Leaderboard

Random BOA statement, I still contend a “BOA State Fair of Texas” at the Cotton Bowl would be amazing. Logistical nightmare probably with only one ramp, but the shows itself and atmosphere would be incredible

I'm excited to get to capture photos from this event for the first time! A portion of all purchases go towards the Ryan Band for hosting! You can sign up to receive notifications on when the photos are posted or check the link Sunday afternoon for the photos: https://marchingphotos.com/don-hanna-memorial-2025

(Shamelessy Grabbed from Hornrank - Thank you yayband914) Prelim Schedule as of 10/1 Thursday Prelims PANEL ONE 7:45 - Taylor H.S., OH 8:00 - Hamilton H.S., OH 8:15 - William Howard Taft H.S., IL 8:30 - Russell Independent H.S., KY 8:45 - Greenwood Community H.S., IN 9:00 - Bourbon County H.S., KY 9:15 - Warren Local H.S., OH PANEL TWO 9:30 - Walter E. Stebbins H.S., OH 9:45 - Huron Valley Marching Band, MI 10:00 - Finneytown H.S., OH 10:15 - New Berlin West H.S., WI 10:30 - Grayson County H.S., KY 10:45 - DeSoto Central H.S., MS 11:00 - St. Clairsville H.S., OH 11:15 - Estill County H.S., KY 11:30 - Bishop Fenwick H.S., OH 11:45 - IPS Showcase PANEL ONE 12:15 - Brownsburg H.S., IN 12:30 - Noblesville H.S., IN 12:45 - Worthington Kilbourne H.S., OH 1:00 - Norton H.S., OH 1:15 - Clinton-Massie H.S., OH 1:30 - Homestead H.S., IN 1:45 - Anderson County H.S., KY 2:00 - South Oldham H.S., KY 2:15 - Dorman H.S., SC 2:30 - Southlake Carroll H.S., TX 2:45 - LaRue County H.S., KY BREAK PANEL TWO 3:15 - Fairborn H.S., OH 3:30 - Floyd Central H.S., IN 3:45 - Batesville H.S., IN 4:00 - Colerain H.S., OH 4:15 - Edwardsville H.S., IL 4:30 - Oak Hills H.S., OH 4:45 - Mount Pleasant H.S., MI 5:00 - Logan Elm H.S., OH 5:15 - Lawrence Township, IN PANEL ONE 5:30 - Bentonville West H.S., AR 5:45 - Miamisburg H.S., OH 6:00 - William Mason H.S., OH 6:15 - South Dearborn H.S., IN 6:30 - Castle H.S., IN 6:45 - Marian Catholic H.S., IL 7:00 - Campbell County H.S., KY 7:15 - Greenon Jr./Sr. H.S., OH 7:30 - Broken Arrow H.S., OK 7:45 - John Hardin H.S., KY 8:00 - Avon H.S., IN BREAK PANEL TWO 8:30 - Tri County H.S., MI 8:45 - Dobyns-Bennett H.S., TN 9:00 - Valley H.S., KY 9:15 - Fishers H.S., IN 9:30 - Carmel H.S., IN 9:45 - Columbus H.S., IN 10:00 - Lafayette H.S., KY 10:15 - Marcus H.S., TX 10:30 - Wando H.S., SC 10:45 - Round Rock H.S., TX Friday Prelims PANEL ONE 7:00 - Murphsyboro H.S., IL 7:15 - Sparkman H.S., AL 7:30 - Bartlett H.S., TN 7:45 - Munster H.S., IN 8:00 - The Woodlands H.S., TX 8:15 - Yukon H.S., OK 8:30 - Southmoore H.S., OK 8:45 - Pittston Area H.S., PA 9:00 - Flower Mound H.S., TX 9:15 - South Jones H.S., MS 9:30 - Blue Springs H.S., MO 9:45 - Kenai Central H.S., AK 10:00 - Munford H.S., TN BREAK PANEL TWO 10:30 - Neosho H.S., MO 10:45 - Rock Ridge H.S., VA 11:00 - Ronald Reagan H.S., TX 11:15 - Tocoi Creek H.S., FL 11:30 - Pottsville H.S., AR 11:45 - Arlington H.S., TN 12:00 - Troy H.S., OH 12:15 - Dripping Springs H.S., TX 12:30 - O'Fallon Township H.S., IL 12:45 - Pulaski County H.S., KY 1:00 - Centerville H.S., OH 1:15 - Walled Lake H.S., MI 1:30 - Center Grove H.S., IN BREAK PANEL ONE 2:00 - Morton H.S., IL 2:15 - Christian County H.S., KY 2:30 - East Clinton H.S., OH 2:45 - Chattahoochee H.S., GA 3:00 - Rockford H.S., MI 3:15 - Carlisle H.S., OH 3:30 - Nation Ford H.S., SC 3:45 - Bentonville H.S., AR 4:00 - Lakota West H.S., OH 4:15 - Lee County H.S., KY 4:30 - Jenison H.S., MI 4:45 - Cleveland H.S., NC 5:00 - Carroll H.S., IN BREAK PANEL TWO 5:30 - Shawe Memorial H.S., IN 5:45 - Jenks H.S., OK 6:00 - Plymouth-Canton Educational Park E.P., MI 6:15 - Greendale H.S., WI 6:30 - Murray H.S., KY 6:45 - Arcanum H.S., OH 7:00 - Monrovia H.S., IL 7:15 - Westfield H.S., IN 7:30 - Archbishop Alter H.S., OH 7:45 - Cabell Midland H.S., WV 8:00 - Lake Hamilton H.S., AR 8:15 - Christian Academy of Louisville, KY 8:30 - Meade County H.S., KY 8:45 - EXH. Michigan State Univ. Spartan Marching Band

