Pleasant Grove Invitational-2025

[Trumpeter75]

Here is the lineup for this contest. Looks like some really good bands to watch early in the season. 

[TexasStrangers]

Nice little showdown of 3A bands that went to State last year to kick the Show Season off! 

[bassboneman]

Any one have any predictions? 

[Dave609]

30 minutes ago, bassboneman said:

Any one have any predictions? 

As of now, I see Mineola winning this

[TexasStrangers]

10 hours ago, Dave609 said:

As of now, I see Mineola winning this

I think the betting money is either Mineola or Redwater. I know Mineola in the past has won this contest and last year Mineola/Redwater tied for 1st but Redwater got the nod via the tiebreak system (more 1st place votes).  I think Winnsboro may be looking at 3rd possibly. It's hard to say I have not been able to see any of the shows yet. I have only heard from word of mouth on the shows. 

[Trumpeter75]

I would say top 3 will be between redwater, Mineola, and rivercrest. Have not seen Mineola this year. Redwater is sounding really good early and have improved greatly under Mr Davis direction. I have seen Winnsboro show and not super impressed by the show. To much talking then marching and playing for me. Rivercrest is always a good 2A competitor. Texas High has new director that was once at PG and an assistant at redwater with Jay. Wondering how their show looks. Just my opinion

[marchingband69]

Will there be a finals? Some very good bands will get left out. Half the lineup are state qualifiers.

[TexasStrangers]

7 hours ago, marchingband69 said:

Will there be a finals? Some very good bands will get left out. Half the lineup are state qualifiers.

Yes, there is a Finals.

[bassboneman]

11 hours ago, Trumpeter75 said:

I would say top 3 will be between redwater, Mineola, and rivercrest. Have not seen Mineola this year. Redwater is sounding really good early and have improved greatly under Mr Davis direction. I have seen Winnsboro show and not super impressed by the show. To much talking then marching and playing for me. Rivercrest is always a good 2A competitor. Texas High has new director that was once at PG and an assistant at redwater with Jay. Wondering how their show looks. Just my opinion

what do you think about as a whole? like who would be in 6th place?

[Trumpeter75]

5 hours ago, bassboneman said:

what do you think about as a whole? like who would be in 6th place?

I think the finals will be

redwater, Mineola, Rivercrest, T-High, MT Vernon, Winnsboro, Queen City, A-high, Quitman, Praireland/Hooks.

Finals order:

Updated order

1. Redwater-no tie breaker this year 

2. Mineola  (I think these two are above all the others by a pretty good margin.. yes this is early I know)

3. Rivercrest

4. T-High

5. Winnsboro

6. Quitman

7. Queen City 

8. Mt Vernon

9. A-high

10. Hooks/Praireland

[marchingband69]

On 9/22/2025 at 7:42 AM, bassboneman said:

Any one have any predictions? 

T-High

Redwater

Mineola

Winnsboro

Rivercrest

Queen City

Quitman

Hooks

Clarksville 

Prairiland

There's not a lot of video online, the only bands I've heard on the list are Rivercrest, Quitman, and Hooks so who knows. Visually everything isn't very clean but those videos were all pretty early on. I feel like Redwater or Mineola could potentially beat T-high too, it should be a good contest all around. 

[Trumpeter75]

My understanding Winnsboro has elected to drop out of this contest 

[TexasStrangers]

I reached out to a friend last night who has seen Mineola twice and it appears Mineola is way ahead of where they were last year and fielding the biggest band they have ever had. I have not seen them yet and heading to Pleasant Grove to watch them along with Redwater. 

 

I hate to hear about Winnsboro, it's kind of odd they would pull from a contest at the last minute. I guess maybe the directors thought their show is just simply not ready to put out on the field in a contest. I hope it's not other stuff. 

[Trumpeter75]

4 hours ago, TexasStrangers said:

I reached out to a friend last night who has seen Mineola twice and it appears Mineola is way ahead of where they were last year and fielding the biggest band they have ever had. I have not seen them yet and heading to Pleasant Grove to watch them along with Redwater. 

 

I hate to hear about Winnsboro, it's kind of odd they would pull from a contest at the last minute. I guess maybe the directors thought their show is just simply not ready to put out on the field in a contest. I hope it's not other stuff. 

I will be there cheering on our band as well. My feeling is Finals will be between Redwater and Mineola. Only seen video of Mineola a couple weeks ago and it appears to me that they are about the same size as the last 3 years I have seen them. Redwater is sounding really good early. I’ll be waiting to hear your thoughts on their show. I have not officially seen anything about Winnsboro pulling out. Just word of mouth and noticed their band boosters are holding a snack drive today so would figure that would not occur on a contest day. It will be a great day at PG. 

