8/1 - Allentown Day Two

Carolina Crown - 93.825

The Cadets - 93.600

Bluecoats - 93.125

Phantom Regiment - 87.075

Madison Scouts - 85.250

Boston Crusaders - 84.600

Crossmen - 83.350

Colts - 81.475

Troopers - 80.675

Oregon Crusaders - 75.775

Pacific Crest - 74.100

Jersey Surf - 70.900

Click Here for Recap

Carolina Crown- Crown, coming from what most saw as a 4th/5th place finishing corps, is now surged to the top of the top four. Their new ending has significantly raised their GE score, to actually winning the GE caption is a few comps before this. They were on point once again tonight. Although their percussion is lacking in the music category scores, it still is not far behind the others. It is quite similar to the deficit that the Cadets have in their colorguard. This makes both of these corps wild cards in the top four, because it is essentially going to be a cleaning game until Saturday. GE, and parts of music and Visual are their strong points. Their colorguard is simply amazing, and has a real shot at getting the caption on Saturday. Very impressed with the changes.

The Cadets-So the uniform change, is it working? From a visual stand point, the Cadets are mixing with Crown. Unfortunately, the neon is attached to what is right now their weakest category, colorguard. I enjoy the black for the emotion it portrays, but from the box, they are not as effective, especially the ballad section where they have the large ripple down the line of performers. If they had a white cummerbund and plume, that is all they would need to improve their stance on the field. Aside from that, they have been consistently winning music, and GE is up there as well, just slightly behind Coats and Crown. They, as the others, are a very real contender for Saturday.

Bluecoats- BC are gaining ground, and FAST. Their GE scores should be scaring the top three, tieing for first with Crown tonight. After that, music and visual is kind of mixed with them and Cadets. They have a real live shot at surging this weekend. Every caption is just as strong as the rest in the top four.

Phantom Regiment- With the exception of two sub captions, PR is 4th across the board tonight. They are not on their own island, however. Cavaliers are still in this game, and they need to watch out. Their percussion score is hurting a bit, but their GE and music is right up there with Cavies. They are much deeper here in late season, but they still need to continue doing new things.

Madison Scouts- Every single time they take the field, they bring all they have. So much energy and emotion, and that, in my opinion, is why the changes in design this year are working for them. It’s just one of those shows that would be incomplete without that energy. Overall, visual is their strongest category, and their white pants can probably be connected to that. Now that their feet are clean, the judges are noticing. Great progress since premier night, and looks to be a much stronger finish than last year.

Boston Crusaders- BAC has come such a far way just as I expected. Their music is now their strongest category, and their GE is pretty close as well. Although I think their uniforms are BA, I would like to see them go back to white plumes at least for the 2016 season. There are still visual moments that I think white accents would work better. Great improvement, and I love what they offer to the table now.

Crossmen- I need to say that their colorguard is stunning, and beat out so many corps tonight. The content and achievement was really on another level against some of even the top 8. Their GE is their strongest category, and visual isn’t far behind either. It seems that they will be at finals for sure if they keep up this work.

Colts- One of the most complete corps in this realm. Really strong in every caption, and there wasn’t really a lot of switching up in the sub captions. Visual is definitely their strongest, and I really enjoy their drill specifically. GE is also more solid now that it is late season, and they have added more layers. Very proud of Colts accomplishments this year, and they will be very competitive come this Friday.

Troopers- I made a post about them in the DCI premier, and I said if they got their GE in order, they had a real shot at finals, and overturning some normal placements. That is exactly what has happened. Troopers have come so far, and their ideas in their show are coming out much more. Music is still their strongest category, and I can’t wait to see how they shake up with the others at semis.

Oregon Crusaders - Once again, very in depth show, and they seemed to have a very new and intriguing visual program. I like it a lot. Percussion is very good, and if you add in the brass and other sub captions, their music cation is really their strongest. By end season, I will say for sure OC is continuing a strong continuation no excellence since they entered world class.

Pacific Crest- Visual and GE was a fight between them and OC. Very strong visual program, their uniforms are very nice and suited them well. They have gotten much cleaner since I saw them last, and honestly, regardless of placement tonight I believe that they have the most long-term potential to be seen in the next few years.

Jersey Surf- DCI 2015 is coming to its end, and it seems that Jersey’ Surfs show is about where they will place as of right now. Enough to beat out Pioneer, but really not much more in almost all captions. Very fun show however, I would say more fun than a lot of other corps in their realm.