I disagree

Can't wait for TW's and Flomo to have even stronger runs with those early times and prove everyone wrong 😎

Very true. This year the first outing will be a challenge. The props are intricate and practice time with them has been limited. The music and marching is ahead of our norm though. Really excited to see them in competition. I can watch 20 of their practices and then they perform and I’m like this is a different band!

There wasn’t a reason, I went with the default. I upped it to 8 hours so everyone will see a maximum of 3 verifications per day. Let’s see how that goes! Note: the verification is still per session, so if you totally close out of your browser, you might have to re-verify before the 8 hours is up.

Bebron

I like being reminded that I’m human! 😂 Already dreading Area Day overload but appreciate having the forums.

Sorry I know it’s a little annoying but we’ve had a ton of bot/spam traffic which both spammed the forums and actually is slowing down our servers, so I’ve temporarily raised the level of security to keep the site up and running. We’ve also added email address verification for new accounts. I’m going to take a closer look after marching season to see how effective it’s been.

Agree, area g needs much more attention than it gets and I’m glad to see it happening!!

IMO - that’s a wild take. While I would love to see Melissa break into finals, I’m not certain they can.

Here's the rankings I think will happen 1. Melissa (Brass, WW) 2. Allen 3. Rock Hill (Perc, CG) 4. Argyle The rest is very foggy for me, so no clue what we could see

I get the effect they are going for. They do a couple of bows in the form towards the dancers and soloists, but it just doesn't appeal to me. And yes, I agree. The scores won't reflect this. I also have a problem with many bands in this area's shows where they flutter to sets, play, and then flutter away to another set to play again. Maybe I'm just a purist, but I feel like the marching aspect of marching band isn't being recognized that much anymore.

Thoughts on Friendswood ? I think Friendswood can possibly get top 8 at this comp, their content and design is better than most of the other bands that are coming to this comp. There music and brass are so good and their uniforms are very unique and really stand out compared to other bands going.

Ah. That clears some stuff up.

I haven't seen cy srpings lol but I'm sure they will definitely do good in finals !

I was tabbing through stadium history and found that they held 6A Area A in the Sun Bowl once. Things are possible.

