2014 BOA San Antonio Recap

[mh1031]

Just would like to see everyone's thoughts on the super regional and the final results. It was interesting that Vista made it, as they were kinda the dark horse. I believe Hendrickson ended up 15th as well which must've been frustrating to those kids after area D. 

And props to Leander! getting first overall in prelims and 3rd in finals.

What an amazing year for Texas bands.

[Xenon]

Leander won Prelims overall by 0.85 and also had the highest GE score in prelims by 0.90.

[Shadow Weaver]

Leander's show was absolutely fantastic, and Claudia Taylor Johnson really stepped up their already high level of performance from Area D last week to overtake an impeccable James Bowie band. What a great finals! All the bands put on a great show, and I really enjoyed my most recent BOA Regional experience.

 

Shout outs are merited for Dripping Springs as well for placing 6th at the Atlanta Super Regional, which Tarpon Springs won.

 

UIL 6A State should be a good show.

[BlackJesus]

Is it wrong for me to wish all the LISD (Leander) bands moved up to 6A this year?

But besides that, I'm really jealous of Leanders Rocky Point Holiday, to whoever wrote that, give that man a cookie.

[vincentlee1220]

Ryan George arranged for Leander as well as us (Vista Ridge) this year, he is most definitely one of the best marching music arrangers out there.

[whitewing09]

I watched it livestream. 

 

Congrats to CTJ for their first championship! 

 

Very cool that the Four 5A LISD schools were all in finals. I loved the, "WE LOVE YOU LEANDER," before their performance. I think I remember seeing this at a Westlake competition back in the day.  

 

That was a very interesting change from prelims to finals rankings. 

 

Definitely one of the best finals that I have watched. 

[Samuel Culper]

Very cool that the Four 5A LISD schools were all in finals. I loved the, "WE LOVE YOU LEANDER," before their performance. I think I remember seeing this at a Westlake competition back in the day.   

That was the Cedar Park kids that did that and they did the same for Vista Ridge right before Leander. Very classy.

[Pear]

All the Schools in LISD have so much respect for each other. With how talented the district is, everyone knows that any year could be one of these band's year. As a district, the bands love each other and are friends. Earlier in the year at the Texas Marching Classic, Leander yelled "Good Luck Cedar Park" and "Good Luck Vandegrift" because they knew that while they are its competition, they are its closest friends first. When Cedar Park had its bus problems in prelims, Vista helped them out so that they could get to San Antonio. No district in the state comes close to what Leander Independent School District is. 

[beowulf]

Some observations I had - 9 of the finalist bands were from area D, 4 from area B, only one from the other five areas.  UIL realignment is overdue.

 

This was the best finals I've ever seen.  Reagan was much better than last season but slipped from 5th to 9th.  The competition was that good.  Also, Marcus and Woodlands taking 1st and 2nd in class without any captions also shows how much parity now exists - there are no one or two dominant bands anymore.

 

On the other hand, with the exception of one extremely odd GE score, CTJ would have walked away with two captions and first place in the prelims.  In that respect, their finals placement wasn't much of a surprise.

[Saxophonebird]

Incredible finals showing, with a few placement surprises in my opinion.

 

Super bummed that Hendrickson didn't make finals, I loved their show this year.

 

Obviously super proud of my alma mater winning prelims, tying the finals music caption with Marcus, and placing 3rd overall. So excited to see where the momentum takes the program in the upcoming years.

 

LISD is the place to be! Congrats to Vista Ridge for making finals for the first time, it was definitely deserved! And of course Vandegrift and Cedar Park did not fail to put on an awesome show.

[AUG17]

The 5A bands of LISD (Vandegrift, Leander, Cedar Park, and Vista Ridge - all the LISD schools but Rouse, who are 6A) are true powerhouses, proven even more by all four of them making finals.

