Leaderboard

Both NTCA and TCGC hold their first competitions this Saturday, at Martin HS and Goose Creek Memorial HS. TECA held their first contest this past Saturday. WTCA and WGI hold their first events on February 17th. WGI seems a little later than usual, but to make up for it they're doing 5 regionals in a single weekend, including the Dallas, Houston, and Avon regionals. Dallas and Avon will be streamed on FloMarching. Alas, to my knowledge, none of the local Texas circuit competitions are being streamed. I won't be attending anything, so I'll be waiting for the YouTube videos to drop. Some of the locals here will have to keep me in-the-know!

It definitely will be close between the two! I'm guessing the top 3 will remain the Lewisville schools. I think right now, I'd give 4th to Wylie, they've been on a role post-covid and haven't missed state the last 3 years, so unless the senior class leaving heavily hurts them, I don't see them dropping out of the top 6, though they could drop to 5th/6th. I think the last two spots, at least right now, will be Prosper and Forney. Forney did VERY well at state and boa SA, placing over schools like Leander, Wylie East, etc. Prosper was very strong last year, great show and I'd imagine we'll see them back at state unless something drastic happens. The biggest contesters would be Wylie East, Mckinney Boyd, Rockhill (last year was weird for them at area, think they will place much better next season) and Rockwall, who is always great. Ofc, East hasn't missed making state since their first time in 2019, but they would need to rise to the occasion and be able to take down Prosper and/or Forney, which didn't happen last year. Ofc, they did beat Prosper in 22, but they were strong then compared to last year. And it's not just competitive in the top half but getting into finals will be virtually impossible. Based on last season, were looking at 1st-10th being locks, as shown below, and the last two spots being up for grabs. Again, this is assuming none of the bands in the top 10 below fall off. I'd also imagine bands like Braswell, who did great all season but then missed area finals, are going to be out for blood. This will easily be the most competitive 6A area C to date, and I'm really hoping I can attend this one next year, as long Baylor doesn't have a FB game the same day. Here's my way to early predictions: 1st: Hebron/Marcus 2nd: Marcus/Hebron/Flomo 3rd: Marcus/Flomo 4th: Wylie 5th: Forney/Prosper 6th: Prosper/Forney 7th: Wylie East 8th: Mckinney Boyd 9th: Rockhill 10th: Rockwall 11th/12th: Mckinney/Byron Nelson/Lakeview Centennial/Braswell/Lewisville/Plano East/Little Elm/Plano Senior; could be any of these schools I'm super excited for this area next year and can't wait to see how things shake up!

I’m going on a limb and saying Prosper is above Forney. I know it’s my own school, but we have actually competed with 6A schools before, and we tend to place below prosper and all the Lewisville Schools. I am not overlooking our recent success, but it’s something that cannot be overlooked, regardless of BOA judging. However, I do have faith in Forney thriving in 6A, especially now that we’ve been brought into the spotlight. It’s something I wish I could experience, but unfortunately college calls and I answer. 😔

This is going to be more personal but when Lumberton made 5A State back in 2017 was a huge comeback. Last time Lumberton advanced was all the way back in 1980 where they placed 7th/25 at 4A State (Top 5 Advanced to Finals). Between 1980 and 2017, Lumberton was very consistent at region but always failed to advance from Area to State, though placed State Alternate or the next spot out quite a bit. It really wasn't until the horrible tragedy of 2016 & 2017 that occurred, when Lumberton started getting that traction to advance. In 2016, we had a band parent steal and use over $70,000 from us. It was a complete slap to our face however being the Mighty Raider Band from Lumberton, we did not stop. We used that setback to fuel us for the remainder of the year plus the years to come. We all know what happened in August of 2017, Hurricane Harvey. Like many cities and towns in SETX, over half of the town lost everything (I believe at least 1/4th, maybe even 1/2 of the band had lost everything) however that again, did not stop us. We continued all season long til Area where we placed 3rd/38 in Prelims, then 5th/10 in Finals, (Top 7 went to State that year in Area E). I cannot tell yall how ecstatic we were on our advancement to State. Even though we would eventually place 30th/35, it was still an incredible achievement to have finally been a state ranked band. Fast forward 7 years, and Lumberton has advanced to State every eligible year yet. I will forever always remember those moments in the program that truly made us the Mighty Raider Band from tiny SETX Town, Lumberton.