BOA Austin Preview
Well, it’s that time of the year again, the final weekend of September. The weekend where BOA Austin at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex (or “Da KRAC” as the kids say) has been held every year since 2013. With bands in the Austin area improving drastically over the past decade, this Regional has quickly become probably the most competitive regular Regional and rivaling or even surpassing that of some of the Super Regionals.
This year is no different for the Central Texas contest, as almost all of the premier programs in the metropolitan area will be attending, with only a few exceptions (most notably Moe and Gene Johnson (TX), Jack C. Hays (TX), and McCallum (TX)). All but one of the top 15 bands from last year’s contest are returning. There are also quite a few programs here that may not make up this elite group of Austin bands but are just as exciting for other reasons. Here is the current schedule:
(All Times CT)
7:45 AM - Chaparral (TX)
8:00 AM - John Marshall (TX)
8:15 AM - Manor New Tech (TX)
8:30 AM - Harker Heights (TX)
8:45 AM - Tom C. Clark (TX)
9:00 AM - #17 Cedar Park (TX)*
BREAK
9:45 AM - #16 Vista Ridge (TX)*
10:00 AM - Dripping Springs (TX)
10:15 AM - San Antonio Veterans Memorial (TX)*
10:30 AM - #21 Rouse (TX)*
10:45 AM - New Braunfels (TX)
11:00 AM - Ann Richards (TX)*
11:15 AM - Louis D. Brandeis (TX)
BREAK
12:15 PM - Hendrickson (TX)*
12:30 PM - James Bowie (TX)*
12:45 PM - Lake Travis (TX)*
1:00 PM - Burnet (TX)*
1:15 PM - Weiss (TX)*
1:30 PM - Westlake (TX)*
BREAK
2:15 PM - #20 Leander (TX)*
2:30 PM - Anderson (TX)*
2:45 PM - Westwood (TX)*
3:00 PM - Round Rock (TX)*
3:15 PM - #15 Cedar Ridge (TX)*
3:30 PM - East View (TX)*
3:45 PM - #6 Vandegrift (TX)*
* Denotes returning group
The first block mostly features bands new to BOA, and the newest program out of the lot kicks off the day. Chaparral (TX) is the newest school in Killeen ISD, opening its doors for the first time in August to freshmen and sophomores, pulling enrollment from all four of the other schools in the district. They are also the first Killeen ISD program to participate in BOA, and they will hold the honor of being the only one for about 45 minutes until Harker Heights (TX) takes the field. Before then, Manor New Tech (TX) will make their BOA premiere as well. The band only recently split off from Manor High School’s program and has been steadily improving; New Tech should be competitive for the Class A title on Saturday. Harker Heights takes the field next as the second Killeen ISD program to compete in BOA, they have been climbing the ranks in recent years and could surprise many people on Saturday. Potential medalist #17 Cedar Park (TX) finishes the first block of prelims (more on them tomorrow).
#16 Vista Ridge (TX) is starting the second block, and they’re coming off a relatively disappointing 2021 season, finishing 12th at Grand Nationals following very successful 2018 and 2019 seasons. However, with a new design team, #16 Vista Ridge is looking very strong at this point in the season and will likely compete for a medal. Finalist contenders Dripping Springs (TX) and #21 Rouse (TX) are also in this block (more on them tomorrow). New Braunfels (TX) will return to this contest after skipping out on it in 2021 and will likely remain one of the bands on the edge of finals with an outside shot of making it in. Ann Richards (TX) goes on the field next, and any Texas BOA fan will be very familiar with this program and their many Class A titles from the past few years, and they will be looking to claim another with a potentially tight race with Manor New Tech. Louis D. Brandeis (TX) finishes the second block and is coming off a silver medal finish at BOA McAllen last weekend.
After lunch, Hendrickson (TX) takes the field, and with BOA Grand Nationals on their plate at the end of the season, they will be fighting to get back into finals here after missing in both 2019 and 2021. James Bowie (TX) is taking a trip to Florida later this season to compete in BOA Orlando as the first Texas band to perform at that contest. Finalist contender Lake Travis (TX) performs right after Bowie (more on Lake Travis tomorrow). Burnet (TX), as one of the premiere “small” schools in the Austin area, will again be in the race to win the Class AA title, depending on how strong Chaparral is out the gate. Returning finalist Weiss will be an exciting group to watch as an entirely new set of staff came in for this year. The final band in this block is Westlake (TX), who is potentially set up to have their strongest year at this regional. Early season videos of them show a more BOA-esque design that departs from their traditionally UIL-oriented programs of the past. Their execution is good enough to potentially be in the running for a medal at this regional.
#20 Leander (TX) takes the field at the beginning of the final block of prelims, and there has been relatively little information about the program in the pre-season. With some notable staff changes this year, it’s hard to tell just how well they could place here, but they should still be in finals. Taking the field next is Anderson (TX), who placed 15th in prelims here last year and, based on pre-season footage, will be the strongest the group has been since 2016. The next three back-to-back bands are the three Round Rock ISD programs competing here (with home field advantage!), and all are looking to perform twice on Saturday. Westwood (TX) has been fairly quiet this year, but following their live-streamed March-a-thon performance, they are looking to be as strong as ever and should make finals comfortably. Again, with relatively little information on Round Rock (TX), it will be interesting to see if they will miss finals as they did in 2019 or qualify comfortably as they did last year. The final RRISD band, #15 Cedar Ridge (TX), will be discussed more in an article tomorrow. The final band of the day is the defending champion, #6 Vandegrift (TX), who looks like they will again be one of the primary contenders for the gold medal.
As you can see, BOA Austin will certainly not be a disappointment for the fans, but there will always be discouraged band members and parents from programs that don’t make the top 12 cut for finals. However, with a regional as cut-throat and early as Austin, a poor performance here does not spell doom and gloom for the rest of the season. It’s all about what the program does with the feedback and the mentality going forward.
Aaron Blackley is one of the original contributors for General Effect Media. Despite being young and fresh out of college, he has a vast knowledge and passion for the marching arts and has worked alongside the likes of HornRank as a ranker and moderator as well as the TxBands.com liveblog team since summer 2021. He can be found on Twitter as @GEMAaronB.
THE STADIUM IS KNOWN MORE AS " THE PALACE" THAN IT IS " THE kRAC"