 

4A (5A) state last year with Vandy winning and CP and Vista medaling, and with CP getting gold in 2011, I wouldn't be surprised if the next few years 5A State is completely dominated by LISD, much like Marcus has in 6A. 

 

And the support they have for each other is astounding. Even Vandegrift and Cedar Park, who are basically the epitome of high school rivals, have so much love for each other within the band program. I remember hearing Vandegrift going completely nuts in the stands as Cedar Park entered the field at the Texas Marching Classic. And then hearing Leander shout "WE LOVE YOU VANDEGRIFT!" at (I believe) the same contest was heart-warming. 

 

LISD has truly become the ultimate marching band district.

[guardgirl17]

I'm actually super proud of Vista Ridge for making finals, I bet those kids were super happy and ecstatic, I don't even remember the last time they made it, or if they even did! Props to them for getting a taste of one of the most difficult super regionals in the country!

[Samuel Culper]

It was Vista's first ever BOA Finals. They missed by one spot at Austin last month.

[Percplayer19]

Great job to the Richland High School band finishing 16th! After that disappointing set back last year at SA the program is making its way back to where it belongs.. Top 10 at Denton Regional, Finished 11 at UIL, great showing at Wylie Marching Contest taking first and still up there with the big boys at SA Super this year. Richland is a great program and next year will be exciting. Shout out to Haltom and its great season. 

 

Drumline you Rock.

[azn]

I would like to say that since last year, the tides have changed! Anything can happen in the state of texas. but we are all winners in life. That was probably one of the most intense competition I have seen yet.

[jmatthews]

Great job to the Richland High School band finishing 16th! After that disappointing set back last year at SA the program is making its way back to where it belongs.. Top 10 at Denton Regional, Finished 11 at UIL, great showing at Wylie Marching Contest taking first and still up there with the big boys at SA Super this year. Richland is a great program and next year will be exciting. Shout out to Haltom and its great season. 

 

Drumline you Rock.

 

The bands just on the outside of finals, Hendrickson, Richland, and Friendswood, were very close to getting into finals. All three should be proud of how well they did. Friendswood's performance bodes well for State, as their show seems more suited for UIL. 

[azn]

Predictions for San Antonios with scores have been updated! For some reason I cannot add bands that have tied for captions since the Prediction Input is different from the Scoring input. 

UPDATE: It has been fixed!, I inputed the scores via Predictions and not Score Archive.

Re-Update: The Caption does not have a Blank Area so therefore I am unable to input bands that have tied

[LHSax]

Haven't posted much this season, but I figured I'd get a few comments out.

 

-Vista's rise has been fun to watch. That rise has been pretty methodical if you look at their BOA SA rankings through the last 5 years (32, 28, 23, 17, 14). Like many here have mentioned, their finals appearance was well deserved after many near misses. That show was smoking!

 

-And of course congratz to Leander! I am really curious to those closer to the program - what sparked this result? Leander has consistently over the past 10 years been a finals bubble band, always a good band, but not reaching those levels they did in the late 90's. Was it just a special show? Or a change of director? Is the band finally filling up again after all the splits? Really curious! Always interested in these stories.

 

-I predicted a few years ago after the split of the LISD that these bands were gonna be scary good when they filled up. Last year they proved they were unparalleled in 4A, and this year they're making a strong case for rivaling the other LISD for even being the best district in all divisions. As it's been mentioned, these bands really should be competing at the 6A Level, and I think next year's 5A state will be pretty unfair, but it will be fun to watch these 4 bands go at it again. Does anyone know if these schools plan to stay 5A, or will they grow back to 6A again? Last time I saw, the growth plan looked like they intended to stay down, but that was years ago.

 

-I am pretty disappointed in our BOA GN lineup this year (although I'm sure Wakeland and Flower Mound will do great!) but then again I don't think any of the shows this year were necessarily world beaters like the Woodlands (and potentially Hebron) were last year. I think CTJ could've made it's mark, but I don't know if they'd be medal contenders. I think top to bottom this was an amazing finals group, maybe the best ever, but there wasn't a "that band can win GN's" show this year. Maybe I'm wrong. but I am very excited to see what happens next year with all the rumors swirling around of the bands we could be sending. I think next year could be special in terms of a Texas take over of Indianapolis. 

