shaggy

I don't see Leander being rouse, cedar park, or cedar ridge. I love their show and I really wish they won 5A state and did better at BOA Austin, but the way they've been judged so far, I have them in the bubble around the bowie, round rock, coppell area.

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I think Hebron 2021 might take the crown for best high school show. At the very least its the best music I have ever heard a high school pull off. Somehow Hebron keeps one upping themselves with this absurd music. I cannot wait to see what they do next year.
 

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I think Hebron 2021 might take the crown for best high school show. At the very least its the best music I have ever heard a high school pull off. Somehow Hebron keeps one upping themselves with this absurd music. I cannot wait to see what they do next year.
 

No one is going to talk about round rocks closer? It might be the most ambitious music I have ever heard them play

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I think Hebron 2021 might take the crown for best high school show. At the very least its the best music I have ever heard a high school pull off. Somehow Hebron keeps one upping themselves with this absurd music. I cannot wait to see what they do next year.
 

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I think Hebron 2021 might take the crown for best high school show. At the very least its the best music I have ever heard a high school pull off. Somehow Hebron keeps one upping themselves with this absurd music. I cannot wait to see what they do next year.
 

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I think Hebron 2021 might take the crown for best high school show. At the very least its the best music I have ever heard a high school pull off. Somehow Hebron keeps one upping themselves with this absurd music. I cannot wait to see what they do next year.
 

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I think Hebron 2021 might take the crown for best high school show. At the very least its the best music I have ever heard a high school pull off. Somehow Hebron keeps one upping themselves with this absurd music. I cannot wait to see what they do next year.
 

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I think Hebron 2021 might take the crown for best high school show. At the very least its the best music I have ever heard a high school pull off. Somehow Hebron keeps one upping themselves with this absurd music. I cannot wait to see what they do next year.
 

Sad to see round rock out of state finals again. And with a confusingly low percussion score too (Not blaming the percussion judge I just know how much those kids take pride in having amazing percussion so it sucks to see them not do good in that category)
I hope there's still a way for them to make finals at nats. I would imagine if they don't make finals they won't go back in 2023. It's just too expensive and I've heard stories of students/families that struggled to come up with the money to make the trip. 

Sad to see round rock out of state finals again. And with a confusingly low percussion score too (Not blaming the percussion judge I just know how much those kids take pride in having amazing percussion so it sucks to see them not do good in that category)
I hope there's still a way for them to make finals at nats. I would imagine if they don't make finals they won't go back in 2023. It's just too expensive and I've heard stories of students/families that struggled to come up with the money to make the trip. 

Sad to see round rock out of state finals again. And with a confusingly low percussion score too (Not blaming the percussion judge I just know how much those kids take pride in having amazing percussion so it sucks to see them not do good in that category)
I hope there's still a way for them to make finals at nats. I would imagine if they don't make finals they won't go back in 2023. It's just too expensive and I've heard stories of students/families that struggled to come up with the money to make the trip. 

Round Rock really cant catch a break this year. San Antonio prelims they had someone fall really bad at the very beginning of the show causing others to fall as well. And at UIL they had a guard member hurt herself and stuck on the ground unable to walk for about a minute and a half of the show until someone ran on the field and carried her off. I doubt these things affect the scoring too terribly but I know how demoralizing it is to have things like this happen during the most important runs of the whole season. Hopefully they still have a shot at finals, because the run sounded and looked way better than on Friday.

and they have to get on a plane in two days and go even harder...

and they have to get on a plane in two days and go even harder...

Round Rock really cant catch a break this year. San Antonio prelims they had someone fall really bad at the very beginning of the show causing others to fall as well. And at UIL they had a guard member hurt herself and stuck on the ground unable to walk for about a minute and a half of the show until someone ran on the field and carried her off. I doubt these things affect the scoring too terribly but I know how demoralizing it is to have things like this happen during the most important runs of the whole season. Hopefully they still have a shot at finals, because the run sounded and looked way better than on Friday.