[Trumpeter75]

Rivercrest and Winnsboro have dropped out today

[TexasStrangers]

Results

Rivercrest and Winnsboro dropped out before contest began. Not exactly sure about why Rivercrest dropped out. Several people in the stands were talking about Winnsboro not coming because one of their directors resigned. Not sure about all that though.

Out of the remaining bands Redwater and Mineola were the only ones who got straight 1's in Guard/Percussion/Band. Lots of 3's and 2's given out today.

Prelims

2A Percussion/Band = Linden Kildare

3A Guard/Percussion = Mineola

3A Band = Redwater

5A Guard/Percussion/Band = Texas High

Performance Order

6:30 Hooks

6:45 Texas High

7:00 Mineola

7:15 Arkansas High

7:30 Prairland

7:45 Redwater

7:00 Quitman

8:15 Queen City

FINAL RESULTS

8th Prairland

7th Hooks

6th Arkansas High

5th Quitman

4th Queen City

3rd Texas High

2nd Mineola

1st Redwater

Best Overall Guard = Mineola

Best Overall Percussion = Redwater

[TexasStrangers]

12 hours ago, Trumpeter75 said:

I will be there cheering on our band as well. My feeling is Finals will be between Redwater and Mineola. Only seen video of Mineola a couple weeks ago and it appears to me that they are about the same size as the last 3 years I have seen them. Redwater is sounding really good early. I’ll be waiting to hear your thoughts on their show. I have not officially seen anything about Winnsboro pulling out. Just word of mouth and noticed their band boosters are holding a snack drive today so would figure that would not occur on a contest day. It will be a great day at PG. 

Okay after spending a little time with my in laws at Texarkana here are my thoughts for today.

1. I don't think the marching contest was very well attended today, a couple of bands pulled out and just felt like a weird contest. I remember for a few years this contest was a pretty big one and brought lots of schools, it might just be me but something felt off today and I sat there with a few people and thought is this contest really worth coming to anymore? I really thought about going to Melissa and probably will start going to that from now. 

2. If someone is from PG can you please fix the entrance/exit from the field area. I don't know how many times I sat there and watched bottlenecking taking place where schools were trying to come into the stadium and schools trying to go out. Little things like that can cause issues. I don't know why there can't one exit place and a different entrance. It would make the flow soooo much better. 

3. The contest pretty much was what I thought it would be a battle between Redwater and Mineola. Yes, I picked Mineola but tonight Redwater was the better band. In fact, it felt like deja vu from last year. I have not seen any score sheets yet online anywhere and don't really know anyone would would have access to that but I feel both bands are neck and neck.  Yes, Redwater is very crisp and has a great sound which I think is what gave them the win tonight. I wasn't too fond of the park for over 2 minutes and play part of the show but I get it being the first contest out and Mineola parked and camped for over a minute as well. I am curious to see what Redwater does with their show later on this next month so far I have to admit, I like their show from last year better. 

4. Mineola I believe has the more difficult and complexed show and errors were made tonight (footwork, sound). I think if they didn't have those errors they could have probably won tonight. They sounded a lot better in the finals but there is work out there that needs to be done. The guard of Mineola is on an entire different level even though there was a couple of mistakes but once again it's the first show which is expected. 

5. I think it's going to be a battle like it has been the past two years and it's gonna come down to which flavor do you like that day. Redwater, Mineola or Atlanta. 

6. I will say I wasn't too fond of how Redwater celebrated their win tonight which was almost identical to what they did last year. Yes, the students should feel proud of winning and celebrate but don't run out of the field and celebrate like you just won a State Championship. Yes, I get it they beat Mineola but Area and State is where it counts. It wouldn't surprise me if a person from Mineola would have came up and told me that last year losing to Redwater was something that motivated them to come back and win Area and State which it could be again this year. However, once again tonight Redwater was the better band. 

 

I think I'm gonna go to the Iron Horse Classic in Mineola next weekend to see Farmersville, North Lamar, Pine Tree and PG which I'm sure I look at Redwater again and try to look at Mineola as well. If you are a Redwater fan once again Congrats on the Win.

[SwarmFan1]

21 hours ago, Trumpeter75 said:

I will be there cheering on our band as well. My feeling is Finals will be between Redwater and Mineola. Only seen video of Mineola a couple weeks ago and it appears to me that they are about the same size as the last 3 years I have seen them. Redwater is sounding really good early. I’ll be waiting to hear your thoughts on their show. I have not officially seen anything about Winnsboro pulling out. Just word of mouth and noticed their band boosters are holding a snack drive today so would figure that would not occur on a contest day. It will be a great day at PG. 

FYI this is the biggest we (Mineola) has ever been. Added about 30 kids over last year. Will add close to another 30 next year based on current enrollment.

[SwarmFan1]

8 hours ago, TexasStrangers said:

Okay after spending a little time with my in laws at Texarkana here are my thoughts for today.

