Blue Devils extend streak, maintain close advantage at key Murfreesboro event

MURFREESBORO, Tennessee — With August on the horizon, Blue Devils held serve just a cut above the rest of the World Class leaderboard, as the Concord, California corps earned another first-place finish at The Master of Summer Music Games presented by Demoulin Bros. & Co.

In the corps’ 14th first-place finish in as many 2023 appearances, Blue Devils won percussion, overall visual and overall general effect, and maintained a total advantage of 0.85. The win is the Blue Devils’ eighth out of the last 10 editions of the annual late-July Tennessee event.

View scores & recap from The Masters of the Summer Music Games

“We’re really trying to crank everything we can out of this experience and at the same time, really elevate what we’ve been doing so far,” Blue Devils drum major Corey Castillo said. “It’s about getting out of our comfort zone and really pushing into these last couple of days that’s going to make these last two weeks different.”

 

1. Blue Devils » 92.900
2. Boston Crusaders » 92.050
3. Carolina Crown » 91.700

Boston Crusaders finished Friday night’s event in second place. The Massachusetts-based corps earned first-place marks in color guard. The gap between Boston Crusaders and Blue Devils slimmed slightly from the two corps’ most recent margin, one point, logged July 26 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

“Tonight’s run was great,” Boston Crusaders drum major Wes Booker said. “We had a couple of days of adding new changes in parts three and five and we executed those pretty well. It was a great, energetic run.”

Carolina Crown, which scored ahead of Boston Crusaders by just one tenth of a point at the two corps’ July 25 meeting in McKinney, Texas, ranked third at Friday’s event, just 0.35 points behind the Boston corps. The Fort Mill, South Carolina corps scored ahead of Boston Crusaders in general effect 2, visual analysis and music analysis, and ranked first overall in brass.

“Performing like we just did, that’s the best feeling in the world,” Carolina Crown color guard performer Tate Judge said. “I’m just grateful to be around such talented people.”

 

4. Phantom Regiment » 88.700
5. The Cadets » 88.300
6. Blue Stars » 85.950
7. Music City » 77.150

At their most recent meeting, July 22’s marquee event in San Antonio, Texas, Phantom Regiment scored just 0.3 points ahead of The Cadets in one of the key contest’s closer scoring finishes. Regiment’s lead held serve Friday in Murfreesboro, as the Rockford, Illinois corps outscored The Cadets by 0.4 points.

“It was really good,” Regiment drum major Keri McCourt said. “A lot of the things that we’ve been working on — we added a lot of production things just to make the show come alive — and all of those came through, and I think the audience could tell right away.”

Phantom Regiment found its strongest competitive footing in general effect, while also outscoring The Cadets by a slim 0.15 points in overall music. Meanwhile, the Erie, Pennsylvania corps ranked third in percussion and outscored Regiment in overall visual.

“I thought tonight’s run was incredible,” Cadets drum major Cat Yang said. “We just put out a new closer, and there’s a lot of energy on the field. It was really fun to perform.”

Blue Stars’ gap closed behind The Cadets noticeably (2.35 points) from the two corps’ last meeting, which saw a separation of 3.2 points July 22 in San Antonio. The La Crosse, Wisconsin corps scored ahead of The Cadets in the brass caption.

Just 40 minutes away from its hometown of Nashville, Music City rounded out the World Class lineup in seventh place, earning a score of 77.150 in front of a supportive local audience.

“We had a really great run tonight,” Music City drum major Connor McCary said. “It was solid top to bottom musically. That was everything we could have hoped for.”

Bluecoats also appeared in Friday night’s event, presenting a standstill performance due to illness within the corps’ membership.

All eight of Friday’s performing corps will make their way toward key weekend events, July 29 in Atlanta, Georgia and July 30 in Winston-Salem, as the 2023 DCI Tour makes its way north to Indianapolis and the DCI World Championships, August 10-12.

View the 2023 DCI Tour Schedule

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