Band

Prospect placed 5th at Powder Springs

The prediction from HornRank.com: Predictions 1. Broken Arrow H.S., OK 2. Blue Springs H.S., MO 3. O'Fallon Township H.S., IL 4. Jenks H.S., OK 5. Marian Catholic H.S., IL 6. Owasso H.S., OK 7. Dripping Springs H.S., TX 8. Grain Valley H.S., MO 9. Bellevue West H.S., NE 10. Lincoln-Way H.S., IL 11. Bentonville H.S., AR 12. Lafayette H.S., LA 13. Blue Springs South H.S., MO 14. Clovis H.S., NM

For a lot of the Illinois bands competing this is their first BOA show of the season. For some it's the capstone of the season, others are looking to get a read on their shows prior to Grand Nationals. I think we could see anywhere from 3 to 5 Illinois bands in Finals. Broken Arrow is a natural pick to be at the top of Finals.

Here are a few reflections/observations. None of this is a criticism of the judging or the bands, just some interesting bits based on the numbers. 1) Morton scored higher than Marian in prelims by 0.1 then in Finals they were almost 6 points apart with Marian on top. Certainly, the focus and numbers management of judging prelims vs. finals is different but very interesting. 2) In prelims, Dunlap had a higher Vis. GE score than Marian and Bloomington. Very different in finals. 3) Elk Grove was the "8th Finalist" from 1-4A, the then scored higher than Rock Island and Dunlap in Finals. 4) One penalty was awarded in finals, although it made no difference in placements. 5) In both prelims and finals, O'Fallon and Lincoln-Way were less than a point apart. Other thoughts: Cool to see so many first time Finalists. Shout out to University who marched prelims at ISU, then headed to U of I, then headed back to ISU for Finals. 3 performances in one day! I know Morton has done that before. Also, wind.

Since there is already a BOA St. Louis thread, here is one for the Bellville East show this weekend. Bellville East has hosted a show since 2005, and this year it is the last competitive show in Illinois. Last year BEMI ran as a Prelims/Finals format show, however not this year. This year the show is being hosted on Friday afternoon/evening and features numerous groups who are performing at the BOA Super Regional in St. Louis. There are four states represented, and even from Illinois, there are bands from various parts of the state. These factors make predicting 1A and 2A a little tough. In Class 1A, I'm going to predict Murphysboro followed closely by Effingham. Class 2A will come down to Limestone and Davenport Central. I'll go with Davenport Central if I have to choose. Class 3A has only two bands- Bellville West and Victor J Andrew. Belleville West is a growing program for sure, but VJA is the pick to win this class. In Class 4A, Edwardsville, Normal, and Owasso meet. Owasso has been a finalist at Grand Nats and numerous other BOA events. They are the pick to win the class and GC. The thing to be watching is the margin between Owasso and the rest of the field. Normal, Edwardsville and VJA were all at ISU last weekend but didn't get to use props due to the wind- be sure to check them out here.

From the ILMarching social media pages: ISU 1A-2A Results: 1A: 1) University (GE) 2) Eureka 3) IVC (Crowd/Visual) Music: Macomb 2A: 1) Morton (Music, Visual, GE) 2) Limestone Community 3) Metamora

Here are my predictions: Class 1A In this class I predict Tri-Valley as the winner followed by Watseka in second and Blue Ridge in third. Also in this class are ROWVA, Arthur-Loving-Atwood-Hamond, Sullivan, and Hoopston. Class 2A I think Monticello wins the class with Newton close behind in second. Pontiac is my pick for third. Paris, Richmond-Burton, Effingham, Prarie Central, and St. Joe, perform in Class 2A as well. Class 3A Mahomet wins by a fairly significant margin. I think East Peoria comes in 2nd. University, Highland and Morris are all factors here. Let’s go with Morris in 3rd place- but a tough call. Streator Township and Rochelle Township are also in Class 3A Small Schools GC: Mahomet and Monticello are both past winners, and are towns fairly close to each other. This will be a fun one to watch. Class 4A: Washington Community is my pick for the class winner. Taught to call 2nd and 3rd, but I’ll go with Grayslake North and Lake Community respectively. Keep an eye on Galesburg, Triad, Champaign Central, and Antioch as the other class 4A bands. Class 5A: Granite City is returning as the GC from last year. They along with Beville East take the top two spots in my predictions. If I had to make a choice, I would have Beville East as the class winner, but I think it’s close and could go either way- both are great bands. Look for Stagg or Collinsville in third. The other 5A bands, Yorkville, Roundlake, and Plainfield East are also great to check out. Class 6A: Tough call here. Waubonsie Valley, Minooka, and Neuqua were 2nd-4th here last year. Oak Park/ River Forest is here this year and has had a pretty good year so far. Alan B Shepard is in 6A this year and is also a factor. Going off of almost no head to head comparison data, I'll go with OP/RF, Minooka, Waubonsie. I legitimately think this class go could many different ways. Carl Sandburg and Kaneland are the other 6A bands. Large school GC: I predict that the 5A winner is also GC, but definitely any of the class winners are strong contenders.

