BandNerd07

Good list, but Southwest is actually in Ft Worth, not Frisco.

Bro I just realized that I typed in "Madrid" but I meant to say "made". Darn it auto correct 😭😭😭 but I do get your point with Highland Park though.

True. Lakeview Madrid finals last year in arguably the hardest area in 6A and I personally see them winning it all this year here.

We actually will only have 4 bands to state because you need need at least 25 bands to send 5. Since there's only 23, there will only be 4 to state. And another thing i have observed is that some bands that missed finals last year would make it this year, for instance, Lake Ridge, Trinity and Legacy. Here would be the results of this "modified" area based on last year's results: 1. Coppell** 2. LD Bell** 3. Timber Creek** 4. Keller** 5. Haltom* 6. Southlake Carroll* 7. Keller Central* 8. Lake Ridge* 9. Trinity* 10. Legacy* 11. Boswell 12. Mansfield 13. South Grand Prairie 14. Martin 15. North Crowley 16. Crowley 17. Arlington 18. Weatherford 19. Bowie 20. Cedar Hill 21. Grand Prairie

So I know that Adamson, Jefferson, Molina, Samuell and South Oak Cliff were NV last year, and Spruce did not participate but they did in 2022. I'm not sure if they will opt out again this year though, and I know that Singley and Seagoville have never participated and I don't think Oak Cliff Faith Family Academy will participate either. So keeping this in mind, there will most likely be 27 varsity bands in this area with a maximum of 10 finalists and 5 state advancers but will probably still only send 4.

I also wouldn't sleep on the Planos. They just keep getting better and better every year. Plano actually missed finals by one spot last year so this year I think they may pull it off. As for East and West, they definitely could move up a couple of spots next year as well.

Wow, I am just in shock of how much smaller they made Area B. From 38 bands to 7 maximum qualifiers to 22 bands and 4 maximum qualifiers, that is just insane. Right now, I'd honestly have to say that Coppell is the only lock here. While Keller, TC and Bell will probably get the other spots, we can't leave out SLC, KC, or Haltom who could potentially pull off a major upset. And it is also imperative that we get as many 1st division bands as possible now that there are more limited spots than ever. Last year Lamar and Sam Houston didn't qualify and Bowie, Cedar Hill and GP barely snuck themselves in. Hopefully next year we can have most if not all bands get a 1st division at region.

Boswell HS is attending this year.

Here's Southlake Carroll's show

Yeah, you would be right, Freeman is coming here. And also, Ft Worth Southwest is dropping to 4A from 5A so they wound be here as well. I see them as a potential finalist and maybe even snatch a state spot.

Yeah, so Lakeview will stay in 6A for sports as Garland ISD tends to opt all of their schools up to 6A. However, for band they will probably drop to 5A. I know South Garland is also an opt up to 6A for sports but stay at 5A for band. You can also include Naaman Forest in this as they also have reported 5A numbers but will opt up to 6A anyway. The real question IMO is DeSoto because they were also an opt up to 6A for sports but I don't know which classification they will compete in for band due to them being another district. I believe in the rule book it states that any school that was opted up has the option to compete in the classification they were opted up to or compete in the classification they would have competed in had they not opt up. For GISD's case it's the second option that I have just listed. I don't yet know what DeSoto's decision is yet. They would however be in this area if choosing to drop to 5A for band.

We also can't forget the USBands Dallas Regional. Last year that's been a hot spot for some heavy hitters like Southlake, Centennial, Lewisville, and J.J. Pearce. Let's just see how that turns out this year...

The USBands Southeastern Championship will be held on November 9 at the Tomball ISD Stadium.

The USBands Southwestern Championship will be held on November 5 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

The USBands Burleson Regional will be held in October 12 at the Burleson ISD Stadium. There will be a maximum of 20 bands in prelims and 10 bands in finals. Confirmed Bands (13/20): Group I Grand Saline HS Group II Highland Park HS Juan Seguin HS La Vega HS Lamar HS Group III Belton HS Burleson HS Denton HS Ellison HS Everman HS Frisco Memorial HS Paschal HS Ryan HS Exhibition University of Texas at Arlington

The USBands Dallas Regional will be held on October 5 at the Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium in Fort Worth. There will be a maximum of 30 bands in prelims and 12 bands in finals. Confirmed Bands (18/30): Group I Grand Saline HS Western Hills HS Group II Lamar HS Group III Burleson HS Cleburne HS Everman HS Garland HS Midlothian Heritage HS North Crowley HS North Forney HS Rowlett HS Summit HS Group IV Chisholm Trail HS Richland HS Weatherford HS Group V Byron Nelson HS Burleson Centennial HS Richardson HS