No action doesnt mean its dead, but lets be honest, if this rule even GETS back to the point of possible implementation its probably going to be closer to 2028-2029. I think some of the district dominance needs to be addressed (6A areas H and J) but I really dont know any realistic solution that comfortably addresses a district steamrolling an area without directly discriminating against a band/district for being good. For 6A, the only logical proposal that would even have a chance of being passes would be to lower the amount of area qualifiers to equate a state qualifier from 5 to 4. For area H it would add another slot to be competitive against Brandeis, Steele, and W. H. Taft, for J it would open up a slot for the Wylies, McKinneys, and Braswell to compete for, and even area B would add another slot for KCent and Bell to directly compete for. The obvious issue is with state marching scheduling, and is the reason Id assume they wouldnt pass this proposal (its like 5 extra spots, and 6A SMBC already runs long with 40 bands).

I can’t find of Edinburgh North but that’s an interesting take on United and i don’t necessarily disagree but we’ll have to see more of them and face to JBA to get a better idea. I haven’t seen their show but i was able to see Alexander in person and their sound is great very clear. Great news for United South! Hopefully they’ll do good this season with their new director. 3 spots for state? Hopefully so. I’d also like to say i enjoy having these conversations in the forum it’s really interesting and great how everyone is so passionate about how Area G is doing.

They're really really bright at night. I found them to be pretty distracting. I liked the idea, I'm not sure about the execution. They have them sitting on the front sideline, but I think they would probably work better if they sat at the rear. Right now they're using just some standard, traditional static screens in the back, on rolling carts. I think they could push those all to the sides and run the digital screens at the back, without interrupting their drill too much.

Travis, George Ranch, Shadow Creek, Clear Brook, Fulshear, Dickinson, Clear Lake, Brazoswood, Foster, Dawson, Elkins, SFA, Ridge Point, Pearland

I am not sure if this is the most current schedule, though I haven’t found one myself. Nimitz’s Insta page says their prelims run is at 2:15 p.m., Poteet says their run is at 4, and HP has this contest on their calendar and they aren’t listed. I’ll keep searching! 🫠

I saw west and my brain filled in the rest. Thanks for the clarification!

It was Plano West, West Mesquite was at the Mesquite Festival

It’s Leander HS. From the videos it’s a bit much visually, but whatever floats their boat. They apparently got them donated.

Here’s to hydration on Saturday and a nice breeze when the sun goes down. Oh and double knotted shoes 😂

Jackie Gilley is amazing.... I worked with her at NTCA.... Her critiques are very helpful.....can't believe it's been over 23 years..

it is possible, but it’s VERY dependent on one band that never makes area: Hightower. they are notorious for having sub-par shows and being the reason that most years 5 bands advance and not 6.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8AJKjxA/ Found a video from their district showcase

Thanks for doing this! The site is working so much faster and a very good trade-off having to take the extra step when going into the site. It is running very quickly and working normally again!

Idk if this has been said, but Matt harloff is one of the music judges lol

So ummmm just saw Centennials run from USBands and ummmm they are not playing around, possibly their best show ever? Still will have to be a really strong run but umm yeah, look out, and they have a great performance time

I absolutely agree. I have no doubts that Harlingen wants it this year, they’ve been out of finals for two years and their 2022 state run still lives in the memories of the oldest members! From rewatching their 2023 and 2024 productions, they seem to really have leveled up in all aspects of performance. Possibly a staff or writing change? Those kids sound awesome. Weslaco and LF are the real deals this contest. I can see them displaying much higher levels of execution this weekend, after all it’s been almost two weeks since BOA, and Weslaco wasn’t present at that comp, who knows, they might surprise. They’ve been right on the doorstep of state for so long that they must all be real hungry for it. After reading the comments on Hanna, I hope they can level back up in time for area, and they usually do! Classic program with such a signature sound that I wouldn’t put out of the top 5 this year. Can’t wait to see Edinburg, last year they were absolutely dominating the early season but fell short at area. Like others are saying, it’s only really locked for JBA and possibly LF and United, but that 3rd spot could be anyone really. Area G is always fun because of how close the bands all are! For that spot it could honestly be anyone from Weslaco, both Edinburgh schools, Hanna, PSJA, or Harlingen. It’s all gonna come down to the smallest details. And yes, about JBA, I’m not exactly sure about their schedule, but they usually attend a contest or two upstate.

