propsquaddad

Participating bands have been added to the original post. 

It's tough when you have a school district like Leander ISD that has 6 high schools, and 5 of them are ranked in the top 20 Nationally. The only way to even something like that out in the UIL system would be to split the school district between 2 areas and I'd don't think UIL can even do that. 

The draw SHOULD be blind to school distance from San Antonio.  Otherwise, schools farther away would get the more coveted Prelims times, and how is that fair?

Leander ISD’s third sweep, and now five of its six schools have participated in at least one of them.
if Vista Ridge and Vandegrift go 1-2 next week, is that a Royal Flush?

I agree, I think its going to come down to who puts the best Finals run together, and then the difference in UIL scoring vs BOA scoring. 

I agree, I think its going to come down to who puts the best Finals run together, and then the difference in UIL scoring vs BOA scoring. 

There was only 1 point difference between each of Cedar Park, Rouse, and Leander in finals at Area. Leander has consistently won in music at BOA Austin, TMC, and UIL Area finals and beat Rouse at TMC. The different scoring configuration and ratio may come into play. It will be tight at the top and interesting to see how it comes out. It should be entertaining regardless! 

The UIL does split school districts (take a look at Cy-Fair ISD), but I don't think the TMEA does, which is what matters in this instance.

Rouse got the prime prelim slot. I agree, Cedar Park, Leander, Rouse move on unless one of them completely falls apart. Glenn probably will finish 4th...

It would be a shocker if it is anything other than those three.

I think we still head to a Leander ISD threepeat, but I’m shakier on the prediction than I had been. There’s a lot of good band in 5A this year. Wakeland of course is happy to play spoiler to LISD’s fun, and this year is far from an exception. Not to mention Weiss and Johnson attempting to make an impact on their way to 6A next season. Not sure who else could make a meaningful challenge up top. Lone Star is very clean, Forney’s show has wheels (the design caption should treat them favorably), and Highland Park could be anywhere. 

It is going to be a very interesting year for 5A UIL for sure. Right now I think the biggest unknown for 5A is Highland Park. Everyone sort of knows where everyone else stands at this point. However, Highland Park doesn't really compete outside of UIL so nobody really tracks them but they were REALLY good in 2019. 

They’ve historically had a great relationship with the Westlake program, and this marching contest, for decades now and perhaps they prefer this loyalty. I do agree that it isn’t as competitive, but for a long season, that can be okay. 

What, parking at McDonald's?

And if all that isn't enough - There's the massive traffic jam to get out of the parking lot when it's over!  ?

Don’t count out Highland Park from Dallas. They placed second in 2019 in 5A. Smaller band but big sound. It will be interesting to see how they fare. Competition will be tough…and fun for all to watch! 

These early season contests are really sort of a crap shot trying to make predictions. Rouse HS show is coming along really well. It's been kept pretty tightly under wraps so I'm not sure anyone has snuck any videos out of it. I'm going to guess that Rouse finishes higher than everyone is predicting. I'm really curious to see CTJ at BOA Austin. It blows my mind that they might have a full show ready this early.  

So happy that I decided to stay in San Antonio for Band Week San Antonio. 5A is going to be spicy and I'll be glued to my seat for the entireity.

The 3 LISD bands, Weiss, Highland Park, Wakeland, Lebanon Trail, Wylie East are my favorites for finals. Who knows how these shows are going to develop throughout the season but it is going to be epic and every bit as competitive as 6A.

I feel like this comment has aged well. ?

The directors wanted to give the band family another off weekend since the calendar is otherwise so intense.

After my daughter graduated in 2020, and a year of COVID, my son will be a Freshman at Rouse this year. Not to jinx anything, but we already made our hotel reservations for State. Looking forward to an awesome year. Rouse HS show reveal and mini camp at the end of the school year has everyone fired up. Its gonna be a good year!

There are some pretty awesome 5A bands from other districts on the rise as well. It will be an exciting UIL season for sure!

True - but it could just be an issue of costs for an additional trip and/or stay in San Antonio in a year when they are planning a trip to Indy. also could be a matter of driving VS flying to Indy, or doing 7 performances in 8 days - sorry to see FloMo not go to San Antonio but excited to see them in Indy

So incredibly proud of the Rouse HS guard. Their director called them "The little team that could". 
 
Congrats to all the Texas teams that made the finals!! 

So incredibly proud of the Rouse HS guard. Their director called them "The little team that could". 
 
Congrats to all the Texas teams that made the finals!!