The USBands Saginaw Regional will be held on September 28 at the Rough Rider Stadium in Saginaw. There will be a maximum of 20 bands in prelims and 10 bands in finals. Confirmed Bands (13/20): Group I Grand Saline HS Group II Eagle Mountain HS Lamar HS Sanger HS Group III Castleberry HS Cleburne HS Midlothian Heritage HS North Crowley HS Robinson HS Group IV Chisholm Trail HS Fossil Ridge HS Northwest HS Weatherford HS

So i definitely see a lot of yall's points about the SR and GN, but if we're taking about the SR side of things, I think it should be a rotating contest and be held at the major dome stadiums once every 3 years to give more bands that don't have the money or resources to travel to SA an opportunity to experience a SR. So here's an example: 2024 - Alamodome (SA/Austin Area) 2025 - AT&T Stadium (Dallas/Fort Worth Area) 2026 - NRG Stadium (Houston Area) 2027 - It repeats itself Of course this isn't going to happen, and probably never will. If anything this was just a dream/idea.

Date: October 26 Location: Birdville ISD FAAC (most likely) Well, Area F definitely surprised me in many ways this past season, like Birdville making state, CH and Azle not making state, Cleburne making finals, Arlington Heights placing way higher than expected, and Brewer and Burleson placing way lower than expected. Anyways, I think this will be the year that area F sends 5 bands to state due to Chisholm Trail, Fossil Ridge, and Paschal dropping to 5A. Southwest is dropping to 4A but the current 6A bands dropping make up for it. We would have 30 bands in area F next year, so if every band were to make 1's (which probably won't), there would be a maximum of 12 finalists and 6 state advancers. So we'll just go with the 10 and 5. I think there could be a mix up in the state advancers this year now with Fossil Ridge being in this area. I think they might use this (being dropped) to their advantage and return to the dome this year, but of course they'll need to get past Birdville, Richland, Centennial, and Aledo but I believe they will if they work hard enough.

I think the problem with North Texas is that there's just too many powerhouse regions and areas. Looking at the region side of things, I notice that there are extremely strong regions in North Texas, specifically regions 2 (LISD, Braswell, Byron Nelson), 24 (Little Elm, Prosper, and McKinney), and 31 (Coppell, HEB, Haltom, Carroll). Really every region is going to have a strong program (Rockwall and Forney from 3, Lake Ridge from 5, RISD, and Dville from 20, Plano from 25, and KISD from 30) but regions 2, 24, and 31 are the most notable. What really needs to happen is a major region/area realignment, even if it means forming a new region (like how 30/31 came to be in 2016) or just a new area, this issue needs to be responded. There is definitely no doubt that North Texas is the most competitve region in TX for marching band, even more so than Houston, Austin, San Antonio, etc.

So basically we have 38 total bands in Area B and we are losing 5 and only gaining 1. Lancaster (the only band that Area B picks up) unfortunately has a long track record on getting not 1's, so that doesn't really help our case. If we take the three that didn't qualify (which are not going anywhere btw) plus Lancaster, we'd have exactly 30 bands, which means we can't have anymore bands that qualified last year not qualify this year or we'll only have 5 bands advance.

Date: November 2, 2024 Location: Mesquite Memorial Stadium (most likely) Well, as if Area C hadn’t been more competitive, it seems like its going to be even more competitive than it already was, now that Forney is in the mix (let’s just see if they are ready to compete with the big dogs in 6A). This has always been a fun one with just about every single band having finals potential and the top 15 having state potential. This is arguably the toughest area in the state of Texas and truly no one is safe (except the LISD trio of course) but you get the idea.

Chisholm Trail, DeSoto, Fossil Ridge, Highland Park, and Paschal dropped

Looking at Area B, I definitely thought this was one of the strongest areas last year due to how many programs attended, and how many state spots we had. There were 7 state spots, the most out of any area, but unfortunately that will most likely change this year. With several programs dropping to 5A, we may be back to only sending 5-6 bands to state. Last year we had 38 bands in Area B with 35 attending, but this year it looks like we are only going to have one program move up. So we’d only have 34 bands in the end, so the max number of bands we could advance to state would be 6, and it also doesn’t help that we have several programs fail to get a first division every single year, so we almost never send the maximum number of bands we possibly could have. Unless they realign the regions and areas, this area could just be a whole lot tougher these next two years.

Date: November 2, 2024 Location: Pennington Field (most likely)