Donezo

You never know. Take a look at the Area C finals results from last year: http://www.uilregion3music.net/Area%20C%20...ults%202006.pdf After a weak (for Berkner anyway) performance, Berkner came away with two firsts while the other three judges had them below 4th (the cutoff point for state.) In a somewhat cluttered field, this is what ultimately launched them into the top 4. I could see a similar situation happening with Birdville. Now of course Berkner totally cleaned up their act by DMI and state. They were almost a different band at those two competitions. I'm just saying that in a crowded field, reputation can sometimes be a deciding factor (even though it shouldn't be.) Ugh, I should really go do homework now instead of talking about band. I am the WORST procrastinator and you guys are my enablers. Haha.

True. I probably should have posted the overall music and visual performance rankings after the weights were applied, which came out to: Music: 1. Keller 2. Wylie 3. Poteet 4. Rowlett 5. Richardson 6. Flower Mound 7. McKinney Boyd 8. Allen 9. Sherman 10. Mesquite Visual: 1. Wylie 2. Poteet 3. Keller 4. Rowlett 5. Richardson 6. Sherman 7. Allen 8. Flower Mound 9. Mesquite 10. McKinney Boyd So the visual score clearly sealed the deal for Sherman. Anyway, the point is Area B is crazy. I'm already rethinking my earlier prediction because I just can't see Birdville coming in lower than fourth. One always has to consider program and director reputation, ESPECIALLY at the area level. Birdville will probably come away with a first place vote or two which could launch them into the top regardless of the other rankings.

Why North? They are at their smallest membership size ever after taking a huge hit from Boyd. They also failed to make finals at TOC and Plano East (where Boyd did make finals.) That seems a bit counterintuitive to me. I feel that if Boyd has proven they can compete with Sherman, they have a pretty darn good shot at state. This is especially true after Birdville and Southwest did not do as well as expected at the Aledo comp. It is true that this is Boyd's first year as a varsity band, but let's not forget that Poteet, Birdville, and Hendrickson (if I'm not mistaken) all advanced to state in their first year with seniors.

And then there is Nederland who came out of nowhere to be a state honor band finalist this year. Has anyone seen their marching show yet? Also of note is former state marching finalist Santa Fe. I think they've been the alternate to state from this area the past couple of times. This could be their year to return to state.

Interesting note from the Plano East recaps: Boyd beat Sherman in music performance in finals. That's pretty hard core. So as of right now, I would predict Area B to look like: 1. Sherman 2. The Colony 3. Aledo 4. Boyd Alternate: Birdville/Centennial

Probably never. Poteet's area is totally landlocked. Unless MISD realigns school areas, Poteet will stay 4A for the foreseeable future.

............they aren't.

It looks like the recaps are still not online, but I do have the finals recap. I unfortunately do not have a scanner, so I guess I'll just type it out. Key: Music Music Percussion Marching Marching GE Auxillary Keller 1 1 6 2 3 1 7 Wylie 2 2 3 1 2 2 3 Poteet 3 3 5 3 1 3 1 Rowlett 4 5 7 4 7 4 2 Richardson 6 6 10 6 5 5 10 Allen 7 7 2 5 6 8 6 Sherman 8 9 1 7 4 7 5 Flower Mound 5 8 3 8 9 6 4 McKinney Boyd 9 4 9 10 10 10 9 Mesquite 10 10 8 9 8 9 8 The weighting system for each judge can be found at peshband.com

That's a good question. Poteet beat Sherman pretty handily here, but some friends at the contest told me they think Sherman was seriously shafted. This was a tough competition and they still did pretty darn well if you ask me. They placed behind five strong 5A bands and the defending 4A state champ. I think they are still well on their way to claiming one of the coveted Area B state slots and eventually their third consecutive state finals appearance.

Oooo, the Area B draw order. Looks like Centennial will be marching last in prelims (considering they make a 1 at region.)

At this point, I would expect Area C to look something like: 1. Poteet 2. Waxahachie 3. Highland Park 4. J. J. Pearce 5. Midlothian Overall, it's a much weaker group than I originally thought it would be. Out of the three or four who advance, I would really only expect to see Poteet in state finals. That's pretty out of the norm for this area. Conversely, any band who makes it out of B and D has an excellent shot at finals. Those are defintely shaping up to be the two strongest areas.

Indeed Boyd is doing much better. They very nearly beat Sherman in prelims at Plano East (though the margin was much wider in finals.) I hadn't been considering them before, but they will probably be a big player at Area B.

Keller is a 5A band (as you can see from the prelims results.) They came in 18th at 5A State Marching Contest last year ahead of some strong competition (Clear Brook, Cedar Park, Klein, Hebron, Harlingen, SFA, Clements, etc.)

