5th-85.775) increased its score 3.125 points from one week ago in Indianapolis and continue their strong showing overall among potential Pasadena finalist corps. However, an eighth place showing in Percussion (under the Academy and Spirit from JSU) might be of some concern. In Indianapolis, the line scored .55 over Spirit. In Phoenix, they were .25 behind. Other than sixth place finishes in Color Guard and Music Ensemble and that finish in Percussion, the corps was fifth in every other caption.
Spirit from JSU (6th-83.550) took sixth in Percussion, ninth in Music Brass and seventh in everything else. The score in Music Brass was a full point under Colts and .3 under the Academy, plus .4 under Blue Stars. The .1 advantage over the Academy was mostly due to the .6 spread in Music Ensemble, accounting for .3 of the overall gain. The corps picked up 2.25 over its performance in Indianapolis.
The Academy (7th-83.450) has some interesting caption scores within its 3.025 gain from when they performed a week ago in Denver. Fifth place in Color Guard, the line was 2.25 under Crown’s first place guard in Denver, but closed that gap to 1.7 in Phoenix, the guard placing higher than the corps overall. (This is contrary to most prior placements.) The guard had placed 1.3 under Pacific Crest’s guard in Denver, but was .7 up in Phoenix. Music Ensemble was ninth. (In comparison, that caption was 1.5 under Crown in Denver, but finished 2.4 under in Phoenix. To frame that further, that caption score was 1.5 over Pacific Crest in Denver, but only .3 in Phoenix.) Caption placements were all over the board; fifth in Color Guard and Percussion, sixth in GE Visual, seventh in Music Brass, eighth in GE Music, Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and ninth in Music Ensemble. It will be quite interesting to watch these wildly fluctuating captions (up and down from prior performances) as the corps settles into its first World Championship week in Division I.
Blue Stars (8th-83.425) enjoyed the highest increase of score from Indianapolis to Phoenix, a gain of 3.975. Considering that the corps dropped in score from .6 from San Antonio two weeks ago to Indy last week, this increase has to come as welcomed news. In Indy, the corps scored 15.7 in General Effect Music. In Phoenix, that score popped to 17.0, good enough for sixth in that caption. Other sixth place captions were Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Music Brass. The brightest spot was fifth place in Music Ensemble. Music Percussion finished in seventh, but GE Visual and Color Guard both took ninth, GE Visual scoring .7 under the Academy and the guard .8 behind.
Madison Scouts (9th-81.275) added 2.675 from Indy, placing eighth in GE Visual and Music Brass, ninth in GE Music, 11th in Color Guard and 10th in the other four captions. With the 16th highest score of the night (combining scores from two different shows), the corps is sitting in 16th place, a certain contender for the World Championship Division I Semifinals, a position many would not have easily believed a few weeks ago.
Pacific Crest (10th-79.750) added 3.5 from its Denver performance. Scoring just .1 under Troopers and .125 under Cascades, (those two corps’ scores at the Stanford show), it appears that the race for the final position in Semifinals might be between those three corps and anything can happen due to an endless variety of circumstances. Eighth in Color Guard was the major bright spot for the corps, with Visual Ensemble taking ninth, both GE captions 10th and Visual Ensemble and all Music captions 11th. A .6 spread over Madison Scouts in Color Guard is worth watching.
Southwind (11th-78.800) added 2.7 from Indianapolis, taking eighth in Music Ensemble, (over the higher placing corps of the Academy and Madison Scouts), ninth in Percussion, (over the higher placing corps of Madison Scouts and Pacific Crest), 10th in Color Guard and Brass and 11th in all other captions.
Pioneer (12th-73.975) had the smallest increase of score over the past week of corps in both shows, gaining 1.725. The corps was in 12th place across the board.
In just a few days, all the Division I corps get added back to the mix at the 2007 Drum Corps International World Championship Quarterfinals. Let the speculation begin!