It’s a jar of fireflies Glad CP is getting some love!

Area finals predictions- 1. Pearland 2. Dawson 3. Clear Brook 4. Dickinson 5. SFA 6. Clements 7. Pasadena Mem. 8. Fulshear 9. Clear Falls 10. Clear Lake (5 and 6 interchangeable and idk too much abt 8-10) *feedback is welcome

Ya'll can memorize 70-80 sets, but forget the ABC's? Sheesh...

And that is all this conversation about the judging is about - improving the judging, not a "band x should have won". My take that you can read at Hornrank was that both Cy-Fair and Bridgeland had outstanding shows with very little between them. I enjoyed them both and am very pleased that both programs continue to put out strong shows, and more importantly, strong performances. The only program I still have some bias toward is The Woodlands, but our youngest last marched in 2018 so even that is getting tempered year by year.

I saw on the Sound of Fall from that Celina will only be doing prelims even if they make finals

Love it! It fits well with my comment on Hornrank from Prelims: "College Park has a strong show. I like the minimalist props approach, letting their musicality carry them. Pretty sure they'll perform again tonight." And boy did they.

Don’t over look Lebanon Trail, just beat out Argyle, Braswell, Rock Hill

I am so thrilled to watch the awesome bands at this event next weekend. Obviously, Pearland will be great, but the Houston marching scene grows in quality each year, so I'm betting on some fun surprises. Also, I'm curious to see if Seven Lakes can maintain the high standard they set for themselves last season. They didn't make a huge splash last year early season, but maybe this year they'll hit the ground running.

I’d say the top 4 are Bridgeland, Cy-Fair, Cy-Woods, and Seven Lakes, with Jordan being most likely to get the 5th state spot, but cinco Ranch is very close, any one of cinco, Jordan, could IMO take the 4th spot from our consistent heavy big hitters. All I know is at UIL Area the playing ground is a bit more even than early season. But based on what I saw yesterday. 1. Bridgeland - though they got second, I can see a UIL setting still giving them edge. 2. Seven Lakes, if they keep up the momentum from last year! 3. From a UIL Setting, Cypress Woods can do well here. 4. Cy-Fair, yes I KNOW they just won the BOA regional in Conroe, however this is UIL!! We saw how last years results completely changed from Early season to late season, some bands peak earlier than others, not to mention the UIL judging change. 5. Jordan, I’m convinced Jordan can go to state this year. 6. Cinco Ranch, such a good shown design, and they did a repeat at the Conroe regional making finals again, I’m not shocked, my only thing is, they have just got to clean, and be consistently clean, I think they may rely on design too much? The Lemons show was I think a good example of that, still a great program. 7. James E. Taylor, I expected them to be on the bubble to be moved up into finals due to TWHS and tomball memorials homecoming, but they didn’t even need to, good job! 8. Cypress Ranch, I can Say after what I saw yesterday I’m thoroughly impressed, their show seems to be a bit different than last year-in terms of design, but it was well performed, their energy also seems to be a bit more confident, they seem to be ahead of where they normally are, in terms of confidence of performance, but they just need to clean, like most other groups. 9. Langham Creek, everything i said about cypress ranch, seems to apply here with langham creek, their shows are much more difficult than last year, and their energy on the field is MUCH higher, and more intense. Things to clean, and a much different show design to the year before. Solid from langham creek, amazing. 10. Likely Tompkins, i haven’t seen Katy or Tompkins but going off of a really bad inconsistent factor “reputation” I’d put Tompkins. I just can’t compare them to other groups because I haven’t nothing to compare. have fun reading my amateur analysis.

