Hello everyone!  Welcome to another season of Illinois Marching band coverage.  We’ll be providing predictions from now until Grand Nationals in mid-November.

A little bit about how we make our predictions:  First things first, we do this for fun.  Nothing should be read into these predictions.  The predictions are split up amongst the staff, and we each work on our own.  For the first couple weeks each season, we look at a band’s past record, their early-season tendencies, and the match ups.  As the season rolls on, we base our predictions on the band’s performance up to that point.

With that being said, let’s get to the first week of predictions!

Washington Marching Panther Invitational: Washington, IL

Class A:  Both bands in this class had pretty good seasons last year, with Okaw Valley picking up a class title at Newton last year.  We think this will be a close class, with El Paso-Gridley squeezing out a tight victory.

Class AA: All three of these bands met here last year, with Farmington and Watseka going head to head in Class 1A, and Watseka taking a 3 point victory.  Watseka and Farmington also met up in class at Limestone as well, and Watseka took the class there as well, with Eureka winning 2A by a slim margin.  Eureka won this class here last year, and we think they’ll do so again, with Watseka second and Farmington third.  Our pick: Eureka

Class AAA: Good matchup here between Lincoln Community, Streator Township and Tri-Valley.  Lincoln and Tri-Valley met up here last year, with Tri-Valley squeezing out a .1 margin for 3rd place in Class 2A to Lincoln’s 4th place.  We think these two will duke it out again, and Tri-Valley will win a close one, with Lincoln Community 2nd, and Streator 3rd.

Class AAAA:  Good class here.  Should be an interesting matchup, as Illinois Valley Central and Pekin Community went head to head last year, with IVC over Pekin by a slight margin.  Pontiac and Pekin went head to head at Washington last year, and Pontiac took a slight victory over Pekin.  We think Illinois Valley Central will start off their season with a class title here, with Pontiac 2nd and Pekin close behind in 3rd.

Class AAAAA:  Morton and Normal West have a rematch here, after Morton took a 2 point gap here last year and turned it into their first championship of the young year.  We think they’ll do the same here this year, with Normal West close behind.  Our pick: Morton

Grand Champion: Morton will walk away with the first championship in the state of Illinois this year.

Best of luck to those groups performing in exhibition in McHenry and those percussion units performing at the Mozingo Championships in Missouri.