7/2 - East Coast Classic

Blue Devils - 81.050

The Cadets - 80.300

Carolina Crown - 79.850

Boston Crusaders - 71.900

Crossmen - 71.550

Troopers - 68.600

Jersey Surf - 60.100

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Spartans - 55.200

7th Regiment - 54.900

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So, I am going to break down each corps, then I will give my final 2 cents. I was not able to see Spartans and 7th regiment, judging by the scores however, It is quite a close race. Jersey surf seems to have their music quite together. The show has a nice pace to it, and it seems that it can be a crowd favorite. That being said, the drill was a little bizarre to me. The visual caption in general was the closest they got to troopers, but I am not getting to much visual GE through the show. Musical performance needs some cleaning from all sections, however I thought brass was still their best caption in Music. GE needs some layering in all captions, but this is a good year for surf, and I see them doing very well come august. Troopers- Music and visual were the strong points for this corps. GE is still an issue for the Troopers. It seems that the theme they are going for is not matching up to what they are bringing to the field. It will be very challenging to match the GE category with the same excellence as the visual and music especially. Percussion performed very well tonight, and left them very close to Crossmen in that respect Crossmen- I thought it was a solid performance, but the little errors are sticking out. GE is definitely their best caption, not only on the scores but though their performance. They create a nice atmosphere for the show. Music is pretty good, their percussion helps them definitely. Boston- As opposed to last year where the theme seemed to be very bought into and motivated, this year the same feeling doesn’t come across. Colorguard is great, I would say just as solid as last year. They are helping their visual program a lot, as the main product seems to be lacking. There are definitely too many banners on the field. GE also needs to be more defined just as I said for the troopers. Finally, the music caption was very mixed in placement, giving them a solid 4th by the end, and it seems from their performance that the brass is a little thin. This issue is obviously fixable, and I see them rising in this caption as the season continues. Carolina Crown-Visual, visual, visual. Crown is absolutely jam packed in the visual category, great drill, a ton of body movement, and colorguard that is simply sizzling. GE is getting there, but much improved from the preview night. GE will decide who wins by August given the close proximity of the other captions in the top 5. Music is a toss-up. Although they are very clean, they are not content wise up to their usual par from previous years. That being said there was some different drill and music added in tonight in Dies Irae, so once that is clean, it may help them in the long run. Brass will be a wild card as the season progresses. Percussion did very well tonight, and added some new parts as well. The Cadets-Musically and visually just exceptionally clean. They are nailing down nice GE scores, however they may have an issue late season with GE overall. Colorguard needs work, especially when facing Crown later this summer, it may decide the visual category. Blue Devils- I must say, visually BD is a notch above everyone. However, GE is normally their strong suite, and three judges tonight thought they were not first. That may hurt them come late season. Percussion is insane as usual beating out the cadets by just a little bit. Their show musically is very well put together, and there are nice changes in moods just as they had in 2014. Overall, it looks to be another potential undefeated season. But… Here are my final thoughts. BD, Cadets, And Crown are really almost equal as of right now. BD is beating both in visual by a solid margin, however it’s because of their achievement scores. Cleaning will get Cadets and Crown closer given their very tough programs. Adding on to that, Music, brass and percussion, is very close between the two, as well as GE. BD is not running away with the championship this year, they will have to fight come August.