COMPETITIVE EDGE (July 12): Mandarins, Blue Stars surge, California Open Class excitement

Following the July 4 Independence Day holiday, corps around the country got back into the full swing of performing and competing, with 15 DCI Tour events held over the past week. Things are only set to get busier on the 2022 DCI Summer Tour, though, with 16 events scheduled from July 12-17 alone.

As corps prepare for a new week of competition, take a quick look at eight of the most notable competitive storylines that emerged during the first full week of July, including surprise finishes, close races and intriguing caption score breakdowns:

1. Breaking through: Mandarins made plenty of history in the past week of drum corps action, earning a first-ever head-to-head win against Blue Knights — a perennial DCI finalist — July 5 in Fresno, California. Later in the week, the Sacramento corps improved its score by an eye-catching 3.65 points from July 8 (Sacramento) to July 10 (Stanford), and in the process, pulled within an all-time-closest margin of Santa Clara Vanguard, just three points. At Sunday’s event, Mandarins scored within just half a point of the Santa Clara corps in the general effect caption.

2. Boston lurking: One of the more intriguing head-to-head storylines developed this past week between a pair — and, in a sense, a trio — of top contenders. In a relativistic sense, when Boston Crusaders scored within exactly one point of Carolina Crown, they created an interesting dichotomy; the Fort Mill, South Carolina corps is the only group on the DCI Tour to have scored ahead of Bluecoats head-to-head, but the Canton corps owned a noticeably larger lead of more than two points when it last matched up with Boston Crusaders on June 28. The three will meet in one place for the first time July 19 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

3. Neck and neck: Open Class scoring out on the west coast has presented one of the most exciting early races of the young season, with Gold and Blue Devils B playing tug of war over first-place marks at three events in the span of five days. Gold earned its first- and second-ever head-to-head victories against Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets this week in Fresno and Sacramento — leading in those two events by 0.2 and 0.1 respectively — before the Concord corps flipped the script by just 0.15 in Stanford.

4. Caption craziness: Several corps made waves in individual captions this week. Both Colts and Troopers scored noticeably high in the percussion caption relative to their corps’ overall placements. Colts scored ahead of Phantom Regiment in percussion Sunday in La Crosse, while Troopers scored ahead of Blue Knights Monday in Tri Cities, Washington. Blue Stars color guard also posted impressive numbers, scoring within just a tenth of a point of Bluecoats Saturday in DeKalb.

TOP CAPTION SCORES TO DATE

General Effect: Carolina Crown & Blue Devils (33.10)
Visual: Blue Devils (25.00)
Brass: Carolina Crown (16.30)
Percussion: Santa Clara Vanguard (16.60)
Color Guard: Blue Devils (16.80)

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5. Four 80s: Saturday and Sunday were all about the 80s, with four unique corps breaking the 80-point threshold this weekend. Technically-speaking, the first corps to do so were Carolina Crown (81.850) and Boston Crusaders (80.850) Friday in Lexington, with Bluecoats’ 80.400 being announced just an hour or so later in DeKalb, Illinois. Blue Devils then tallied a score of 82.500 the following night in Stanford, with Santa Clara Vanguard just 0.05 points shy of joining the 80-point club. Statistically, in the past 10 competitive seasons, the first corps to break 80 points ended up as that year’s world champion four times.

6. Reaching for the Blue Stars: As has been a pattern for the La Crosse, Wisconsin corps in recent competitive seasons, Blue Stars’ scoring trends picked up serious steam in early July. After opening the summer with scores slightly behind Phantom Regiment at a pair of early events, Blue Stars turned things on this week, passing the Rockford corps by a margin of 2.15 points Saturday in DeKalb. Blue Stars also scored historically close to The Cavaliers July 6 in Ankeny, Iowa; the gap of just 1.25 separating the two corps was the closest they’d scored to one another since June 2009.

7. Music City makes noise: Music City only has a small handful of scoring data points under its belt to date, but one or two in particular stick out. The Nashville corps, in its first four meetings with Crossmen, Music City scored within an average of 4.16 points of the San Antonio corps. Prior to the 2022 season, Music City and Crossmen had never been separated by fewer than eight points. With Crossmen showing other positive scoring signs, Music City’s early results may be alluding to a step up in the ranks for the Nashville corps in its third year of World Class competition.

8. Back and forth: After Colt Cadets earned the corps’ first ever head-to-head win over River City Rhythm, the Minnesota corps flipped the script, jumping back ahead of its Dubuque, Iowa Open Class counterpart Saturday in DeKalb and Sunday in La Crosse, Wisconsin. At the La Crosse event, the two were most closely matched in music scores; just one tenth of a point separated the two in the total music column.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday, July 12
Boise, ID
Atlanta, GA
Mankato, MN

Wednesday, July 13
Ogden, UT • Watch Live on FloMarching
Eau Claire, WI

Thursday, July 14
Tupelo, MS

Friday, July 15
Cheyenne, WY
Yucaipa, CA • Watch Live on FloMarching
Rockford, IL • Watch Live on FloMarching

Saturday, July 16
Memphis, TN • Watch Live on FloMarching
Millbrook, AL
Fort Collins, CO • Watch Live on FloMarching
Vista, CA
Whitewater, WI • Watch Live on FloMarching

Sunday, July 17
Daphne, AL
Bellflower, CA