Shadow Weaver

Hmmmm...they've had that extra drive since 1993 and even that blanket of secrecy (though when they last went it was a UIL 5A State year). Was it 2002? Anyone else remember Spring has Sprung? Hopefully this year will not be a repeat of what I think can only be looked back on as a bit of a tragic show concept with way too many moving parts (worst use of tarps ever?) to take off successfully. I for one wax nostalgic over the 90's Spring marching band, so I would love to see them be successful.

Don't hang your heads too low after the loss I kid, I kid. I have no idea who will win the game. I'll just say I've seen too many losses over the past few weeks to stomach one more.

Several football teams I've known of in the past (New Braunfels Canyon last year) have had to forfeit multiple games due to an ineligible player. They were fortunate in that the games were pre-district, but that just makes oversight all the more important in Marching band. It often comes down to one competition, and I believe that the UIL is highly interested in applying the rules evenly. I don't know the exact guidelines for ineligible players, but as has been pointed out, Poteet received the minimum penalty. If the Poteet band director had discovered the oversight and then KNOWINGLY allowed his band to compete, the consequences could have been much more grave for the Poteet band. That doesn't mean it doesn't totally suck for the school that "drops the ball" so to speak, however unintentional. In fact, it was very generous of the UIL to allow Poteet the opportunity to compete at Area, meet the 15 band minimum, and allow for the opportunity of an alternate band to go in their stead. Poteet has been successful over many, many years at the UIL 4A Texas State Marching band competition, and this ruling should not diminish the hard work and accomplishments of the students. They're not any less performers because of this ruling, and in the face of pretty clear-cut rules, there's little room for interpretation. Congratulations to the Forney band, and represent your community with class at State!

Glad to hear y'all have not been having those issues Maybe I'll see you there. May even get Marcy to join me!

Reserved seating used to be the way to go to get the best vantage point, as good seats in the General Admission section required getting a good place in line early enough to ensure the best seats. Is this still the case? I'm driving down from Austin post- Tech v. Texas, so I know I'm angling for the Upper deck seating myself.

This. In competitions as wildly tough as Area D, the difference between 1st and 20th is quite minimal. People also need to remember that at UIL competitions, the focus is much more heavily skewed toward the educational component and process, meaning technique (and contrary to popular belief, execution of difficult drill/music) and precision are taken into account over show design. Given the educational nature of the UIL, this is as it should be. Make no mistake, though, I love the pomp of BOA and the artistic design/component inherent in the competition.

Perhap's Lopez's first appearance in the 5A Honor Band competition, but they have been perennial 4A State Honor Band participants. They were a runner-up something like 4 times before finally winning the 4A State Honor Band title. Very good musical group.

Great list...I might also include PCEP 2001. It was hands-down the coolest show at Nationals that year. That and a sentimental fondness for Winston Churchill '99. Not so much the drill as the music.

A fewvideos I found of performances... Akins - New Braunfels - Westlake - MacArthur (early season) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M35BplGIzxQ Two Austin, two San Antonio It's nice to see how many good bands we have in Area D. Enjoy! oh! and an up and coming band you will hear a lot more about in the future imho as a future 4A State Finalist Cibbolo Steele -

That is correct! the CenTex area is a behemoth in the Texas marching band world, and it was Dripping Springs, Vista Ridge, Hendrickson, and Connally that went on to advance to and place in the 2007 4A State Finals. Having attended Statef Finals, IMHO #5 and #6 in our area (New Braunfels and Hays, respectively) had a show quality high enough to be in State finals with the other two groups as well. I think it says a lot when an incredibly talented program like Georgetown can have a great performance and still rank 19th.

regarding New Braunfels, they have not missed a finals appearance since the format was established and have only failed to advance to state once since 1998, falling to 5th place from their 4th place prelims finish at 4A Area last year. A very good Dripping Springs leap-frogged NB in finals performance to take the final state spot. All 4A bands advancing from that area were State Finalists.

Full prelims results: http://www.uilmusicregion18.com/pdfs/2008_..._5A_Prelims.pdf The two most interesting scores I found were New Braunfels and Westwood's ordinals. There was a curious disparity in the music/marching scoring of both groups. As I recall, NB's marching was very clean while their music was solid enough, whereas Westwood's music was focused, rich, and resonant, and the marching was solid enough. Something to take pride in for both schools as well as a good direction from which to work from.

Everyone needs to chill. Finals in this Area is an extremely prestigious achievement. It is THE toughest in the State, so State or no State, being at the big dance is an accomplishment in and of itself. It's disappointing when we fall short of our goals, but it is, after all, not the end of the world. If the performance was great and you are proud of that, in the end that is what you will remember. In a subjective field such as the arts, I think we need to accept inconsistency as part and parcel of the package. Also, kudos to New Braunfels on their 11th place finish. They are the only other group I've heard about, and to be out of finals by one ordinal point against the likes of Leander and Reagan is impressive for one of our new 4A-5A bumps. I can't imagine it was easy for them driving home and not performing in finals. Think perspective, guys.