Round Rock really cant catch a break this year. San Antonio prelims they had someone fall really bad at the very beginning of the show causing others to fall as well. And at UIL they had a guard member hurt herself and stuck on the ground unable to walk for about a minute and a half of the show until someone ran on the field and carried her off. I doubt these things affect the scoring too terribly but I know how demoralizing it is to have things like this happen during the most important runs of the whole season. Hopefully they still have a shot at finals, because the run sounded and looked way better than on Friday.

Never thought i'd see the day, Go hawks 😄

I would be very, very cautious about using UIL Area scores or placements as a barometer for how this contest will play out. Historically, UIL Area hasn't been super useful for predicting BOA, or even for predicting UIL State. I guess you could argue that UIL's system has become more content-oriented, like BOA, but clearly that did little to fix the sloppiness of the judging. (Exhibit A: Area B! Anybody want a 1-1-12?)
That being said, there are some things that caught my attention about this weekend's scores, for various reasons. First of all, I feel a little bit vindicated in the CTJ versus Reagan match-up. Going into the Texas Marching Classic, I accurately predicted Vandegrift would win that contest, along with the way the captions were awarded, but I would have had CTJ ahead of Reagan on the strength of music performance. CTJ did, in fact, end up ahead of Reagan in music performance at the TMC, but it wasn't enough to overcome Reagan in effect or visual performance. Reagan's 4-4-4 in music and 1-1 in visual at UIL Area is actually closer to what I would have expected. I don't think Reagan is bad musically or anything like that; I've just thought that they could use some work in that area all season (along with pretty much all the other bands). Now, am I convinced this is how it's going to play out at San Antonio? No.
Vista Ridge ahead of Vandegrift at Area H was really the only big surprise for me, mainly because Vandegrift's show is a little bit more old-fashioned and also better performed than Vista's, based on the most recently available videos. Vandy's show seems right up UIL's alley. I'm wondering if this is a case of the new content-related criteria boosting a group, because Vista's show is definitely the more difficult of the two shows. Overall, although I won't read too much into the result, it does give me at least a tiny bit of confidence in predicting Vista for the top half of finals at BOA SA, with some real potential to crash the top 5.
Hebron and Flower Mound are closer than I think most people are assuming. UIL Area results showed this, but so did BOA Dallas results. Flower Mound topped Hebron by only about one half of a point. In fact, more judges had Hebron in 1st place at BOA Dallas finals than those who had Flower Mound in 1st place. I think Hebron is a much bigger threat for the top at this contest than people think, especially on the strength of their music, but their visual program also got a perfectly fine score at BOA Dallas, so visual concerns may be a little overblown.
The Woodlands getting 1st place from every judge at UIL Area prelims is a bit of a nothingburger for me. Yes, they excelled despite UIL's wonky judging, but as fine as the groups in Area F are, TWHS had absolutely no competition -- even less than they did at BOA Conroe. I still think they're a threat for the top here, but San Antonio is the first time this season they'll encounter any sort of challenge. And performing after CTJ in prelims is oh-so-unfortunate for any group!
Cedar Park got a massive 93.6 at Waco. Warranted? I don't know, but it makes me think CP will be able to break the top 7 here, which apparently will be filled with 95+ scores, unless BOA tones it down a little. It's okay. I don't mind it.

Round Rock 2021 > Round Rock 2019. Be ready for seven more performances from them.

Round Rock 2021 > Round Rock 2019. Be ready for seven more performances from them.

Round Rock 2021 > Round Rock 2019. Be ready for seven more performances from them.

Round Rock 2021 > Round Rock 2019. Be ready for seven more performances from them.

Round Rock 2021 > Round Rock 2019. Be ready for seven more performances from them.

I'm sorry, but I cannot see Seven Lakes or Pearland beating any Austin area band this year. Pearland got lucky in 2019 in beating out Cedar Ridge and Westwood. That certainly won't happen again. 
Cedar Ridge, Round Rock and Westwood are just NOW PEAKING. This hasn't happened...ever. They are united and out for blood. I never in a million years would I have thought this would be possible. But you bet that RRISD having 3 bands at State this year has brought these three programs together.  
 
That being said, CTJ tweaked their show at Area..and I FREAKING LOVED IT. It's the first time that I'd rank it higher than Reagan.
 
Austin area bands rock.