1. I don't think the marching contest was very well attended today, a couple of bands pulled out and just felt like a weird contest. I remember for a few years this contest was a pretty big one and brought lots of schools, it might just be me but something felt off today and I sat there with a few people and thought is this contest really worth coming to anymore? I really thought about going to Melissa and probably will start going to that from now. 

2. If someone is from PG can you please fix the entrance/exit from the field area. I don't know how many times I sat there and watched bottlenecking taking place where schools were trying to come into the stadium and schools trying to go out. Little things like that can cause issues. I don't know why there can't one exit place and a different entrance. It would make the flow soooo much better. 

3. The contest pretty much was what I thought it would be a battle between Redwater and Mineola. Yes, I picked Mineola but tonight Redwater was the better band. In fact, it felt like deja vu from last year. I have not seen any score sheets yet online anywhere and don't really know anyone would would have access to that but I feel both bands are neck and neck.  Yes, Redwater is very crisp and has a great sound which I think is what gave them the win tonight. I wasn't too fond of the park for over 2 minutes and play part of the show but I get it being the first contest out and Mineola parked and camped for over a minute as well. I am curious to see what Redwater does with their show later on this next month so far I have to admit, I like their show from last year better. 

4. Mineola I believe has the more difficult and complexed show and errors were made tonight (footwork, sound). I think if they didn't have those errors they could have probably won tonight. They sounded a lot better in the finals but there is work out there that needs to be done. The guard of Mineola is on an entire different level even though there was a couple of mistakes but once again it's the first show which is expected. 

5. I think it's going to be a battle like it has been the past two years and it's gonna come down to which flavor do you like that day. Redwater, Mineola or Atlanta. 

6. I will say I wasn't too fond of how Redwater celebrated their win tonight which was almost identical to what they did last year. Yes, the students should feel proud of winning and celebrate but don't run out of the field and celebrate like you just won a State Championship. Yes, I get it they beat Mineola but Area and State is where it counts. It wouldn't surprise me if a person from Mineola would have came up and told me that last year losing to Redwater was something that motivated them to come back and win Area and State which it could be again this year. However, once again tonight Redwater was the better band. 

 

I think I'm gonna go to the Iron Horse Classic in Mineola next weekend to see Farmersville, North Lamar, Pine Tree and PG which I'm sure I look at Redwater again and try to look at Mineola as well. If you are a Redwater fan once again Congrats on the Win.

Great post, hit the nail on the head. We love our friends at Redwater and congratulations to them, but we will see how it shakes out in the Dome.

[Trumpeter75]

So my take away from this contest, is similar to everyone else's. I knew coming into this contest the two front runners would be Mineola and Redwater.  Texas High was sounding good on Friday nights so I felt they may have some leverage but their music and performance isn't up to these two bands as far as my opinion.

As far as the PG setting.  I think that is a concern Jay and the band will have in future contest. I know that area that the bands moved through was just completed in the past year, post last years contest so I am sure there are things to work out.  Sometimes stadium designs don't take into effect bands and props moving through a fenced area, and with growing concerns for student safety areas are being narrowed down to have the least amount of impact by outsiders threatening the students, so that may not change there--we will see.

I would love to see Redwater go to a different contest, but know this is a close one to home, and allows parents and fans to come see their band without driving 2-3 hours to view them, so I am sure the directors will keep one of these contest (PG or Four States) on the lineup.

As far as the size on Mineola, I was not poking a finger at anyone....just commenting that to my visual eye, even after yesterday, the size of the band appears similar to the days prior to Best when they played shows like HomeTown.  Mineola is an awesome band, and one Redwater has tried to close the gap on in terms of competition.  I remember the days of Mineola being 20-30 points higher than any competitor in this area as far as scoring.  

Complexity of programs I feel would be very difficulty to determine being first contest and not all pieces of the arrangement or design are in for either.

For the standing for 2 mins, both bands stood or did not play for several minutes in their program at this point.  Directors have reason wanting to get some judging and critiques of the music/arrangement in the early contest to make changes for area/state.  I am not sure that how much dramatic changes will come in Redwater shows for the next competition since I know drill for that 2 mins is still in process of being finalized from my listening ear around the area.

Kids Celebrate.  They should celebrate. All bands have worked countless hours up to this point trying to get their show on the field. 

Anyway, I have always questioned personally how do judges say this is better than this....I mean yes there are things like marching, missing notes, etc, but show design, entertainment, etc are all subjective a coin flip in my opinion.  How do you judge a band that is 50-75 members bigger with different sound over a smaller one.  Not a job I would want.

Once again, my post about size was not to say anything bad about Mineola.  Again Mineola has always been the "gold standard" in the 3A world and rightfully so, but I think other bands are closing the gap in the area.  I think this area is the most competitive coming down to the Area Competition, that several of the bands that go to state in other divisions would not have the opportunity to compete if coming out of this area.   Here's to another great year in the 3A Area C world as I feel the top three will be at it again at the state competition.