Blue Devils light it up in seismic Murfreesboro event

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Blue Devils drum major Everett Kim seemed confident.

An hour before the final results were announced to a jam-packed crowd at Friday’s Masters of the Summer Music Games pres. by Jupiter, Mapex & Majestic, Kim stepped down off his podium with resounding morale.

On the eve of the DCI Southeastern Championship pres. by Lone Star Percussion, the Blue Devils had yet to overtake the undefeated Bluecoats in four tries this season. But the margin, to say the least, was slim.

The Canton, Ohio corps’ quartet of head-to-head victories over the 18-time champion came by an average of just 0.38 points. A subtle deficit for any corps? Sure. But the Blue Devils have their fair share of experience turning things on when push comes to shove.

Kim’s seen it before. In his fourth go-round; he had reason to be confident.

“I don’t know any other corps that can push through the last two weeks like the Blue Devils,” Kim said. “We’re looking toward the ceiling, we’re not looking toward the scores. But we know that if we do everything we’re supposed to and we reach our full potential, then the scores will fall where they will and we’ll be happy either way.”

Kim’s wish came early. With two weeks until the season’s culmination in Indianapolis, the Blue Devils overcame Bluecoats for the first time this season.

 

1. Blue Devils » 93.500
2. Bluecoats » 93.425
3. Santa Clara Vanguard » 92.575

Even after a fourth-place finish in the music caption, The Blue Devils managed to sneak past the Bluecoats by an ultra-slim margin of 0.075 points after a first-place finish in visual and just a tenth of a point deficit in general effect.

View all scores from Murfreesboro

A new addition on the field in Murfreesboro, implementing it for just the second time, the Bluecoats reprised their iconic pitch bend from 2014’s silver medal-winning “Tilt,” straight into a resounding final impact of The Beatles’ 1968 song, “Hey Jude.”

“It just has a lot of energy — I think a lot more than before,” said Bluecoats drum major Peyton Grunzke. “We have these vocals that we recorded ourselves of us singing along so it is really just encouraging the audience to participate and give the energy right back. It’s a very big energetic ending, which I love.”

Vanguard continued to hang within striking distance of the top two, a little over eight tenths of a point below second place.

The reigning World Champions’ shining light was again the percussion caption, a first-place finish that helped the California corps tie the Bluecoats for second overall in music.

“I am so impressed with the percussionists’ work ethic,” Vanguard drum major Andrew Arbouzov said. “Just observing the amount of work they put in, it’s kind of obvious how the scores are going down. They’re putting in the work to get the scores they want.”

 

4. Carolina Crown » 90.075
5. Boston Crusaders » 89.975
6. The Cavaliers » 89.500

With Saturday’s Atlanta event looming, Carolina Crown and the Boston Crusaders met for the first time since last weekend’s high-profile contest in San Antonio.

At the Alamodome, Crown edged Boston by 0.35 points for fourth, using a commanding lead in the music caption to overcome Boston’s head-to-head wins in general effect and visual.

That script largely held serve Friday night, pushing Crown to its seventh win in eight head-to-head matchups against the Crusaders this season. Crown’s most impressive caption continues to be music where the corps took first overall.

Boston once again earned first place in color guard, and managed to finish two spots ahead of Crown in general effect and visual.

Like the Bluecoats, Boston also added a new ending to its production that corps members have been working on in recent rehearsal days.

“I thought it was absolutely electric,” Boston drum major Coral Navarre said. “We’ve been working really hard on our new closer that we put on the last show. Just being able to perform it and being able to hear it, makes me so excited for tomorrow.”

In Little Rock Wednesday night, Boston widened its lead over The Cavaliers to 1.275 points. Two nights later, though, the Illinois corps rebounded and kept itself within 0.6 — the closest the two have been all year — largely thanks to a head-to-head win in the music caption.

The Cavaliers kept on Boston’s tail Friday night, cutting the lead once again to just 0.475 points thanks to another strong finish in the music caption, 26.90 to Boston’s 26.575.

 

7. Blue Stars » 86.750
8. The Cadets » 86.050
9. Music City » 73.050

Performing on the campus of Middle Tennessee State, Blue Stars used a strong lead in the visual caption to keep its advantage over The Cadets, despite falling behind the Allentown corps in general effect and music.

“At the end of this show we put in this outro that we decided to add for today and for Atlanta,” Blue Stars drum major David Billodeau said. “We want to show the world all this crazy stuff we’re trying to do for this show. It’s ending the entire show, the entire story of this character that we’re trying to build and create.”

While Blue Stars did stay ahead, the corps’ lead dropped considerably, as The Cadets’ two key head-to-head caption wins erased nearly 80 percent of the two corps’ most recent gap of 3.3 points.

Music City rounded out the nine-corps field Friday night, leading off the Murfreesboro event to a resounding audience response, less than 30 minutes away from the corps’ Nashville hometown.

Music City drum major Patrick Nelson was still breathing heavy as he stepped off his podium. He took a glance up, the bevy of cheers raining down on him, and allowed himself a second to take in the home-show love.

“The energy they give us feeds us even more,” Nelson said. “It’s great because this is our show and we have many people we know here. It’s amazing to see their faces and listen to their reactions.”

The entire nine-corps field will head to Atlanta for Saturday’s DCI Southeastern Championship pres. by Lone Star Percussion, where they’ll meet up with all 22 World Class corps.

View Atlanta lineup

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