[principalagent]

-And of course congratz to Leander! I am really curious to those closer to the program - what sparked this result? Leander has consistently over the past 10 years been a finals bubble band, always a good band, but not reaching those levels they did in the late 90's. Was it just a special show? Or a change of director? Is the band finally filling up again after all the splits? Really curious! Always interested in these stories.

 

-I predicted a few years ago after the split of the LISD that these bands were gonna be scary good when they filled up. Last year they proved they were unparalleled in 4A, and this year they're making a strong case for rivaling the other LISD for even being the best district in all divisions. As it's been mentioned, these bands really should be competing at the 6A Level, and I think next year's 5A state will be pretty unfair, but it will be fun to watch these 4 bands go at it again. Does anyone know if these schools plan to stay 5A, or will they grow back to 6A again? Last time I saw, the growth plan looked like they intended to stay down, but that was years ago.

 

 

Leander hasn't had a main director change in almost seven years, and hasn't had a colorguard director change in almost four. A change in design team, newer teachers becoming experienced, and having a larger feeder system than the other schools in the district all helped.

 

As for LISD in general, the district decided to expand Leander (capacity ~2600 from ~1800) instead of opening a new high school in the northwest corner of the district, so Leander should be back in 6A soon. Cedar Park and Vandegrift are more or less built out (CP much more so), and should stay in 5A for the time being. Vista Ridge and Rouse would be projected to grow more because of huge housing complexes going up between Leander/Cedar Park and Round Rock/Georgetown, but High School #6 is instead going to open in the far eastern side of the district, which should take Rouse back down to 5A and keep Vista Ridge there. 

[Abbie123]

@LHSax

 

I have a feeling its because Leander's football team is not doing so well (0 wins and 9 losses).

P.S. This was just a joke. the Leander High School football team consists of the classiest individuals you will ever see. Before Leander's prelims performance, the football team got the Leander Band a cake wishing them good luck.

[Xenon]

There's a lot of circumstantial evidence for the good-band/bad-football stereotype (not a hard and fast rule).

 

In HEB, it had always classically been that LD Bell had the band and Trinity (whose band made Area B Finals this year!) had the football team.

 

Let's look at this year's 6A Finalists:

 

- Marcus - 5-5

- Hebron - 2-7

- CTJ - 5-5

- Bowie - 7-2

- Reagan - 9-1

- TWHS - 8-1

- Duncanville - 3-7

- Coppell - 5-4

- FloMo - 1-8

- Keller - 5-5

 

Only 3 of the 10 finalists' football teams have 6 or more wins currently.

 

In reality, though, this is within the bounds of statistical expectation

[knoxisawesome348]

-I am pretty disappointed in our BOA GN lineup this year (although I'm sure Wakeland and Flower Mound will do great!) but then again I don't think any of the shows this year were necessarily world beaters like the Woodlands (and potentially Hebron) were last year. I think CTJ could've made it's mark, but I don't know if they'd be medal contenders. I think top to bottom this was an amazing finals group, maybe the best ever, but there wasn't a "that band can win GN's" show this year. Maybe I'm wrong. but I am very excited to see what happens next year with all the rumors swirling around of the bands we could be sending. I think next year could be special in terms of a Texas take over of Indianapolis. 

 

I agree. This year was probably the most competitive BOA San Antonio for the top half of finals, but overall I would say last year was a bit more competitive top to bottom with only a 7 point spread (and 1 point separating places 6-11). But as far as having a "GN winning show" I wouldn't say any of them quite cut it. I think Leander, CTJ, and maybe The Woodlands would be capable of medaling, but that's about it. Bowie, Hebron, and Marcus would all do well too but probably be in the 4-6 range. Of course though, I bet any  of these groups could snag the music caption if they attended. 