Because of how big ISU and U of I's shows are I have a separate thread for ISU already posted. I'll have other shows of the weekend in a separate thread. University of Illinois Now in its 48th year, Illinois hosts the “Illinois Marching Band Championships” or IMBC. The 42 performing band slots notoriously fill up extraordinary quickly. Divided into 6 classes based on school size, there is a Class 1A-3A Champion and 4A-6A Champion awarded. The Marching Illini performs before both award ceremonies. U of I features a rotating schedule which is structured so that classes rotated performance order. This year has the classes performing in traditional numerical order. Class 1A In this class I predict Tri-Valley as the winner followed by Watseka in second and Blue Ridge in third. Also in this class are ROWVA, Arthur-Loving-Atwood-Hamond, Sullivan, and Hoopston. Class 2A I think Monticello wins the class with Newton close behind in second. Pontiac is my pick for third. Paris, Richmond-Burton, Effingham, Prarie Central, and St. Joe, perform in Class 2A as well. Class 3A Mahomet wins by a fairly significant margin. I think East Peoria comes in 2nd. University, Highland and Morris are all factors here. Let’s go with Morris in 3rd place- but a tough call. Streator Township and Rochelle Township are also in Class 3A Small Schools GC: Mahomet and Monticello are both past winners, and are towns fairly close to each other. This will be a fun one to watch. Class 4A: Washington Community is my pick for the class winner. Taught to call 2nd and 3rd, but I’ll go with Grayslake North and Lake Community respectively. Keep an eye on Galesburg, Triad, Champaign Central, and Antioch as the other class 4A bands. Class 5A: Granite City is returning as the GC from last year. They along with Beville East take the top two spots in my predictions. If I had to make a choice, I would have Beville East as the class winner, but I think it’s close and could go either way- both are great bands. Look for Stagg or Collinsville in third. The other 5A bands, Yorkville, Roundlake, and Plainfield East are also great to check out. Class 6A: Tough call here. Waubonsie Valley, Minooka, and Neuqua were 2nd-4th here last year. Oak Park/ River Forest is here this year and has had a pretty good year so far. Alan B Shepard is in 6A this year and is also a factor. Going off of almost no head to head comparison data, I'll go with OP/RF, Minooka, Waubonsie. I legitimately think this class go could many different ways. Carl Sandburg and Kaneland are the other 6A bands. Large school GC: I predict that the 5A winner is also GC, but definitely any of the class winners are strong contenders.

Given how big this show is, I figured it warranted it's own thread. I'll do a separate one for U of I, and then one for the other shows (posted probably Wednesday). ISU is the largest prelims/finals format show in the state. Hosted in Hancock stadium, ISU has 42 bands in prelims. Awards ceremonies are held after every two classes. Assuming finals format remains the same as in recent years, 14 bands will perform in finals- 7 bands are selected from 1A-4A and 7 bands from 5A-6A. Class champions receive an automatic bid into finals, and then bands are taken by order of highest scores to fill out the remaining spots in each grouping. Finals were cancelled last year due to weather. Class 1A: Eureka has won this class for the last several years and is my pick to repeat again this year. I’m struggling with predicting the other placements in this class. University has been having a strong year. Herscher won this class in 2015. IVC and Macomb are both programs with rich histories and scored near each other at Limestone. Mater Dei has not attended ISU since 2004 when they placed 2nd in Class A. Olympia is also in this class and has strong showings at their shows this year. Going mainly on my gut and not much else, I’ll go with University in 2nd, Herscher in 3rd. Class 2A This class has gone to Morton every year since 2005, and I predict they win the class again. Limestone has been in finals twice in the last five years and is my pick for 2nd place. In third place, my pick is Providence Catholic. Lincoln Community was last at ISU in 2015 when they placed 3rd. Metamora was a finalist at ISU in the early 80s. Also in the class are the Marching Indians from Marengo. Class 3A There is perhaps no program more storied than Marian Catholic. Marian has won their class every year since 1980 and won finals since 2009. Bloomington was 2nd in this class last year and looks to repeat that placement again this year. Dunlap has moved up a class this year, but could definitely place 3rd in this class like they did when they were in 2A. Lemont (2016), United Township (2010) and Danville (1990) are all previous finalists competing in this class. Kaneland is also competing in this class. Class 4A This class looks to be very close between John Hersey and Rock Island. If I had to go with one I’ll choose John Hersey based on their past success in this class for the last two years. Batavia and Elk Grove are going to be looking at the number 3 spot in this class. Argo and Brother Rice/Mother McAuley are the performing in this class as well. Class 5A Every band in class 5A has made finals before- all except one in the last 5 years. Having already won a BOA regional this year, and returning after having the highest 5A/6A prelims score last year, O’Fallon is my prediction to win 5A. Prospect and VJA were in 2nd and 3rd here last year. I think they are in those slots again this year and close in scores. Edwardsville and Wheaton North are also in this class. Class 6A Class 6A includes three school district based marching bands- Rockford, Normal and Lincoln- Way. Kicking of Class A is the Huntley High School Marching Red Raiders. Huntley is followed by 2016 finalist, Naperville Central. After the break is William Howard Taft who is fairly new to the competitive marching band scene. Joliet West presents their show “without WORDS” in class 6A as well. Lockport is one of only a few Illinois bands to have made semi-finals at Grand Nationals in the last few years, and are a major contender in this class. Normal West and Normal Community combined marching bands this season. Both bands have individually made finals before, and as a combined band are definitely part of the conversation here. Downers Grove South is no stranger to finals, having made it 5 times since 2010. Coming off of their second place finish at DGS this weekend, Lake Park is poised to do very well. The returning class winner, the combined Lincoln-Way band is my prediction to win Class 6A. Finals It’s particularly tough to pick finals at ISU this year. I will say that I think O’Fallon, Marian, and Lincoln-Way are top 3. O’Fallon was 14th last year at Grand Nationals and is my pick to win finals at ISU (a first for them), as they continue the momentum into November. I think this will be a particularly strong group of finalists this year and potentially a few first-time finalists.