1: colleyville heritage 2: colleyville heritage 3: colleyville heritage 4: colleyville heritage 5: colleyville heritage 6: colleyville heritage 7: colleyville heritage 8: colleyville heritage 9: colleyville heritage 10: colleyville heritage 11: colleyville heritage 12: colleyville heritage first out: colleyville heritage captions: colleyville heritage honorable mention: colleyville heritage

It's certainly possible; it happened before with BOA Arlington 2010, and esp. 2011. But I'm not aware of any recent data that points in that direction.

I think once we get past BOA South Houston, we’ll have a clearer idea of the top 10 since most bands will have shown their performances by then. No doubt it’s still September, and we’re still early in the season, plus we haven’t even seen the full shows from groups like JET, Katy, and Tompkins yet

Anyone predicting LCHS to make state needs to also specify which band that made state last year isn't gonna make it this year. 😆 As an LCHS alum I would love nothing more than to see these kids restore the school to its glory days.

Finally saw more groups, we will see these groups on public recordings soon but here are my thoughts before the mid season begins (some repeats, but it was too early to say anything even design wise, it still is in regards to achievement but I feel confident in the bubbles we will see in October): Hebron: Wow. This is probably their most visually and musically cohesive show, its going to be a UIL monster at state. Their brass and woodwind lines in the past have been guilty of just sounding “noodly”, think Hebron 2023 woodwinds after the ballad, Hebron 2021 had noodling, Hebron 2019 wasnt as bad but felt disjointed movement to movement, but the woodwinds and brass have REALLY good musical moments even through sixteenth and double tonguing. So far theres no noodling and the visuals for Hebron are really demanding. Rock Hill: I had a poor recording so I couldnt really gather much, but I like the direction of their show, I think this is a step in the right direction design wise and could possibly break back into finals this year. Prosper: Visually pretty good, demand feels lower than last year but they are cleaner in general. I wish the boat props did more but that might be subject to change given how Prospers show over the years develop. I imagine theyll be 4th unless percussion and visual judges have different priorities. Allen: Visually pretty good for them honestly, they are moving more than previous years and they sound pretty good. I don't think they will make finals this year but overall a strong year for Allen. Little Elm: I am surprised by the amount of growth they've seen in just a year. I think visuals will hold them back but even then they have improved in every aspect, will be a strong 10-14 contender this year. Braswell: Im going to be honest, I do not like the writing. Last year was really really good design wise and felt very original at area, but I feel overstimulated with the frequent DCI references and the brass are over-programmed over the WWs and Percussion (definitely a fun experience for the students). THAT BEING SAID, they are performing it very well, theres tuning issues in the recording I heard but they have a strong sound and move well as an ensemble, I still think they'll be in the 4-5 range due to achievement, but I was let down after how well designed their show was last year. If you like hype moments and callbacks, you will like this show, but it takes to about halfway through the ballad to feel like its own show. Edit: Adding more bands without pinging the channel Boyd: This is their best designed show ever, easily. Now I dont know if its enough to make state since this area is so competitive, but this year in particular now feels like 4-8 are really interchangeable. But this is definitely best show to come out of McKinney Boyd and Im excited to see where they go in the future, some balancing problems in areas but a strong sound from every section, and visually better than usual, still needs cleaning but a great start of the season for the program. Plano East: I am again shocked. The most challenging musically and visually show from Plano East in a LONG time, and very distinctly designed. The brass are the best performing but its still early season, but the biggest thing that will hold them back is cleanliness for area, but Id personally rank them in the 9-12 range now.

Nobody here is qualified, we’re all just amateurs pulling things out of our rears based on band prestige. Predict away

The order is the order of all potential qualifying bands, just remove the bands who don’t qualify after the region comps are completed and you have the order for area. if all bands were to qualify, that would be their prelim performance order. The remaining finalists would perform in that order with all the non-finalists removed. Or like last year we can finish prelims after a monsoon around 11pm and have no finals.