Best BOA 'A' & 'AA' bands in Texas?

[takigan]

So while most of us (except for Area A and a few invitationals) are staying indoors this Saturday, I figured I'd maybe start a topic that's a bit different than other general band discussion topics while we wait out the rain .

It's no secret who the best BOA AAA and AAAA are.  But what about A and AA?  UIL 4A Hidalgo HS from Area G has had a reputation for being the premier BOA class 1A band here in Texas.  They went to Grand Nationals in '08 (getting a class placement of 4th out of 13 in Thursday prelims....missing Semi-Finals by 2 spots), they got 2nd last year in their class at BOA San Antonio, 1st in their class this year at McAllen.  Great band, especially for their size. 

But the overwhelming majority of UIL 4A and smaller bands don't do BOA.  If some of these bands were to do BOA, could any of them dethrone Hidalgo? Could any of these bands be a Grand National 1A class champion? The first band that obviously comes to mind is Argyle.  They're the reigning UIL 4A State champion, and would be BOA 1A if they competed.  I think with the right timeslot they could net a 1A Top 3 Class Placement in Semis. But are there others I'm sure I'm overlooking.

Same for AA.  Aledo was the BOA 2A champion at SA last year.  But Dripping Springs is 2A as well and could easily be GN semi-finalists and would probably even make a push for GN finals (like how Wakeland almost made finals last year) if they competed.  I could see them getting placed in class as well, though bands like Marian Catholic and Tarpon Springs would keep them away from the class gold medal.  Again, I'm probably overlooking some others.

Converting UIL 4A and 5A bands into BOA classes (9-12 -->10-12) can be pretty challenging (I search the TEA's AEIS database for 10-12 enrollment, though they run 2 years behind).  Here's the UIL school list ranking every school by 9-12 enrollment for your own analysis (it's actually a pretty useful resource on its own).

http://www.uiltexas.org/files/alignments/2014-RR-Rank-Order.pdf

BOA enrollment (grades 10-12)
1A: 2A: 601-1200
3A: 1201-1700
4A: 1701+
 

[knoxisawesome348]

I think Dripping Springs last year was grand national finals material. Probably one of the best performances a Texas AA band has ever made. I personally thought they were better than Blue Springs and were very ahead visually than almost every program besides Tarpon. They are AAA now, however. 

[dylan123]

why doesn't BOA include 9th grade in the enrollment

[takigan]

Not every school district in the United States treats 9th grade as a high school grade.  There are even a few middle schools in Texas that are 7th-9th.  Nearly all high schools have at least grade 10 though, and although there are plenty of High Schools that only have 11th-12th (Plano schools as well as the Tulsa, OK schools are a good example of this), almost all of those schools have either a 9th grade and 10th grade campus or combined 9-10 campus that makes enrollment calculation simple.  There are virtually no 6th-10th schools or 8-10th schools.  So 10th-12th ends up being the most practical standard to apply nationally.