Plano East and TOC also teach us that we should all be very happy Wylie is now 5A.

Wow! Perhaps Seguin can repeat this year after all. So after this weekend, I'm still feeling Sherman, The Colony, and Aledo as the top 3 in Area B. The last spot (or maybe two. Who knows?) is between Birdville, McKinney Boyd, Seguin, Centennial, and Southwest. At this point I'd probably say: 4. Birdville 5. Seguin 6. Mckinney Boyd 7. Centennial 8. Southwest Only two more weeks until area! Eek! I should be able to provide a video of Poteet at Plano East fairly soon (preferably prelims. I hear the finals performance was lacking in energy.)

Wow again to Colleyville Heritage! Totally unexpected and awesome! I too am surprised by Clear Brook's low showing. Like I said in another thread, I wonder what would have happened here had Reagan attended. I know a lot can change in a week, but it's almost surreal to think that Reagan may have been a borderline finalist at this regional.

College Park is 5A. They made finals in Area F 5A last year and there hasn't been a reevalution of school size since. Relevant Results from Plano East: Class 4A Outstanding Winds: Poteet Outstanding Percussion: Sherman Outstanding Marching: Poteet Outstanding General Effect: Poteet Outstanding Color Guard: Poteet Outstanding Drum Majors: McKinney Best in Class: Poteet 2nd in Class: Sherman 3rd in Class: McKinney Boyd Preliminary Ranking: 1. Wylie 2. Poteet 3. Keller 4. Rowlett 5. Richardson 6. Allen 7. Flower Mound 8. Sherman 9. McKinney Boyd 10. Mesquite Final Ranking: 1. Keller 2. Wylie 3. Poteet 4. Rowlett 5. Richardson 6. Allen 7. Sherman 8. Flower Mound 9. McKinney Boyd 10. Mesquite Between this and Carrollton TOC, it seems as though Wylie is on fire this year. It's a shame they moved up to 5A. I think we may have another strong Area B contender in McKinney Boyd. They made finals in a very tough line-up (shutting out cross-town 4A rival McKinney) and scored very close to Sherman in prelims (the gap was considerably wider in finals.)

FINALS RESULTS: 1. Keller 2. Wylie 3. Poteet 4. Rowlett 5. Richardson 6. Allen 7. Sherman 8. Flower Mound 9. McKinney Boyd 10. Mesquite Outstanding Musical Performance: Keller Outstanding Visual Performance: Wylie Kudos to Keller on the upset victory!

Wow! Wakeland over Wills Point! That's insane.

While the Plano East contest is still in progress, sources who saw prelims tell me McKinney Boyd needs to be cosidered as a serious contender in Area B.

Wow! Hendrickson over Friendswood! That definitely spices things up in 4A.

Do you know any prelims results?

Yay! Now I feel justified in predicting Berkner's BOA comeback. Also a big congrats is in store for Colleyville Heritage!!! Very interesting to see Clear Brook in the 6-10 group here after wowing everyone at Houston. Makes me wonder how Reagan would have fared at Arlington....... Color me shocked at Hebron's omission. What happened?

Seeing Paul Crider on that list reminds me of state finals in '99..........the infamous 4 way tie for 4th. Please God not again.

Prelims Results: 4A Outstanding Winds: Poteet Outstanding Percussion: Sherman Outstanding Marching: Poteet Outstanding General Effect: Poteet Outstanding Color Guard: Poteet Outstanding Drum Majors: McKinney Best in Class: Poteet 2nd in Class: Sherman 3rd in Class: McKinney Boyd 5A: Outstanding Winds: Wylie Outstanding Percussion: Flower Mound Outstanding Marching: Keller Outstanding General Effect: Keller Outstanding Color Guard: Rowlett Outstanding Drum Majors: Allen Best in Class: Wylie 2nd in Class: Keller 3rd in Class: Rowlett Rankings: 1. Wylie 2. Poteet 3. Keller 4. Rowlett 5. Richardson 6. Allen 7. Flower Mound 8. Sherman 9. McKinney Boyd 10. Mesquite Finals now begin at 8:15 due to some corrections in prelims captions. The corrections were: 5A Percussion from Rowlett to Flower Mound 5A Color Guard from Wylie to Rowlett 3rd in Class 5A from Richardson to Rowlett Needless to say, things were very close. Finals results will be interesting........ Also of interest: Sherman, Keller, and Poteet are all playing Danielpour's "Urban Dances." Plano switched to a "rating only" performance at the last minute (which baffles me. They probably could have made finals.) McKinney North entered as a last minute replacement for Birdville (and subsequently did not make finals, so that shouldn't throw off anyone's predictions...)