DGS Finals results Finals - Finals Results 1. Warren Township High School 2. Lake Park High School 3. Bloomington High School 4. Plainfield North High School 5. Normal High School 6. Limestone Community High School 7. Rock Island High School 8. Lakes Community High School 9. Washington Community High School 10. Huntley High School Best Musical Performance - Lake Park High School Best Visual Performance - Lake Park High School Best General Effect - Warren Township High School Grand Champion - Warren Township High School

Okay here we go: It's a big weekend in Illinois marching band. Groups are starting to wrap up this weekend and we're seeing mostly complete shows on the field. Effingham Effingham hosts 21 bands this weekend for the annual Marching Hearts Invitational. Lots of central Illinois bands are here this weekend. In Class 1A, look for Okaw Valley and Heritage to be in the top two spots. My prediction for the class 2A winner is Watseka. In 3A Newton is my pick for GC and class champion (with Paris second in class). In class 4A, Mt. Zion is my pick based on scores so far this season. McKendree McKendree is hosting their second show this year. This is their second year hosting their Small Marching Band Championship show. No results posted from last year and I can’t find a schedule for this year. SIU Music and Motion No schedule for this show, but Dunlap has ben GC at this show quite frequently in recently. A quick check shows they are headed there again. Depending on who else is there, they could certainly be looking to repeat as GC. Providence Catholic A wonderful small band in the state, Providence Catholic hosts 15 bands for their show on their turf field. Herscher, Bremen, Wheaton North, and Brother Rice/Mother McAuley are all performing at both Providence Catholic, and Lincoln-Way. My picks for class winners are: Wheaton Warrenville South (1A), Wheaton North (2A), and VJA (3A and GC). Lincoln-Way Hosted by the combined Lincoln-Way marching band, the show is run on the campus of Lincoln-Way West this year. There are 25 bands performing in competition, including Warren Central from Indiana. In Class A look for Dwight D. Eisenhower to win the class in their 7th competitive performance of the year. In Class 2A, I think ti could goa couple different ways. My gut says Buffalo Grove (only their second year doing competitive marching band), but Geneseo could win the class. Class 3A, I think Marian Catholic, Lockport, and Warren Central take the top three spots. Conventional thought would say Marian wins the class and GC. Downers Grove South Downers Grove South hosts one of only a few prelims/finals competitions in Illinois. 22 bands are performing at DGS in prelims, including both bands from the Chicago suburbs and central Illinois. I predicts Class 1A goes to Naperville North. In Class 2A I’ll go with Batavia who was GC last year. Class 3A is phenomenally tough to call. Many of the 3A bands have not seen each other at the same shows yet this year. Plainfield North is a major factor with strong performances at LP, VJA and Plainfield South this year. Washington has had a great season at central Illinois shows so far and I would keep and eye on them. You can never count out Lake Park. Bloomington is a great playing band, and is a strong contender wherever they go. Normal has only competed once so far this season about a month ago, but could be a player here. In exchange for not settling on a class winner in 3A, I’ll predict who makes finals. Finals at DGS is 10 bands (3 Class winners + next 7 scores). Here are my 10 finalist predictions: Naperville North, Batavia, Plainfield North, Washington, Lake Park, Bloomington, Normal, Rock Island, Warren Township, Lemont.

Some big shows coming up this weekend. I'm working on some predictions that I'll get posted later. This weekend (Lincoln Way and DGS) will give us a better look at what happens at ISU on October 20th.

Do you have any other results from Metamora?

Woops, in my haste, I misread the Prospect schedule. No class 4a. Results are posted on the main site. FYI

Galesburg is a program with a long history. I believe as recently as a couple years ago the program weathered some major cut backs. Following Dean Petrie's retirement this spring the school hired Andy Empy, who was previously at Limestone.