 

Show design wise, I don't think there's any show I've seen from any group (whether it's inside or outside of Texas) that matches The Woodlands from last year.  CTJ would probably come the closest I guess for Texas bands, but who knows.

[snares]

Let me just input my thoughts on the top 6 from BOA.

 

1) CTJ- Just wow. They blew me away, taking my socks with them. I loved everything about their show, I'm not sure how I feel about their uniforms. But still, when they came out saying their show is "chameleon", I was worried. That at the time was a sort of hard topic to grasp as a show. But they came out and won their first Regional at Conroe. And that is not an easy regional to take. Their show was really loud. That's what I like in shows, I prefer the BOA blow your face off system more than the UIL musical achievement and skill system, purely because it is more enjoyable. Anyways, this show was amazing and rivals Marcus 2012 and basically all of early Ronald Reagan from 2000-2006. Also congrats on taking bronze at state!

 

2) James Bowie- Bowie wasn't a suprise to me. Bowie is always one of the if the best bands in the state, the country even. They are consistently at the top, and I thought they deserved the silver medal. Their show was very intense, a big battle between loud and technical. I'm suprised they didn't medal at state, taking fourth for the third straight time must be hard.

 

3) Leander- This was definitely a break out year for these kids. Reminded me of Hebron last year. This year they had a very clean show, very organized. But the thing was that they were organized but musically pushed themselves out of the box. They didn't win my award for best show, but they played it so well and so emotionally that you could tell they weren't just going for third, these cats wanted to win.

 

4) Marcus- Probably one of my favorite takes on Russian Christmas music, that and crossmen's version of it. Anyways. Marcus this year suprised me in the sense that they won prelims. I didn't really ever see them winning this competition, but they are a fantastic band. They have so much control, and those trombones looked like they were having too much fun. It was a very well put together show, and very deserving of 1st place at state. It's almost like marcus has a UIL dynasty going on here.

 

5) The Woodlands- I think the woodlands favorite number is .05. That's crazy how hebron has lost to them two straight years by the same margin. This year wasnt as loud and fun and in your face as last year, mostly because of the state competition. But this show was very chaotic, as the title suggests. Those trumpets are crazy, they are so loud and proud. I really like large bands and when they rip the roof off the place with their sound, and TW constantly does that, year after year.

 

And last but certainly not least

(My favorite show of the year)

6) Hebron- I have a lot to say about Hebron. MELLOS!!! Hebron has arguably the best mellos in the United states. Two straight years we have seen crazy demand and control by them. They are really fun to watch and listen to. This year's show for Hebron was definitely one of the fan favorites. The dress change, the finding of the slipper at the end of the show, the whole thing was just perfection. I loved every second of that show. I personally thought hebron had a crazy amount of general effect in their show, but apparently I was wrong about that. Again, Hebron has so much emotion and integrity in their show, it just makes my heart sink. After watching finals, I was a bit suprised to see them so far behind CTJ. They came back and barely lost state. I really wished they could've won. It was really close, I just wish they could've won. I can't decide whether I like this year or last year's show better, I really like both. I really hope Hebron takes their 2015 show to Grand Nats. They may have had a sort of break out year or years in 2012 and 2013, but I have no doubt hebron will stay at the top.

 

What a crazy year! Here are my top 10 bands based on how they did at competitions throughout the season.

 

1) CTJ

2) Marcus

3) Bowie

4) Hebron

5) Leander

6) The Woodlands

7) Cedar Park

8) Ronald Reagan

9) LD Bell

10) Vandegrift

 

Can't wait till next season!

(Congrats to Flowermound on winning one of the biggest drumline competitions of the year at Lonestar, I wish them luck at Grand Nats)

[5 te 6]

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[SaltyTerryCancerMom69]

#DATTROMBONELINE #CTJBONES