Vista Ridge performed solidly last year as both an Area Finalist and a State Finalist. They beat some very strong groups and perennial 4A powers to get there, and if they are building on their previous year's success, I don't see them missing finals. Having said that, I also think we can't ignore groups like McNeil and Westwood as was kindly pointed out. These two groups have performed strongly at area in the past and definitely possible Area finalists. I have not seen either or seen many competition results, so my information on them this year is scant. Any and all information on any of the above groups is appreciated!

Churchill Reagan MacArthur Judson Smithson Valley Wagner New Braunfels Lee Madison Roosevelt East Central Cedar Park Georgetown Leander McNeil Stony Point Round Rock Vista Ridge Westwood A&M Consolidated Belton Bryan Copperas Cove Ellison Temple Pflugerville Westlake Akins Austin Anderson Bowie Connally This post may be a bit redundant, but I'm going to attempt to rank in groups. I've placed them in order, but I think order within the groups is subject to change. Top 3 - Winston Churchill Cedar Park James Bowie 4-6 Round Rock Charles Akins Ronald Reagan 7-9 Westlake Vista Ridge John B. Connally 10-12 Georgetown Leander Anderson 13-15 New Braunfels MacArthur Judson I think after that it gets a bit muddled. But those are my guesses for the top half. I think we can see the most volatility between groups 10-12 and 13-15. I see those six groups fighting for the 10th finalist spot. What makes it difficult to classify is that the San Antonio area schools (Judson, Mac, NB) have yet to compete head-to-head with the Austin area schools (G-town, Leander, Anderson)

Uhhh....Reagan 2001/2002?! Nothing against either show, as I loved them both

Churchill Reagan MacArthur Judson Smithson Valley Wagner New Braunfels Lee Madison Roosevelt East Central Cedar Park Georgetown Leander McNeil Stony Point Round Rock Vista Ridge Westwood A&M Consolidated Belton Bryan Copperas Cove Ellison Temple Pflugerville Westlake Akins Austin Anderson Bowie Connally Red=My Highly likely bands. Blue=My bubble bands Purple=double bubble bands I'll play...I'm just picking finalist and bubble finalists

Was it Area D last year? Area E and D often swap, but I was sure last year it was Area E...regardless, all three were in the same Area last year...I believe this was the ranking order from prelims to finals. Prelims - 2007 Hendrickson Vista Ridge Connally New Braunfels Dripping Springs Hays Finals - 2007 Connally Hendrickson Vista Ridge Dripping Springs New Braunfels Hays

With Smithson Valley, huh? I saw them at Rocket Review a couple weeks back. How are they doing since then? Have you seen Steele and Seguin so far this year? I expect to see them contending for 4A state next year!

Connally, Vista Ridge, and New Braunfels are all former members of highly competitive 4A Area E. I am curious to see how all three do now that they are in 5A. They were all very successful in 4A and have multiple 4A State Final appearances amongst them.

in demeaning and criticizing another band as such, you bring shame to your organization. I'm sure they're proud of you right now.

you should watch your mouth. You leave yourself open to a volley of merited criticism.

When I have time to do my full state preview I'll touch on a couple of points. Connally is a great example. If you had told me a few weeks ago that Connally was advancing to state with the level of showmanship they were putting on the field (much less win prelims in the hotly contested Area D) I would have bet money against it. When they came out on the field on Saturday, they were significantly more impressive. They pulled the show together in a fashion similar to what bands like Westfield have done in off years. I definitely applaud the group. By the way, touching on your question on my predictions, I saw as many bands as I could, but it would have been impossible to really make predictions on all bands based solely on the bands I'd seen. You were a believer in Connally, but how many times had you seen them this year? I would say that goes for other bands like Dripping Springs, Azle, Birdville, The Colony, Roma, and the likes. My point is, that when you can't see everyone, history can and does play a roll in the decision process. Just ask any pollster. A case in point I may add is you were a believer in Connally because of their history. I made my predictions based on what I had seen from them just a couple weeks before the competition at USSBA, which was night/day difference from what they actually presented when they performed this past Saturday. It might also be noted that Connally didn't exactly sweep through the competition. Their strong finals performance sealed their placement at State, but the prelims contest was much tighter. The top 5 bands all had great performances (less the case in finals, when Connally and Hendrickson had distinctly strong runs) and there was no clear cut champion. some recaps: http://www.uilmusicregion18.com/pdfs/2007_..._4A_Prelims.pdf http://www.uilmusicregion18.com/pdfs/2007_...D_4A_Finals.pdf It's interesting to note that in prelims there was not a single band in the top 5 that drew more than one first place vote.

Nothing wrong with being entirely wrong in an area. It's the nature of predictions and the nature of a rather volatile activity. There are too many variables. Congrats to your band! But I didn't see you throwing out predictions for all the areas either.

The official UIL rules state that it must be 21 or more bands to have 10 or more finalists. Area B missing three bands? The bands listed on the most recent official schedule for Area B was the list I used to determine the candidates in Area B. Has there been another revised list?