titancoaster

Ok, official prediction for the 2023 Grand National Contest...Eagle goes to a Texas Band (more than likely a Houston band, but officially I will stick with the state as a whole). In realness a huge congratulations to the Woodlands band for an incredible performance and showing the world Texas bands know how to play!

I think that one thing that everyone should look at is the overall point spread. It is roughly 7 points between first and 14th! (Only 6 between 1st and 13th) Now compare that to a year ago when the spread was 13 points. It is clear that this years finalist were all VERY close to each other and as a result those judges had to be splitting hairs to choose between bands. All that said...I want to see recaps!

And not true about Dawson always beating Friendswood in Music, Prelims in Area F all music Judges had Friendswood placed above Dawson.

I agree, there are several bands who are in it this year, I can predict finalists but honestly who will medal and what color will all come down to this week of rehearsals...I can not wait for the Alamodome!

^Just for clarity Friendswood is a one high school district and has never been 5A, it is a suburb that is slowly growing was 3A in either the 90s or 80s and keeps working its way up enrollment wise, it looks likely the school will become 5a (well 6A) in the next few years. It is very exciting to see this years 4A contest. I know it will be a dog fight for the top five spots but what a great finals dvd it will make

Galena Park got a Second Division rating and will not be at Area, also Fwood and Dawson will take top two, both are musically well above Tomball Memorial (who will probably be third). I am very interested to see how this area pans out as it is drastically different then two years ago when they sent two and had no finals.

Overall captions: Music- Friendswood and Spring, Visual- Seven Lakes and Spring, GE- Friendswood Top ten with scores: Westfield- 77.50 Klein Oak- 78.35 Clear Creek- 78.50 Brazoswood- 79.35 Cy-Fair- 79.45 Stephen F Austin- 80.15 Dawson- 80.75 Seven Lakes- 81.55 Spring- 83.90 Friendswood- 84.80

Langham Creek got first in 5A in music performance at Galena Park, Frindswood beat them in tht caption by over 200 points (out of 2000). Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store for everybody. Here is to no rain until after finals!

I think Dawson may make a statement (11th in 2009, finalist in 2011) as they sound REALLY REALLY good this year. I think the top five spots will go to Area D and Area F schools.

^^ One question, hopefully this doesn't sound rude, but why the Hays love? I have not seen them this year or seen any contest result that makes me think anything about how this band will perform at Area. Have you seen them, are they better than Area D big names like Leander and Connally who have been historically strong marching competitors? Again, not trying to be rude, just trying to understand them being mentioned so highly. (I live in Houston now so I have not seen Hays perform in years)

In response to jmatthews, I work with Friendswood and do not want to come off biased or anything. While I will not state my predictions for our band, I will say that we have a strong group this year and I am excited to see how things turn out at this contest.

^those are close to what I would say except switch seven lakes and cy-fair. Last week cy-fair placed at Friendswood lower than clear brook, and Seven Lakes.

Auxiliary is the same as Guard/Dance Team...

It looks to be a great show this year. Also the contest will be having a SUPERSTAR judging panel including: Curtis Costanza, Mike Anderson, Nick Williams, Becca Sullens, Brian Perez, Gabe Musella, Randy Vaughn, and Chris Lambrecht. IF you are in the Houston area this will be a great show to watch! Kempner 11:00 George Ranch 11:15 Manvel 11:30 Little Cypress-Mauriceville 11:45 Katy 12:00 BREAK Stephen F. Austin 12:30 Clements 12:45 Cinco Ranch 1:00 Waller 1:15 Klein Oak 1:30 Clear Brook 1:45 BREAK Morton Ranch 2:15 Seven Lakes 2:30 Clear Falls 2:45 Dickinson 3:00 Dawson 3:15 Cy-Fair 3:30 Finals Start at 6:30pm.

I look forward to seeing how this affects the other regionals in terms of enrollment and competitiveness.

Yikes, if you were to look at judges preference at just the top two Fredericksburg would have won, interesting.

Im suprised about Cedar Ridge (and RR of course), I really thought that they would be advancing to State... This really shakes things up for San Antonio. Not that it has a direct reltionship to poor scores in BOA, but I wonder how bands like RR are going to take this defeat, are they going to give up or have an amazing week of rehearsals...

I know first went to the Woodlands (who were AMAZING), second went to Spring, third went to Pearland. After that I am unsure.

Sorry Metallica, my bad wrong rock band.... I do believe that CyFair is one of the better bands in this area (they beat Clements at the Friendswood contest including a decent victory in both the music and visual captions (one of the music judges being a big UIL judge). I am not saying that CyFair will be able to compete at the state level, but at this area I really see it coming out as Morton and CyFair on top. All of the other bands seemed to have struggled this year, or have not competed on a big stage yet. It is just my opinion, I am not a judge just a spectator.

Morton Ranch and CyFair should take the top two spots based on everything I have seen so far. It should be interesting for the next two spots, I would put Clements up there but there show has been pretty dirty everytime I have seen it plus I dont know what this judging panel will think of Zepplin. Austin has struggled musically this year but I want them to make it so badly after the season they have worked through. Should be interesting to see how it turns out.

Not true, LSP 100% uses the BOA sheets, no change in weights at all. They just add Drumline and Guard captions as an added award, but do not factor those captions into the total score.

Its official, Area F will only have 12 bands competing and only 2 to State. Good Luck everyone who is attending!

3rd school will probably be Clear Falls (in my opinion) should a third school make it

With Connally taking the music caption at Westlake (which is much heavier weighted in UIL) I dont think they are on the outside looking in. I still think this contest is too close to call, Vista Ridge contest may clear some things up, but honestly nobody will no anything until the results are out on the 29th

Ok, so I know we don't know many details about this contest (who for sure will be competing and more importantly how many will advance), I thought I'd make a place for us to discuss all of the bands in 4A Area D. So, I know it is early in the season and all eyes are on Dripping Springs and Cedar Park, but I'd like to point out that on Saturday Lake Travis High School beat Dripping Springs at USSBA Central Preview. I think we may have found our dark horse for Area D. I watched their video and I think they well earned a high placement at USSBA and are working hard to earn a bid to state. This just makes a difficult area even tougher.