There is no doubt Alexander will retain the Area G title again this season. From what I have seen online, the band has improved so much from last year, so I am excited to see how they do at area.
I am unsure which bands will take the 2nd and 3rd spots to state. I have seen videos of Hanna online, and they sound great with their musical selections this year. They won 1st place overall at the San Benito marching festival a few weeks ago; I think we will see Hanna advance to state again. Also a few weeks ago, United went down to the valley for the City of Palms festival where they won 1st place overall as well. I haven't seen videos of United's show yet, but given they were on top of PSJA (2nd overall) and Edinburg North that night --two bands that were above them in area finals last year -- shows they have improved from last year and really want that state title. Not to mention, Edinburg HS got 3rd overall at the same competition! I think we will see them in area finals.
There's a lot of awesome stuff happening in the South. I wish our area could take more than 3 bands to state, but a lot of 6A bands last year have gone down to 5A unfortunately. I'll post my finalist predictions when I see more area bands online, but right now, this contest is going to be so intense.