BOA Bedford Preview
BOA has decided to add a second regional in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. BOA Bedford this weekend is the first of them, held at Pennington Field as it has been every year since 2018. This regional is more similar to BOA Shenandoah than Katy, as the bands in attendance here are almost all from the area, while BOA Prosper will feature bands from other cities and even other states.
Looking at who is in attendance, finals here shouldn’t feel very different from what we’re used to. You have your typical heavy hitters who dominate not only this contest but also the BOA San Antonio Super Regional and UIL State Marching Contests. However, there are many newcomers to BOA in this regional as well. Here is the schedule (all times in CT):
8:15 AM - Highland Park (TX)
8:30 AM - Whitesboro (TX)*
8:45 AM - #24 Wakeland (TX)**
9:00 AM - Aledo (TX)**
9:15 AM - China Spring (TX)
BREAK
10:00 AM - #12 Marcus (TX)**
10:15 AM - Waller (TX)
10:30 AM - #4 Hebron (TX)**
10:45 AM - Trinity (TX)*
11:00 AM - Lone Star (TX)**
11:15 AM - James Martin (TX)*
BREAK
12:15 PM - Waxahachie (TX)*
12:30 PM - Rick Reedy (TX)*
12:45 PM - #22 Keller (TX)**
1:00 PM - Southlake Carroll (TX)**
1:15 PM - Rock Hill (TX)
1:30 PM - Timber Creek (TX)**
1:45 PM - L.D. Bell (TX)**
BREAK
2:30 PM - Lebanon Trail (TX)
2:45 PM - #19 Coppell (TX)**
3:00 PM - Iowa Park (TX)
3:15 PM - Brock (TX)
3:30 PM - Krum (TX)*
3:45 PM - #7 Flower Mound (TX)**
4:00 PM - University of North Texas (Exh.)
* Denotes returning group
** Denotes returning finalist
Let’s look at a couple of the newcomers to the BOA scene, Highland Park (TX) and Lebanon Trail (TX). Both bands have been UIL State Marching Contest finalists in Class 5A in the past, Highland Park in 2017 (10th), 2019 (2nd), 2021 (5th), and Lebanon Trail in 2019 (8th). Lebanon Trail made state in 2021 but was three spots out of finals. Highland Park moved up to UIL 6A this year and had a solid start to their season on September 24th at the Mansfield Preview of Champions, placing 4th overall. Lebanon Trail started their season a week later at the Wylie Marching Invitational, where they placed 5th in finals. Both programs should be in the running for finals here.
Also new to BOA is China Spring (TX), Iowa Park (TX), and Brock (TX), who will be competing alongside more established small school names in Texas BOA Krum (TX) and Whitesboro (TX). China Spring is a consistent UIL 4A State Marching Contest finalist, finishing 6th in 2021. They started their season last week at the Midway Marching Preview in Texas, finishing 7th place in finals. Whitesboro and Krum competed at the Aubrey Marching Classic last weekend, finishing 4th and 1st, respectively. While Whitesboro finished lower than expected at this contest last year before taking home the silver medal at the 2021 3A State Marching Contest, Krum winning the contest could hint at a more competitive matchup between these two bands in Class A than usual.
Potential finalists alongside Highland Park and Lebanon Trail include Aledo (TX), Lone Star (TX), Waxahachie (TX), Carroll (TX), Rock Hill (TX), Timber Creek (TX), and L.D. Bell (TX). Aledo was at the Mansfield Preview of Champions with Highland Park, winning the contest by a very comfortable margin, and was also at the Mesquite Marching Festival last weekend, finishing in 2nd place behind #4 Hebron (TX). Lone Star started their season with a win on September 24th at the Little Elm Classic on the Lake, then finished in 3rd the following weekend at the Wylie Marching Invitational. While Waxahachie missed finals last year (primarily due to issues preventing them from getting drill on the field at their standard rate), they should be competitive again, assuming a smoother start to learning their show. Carroll is a returning finalist at this regional to kick off their season, ending with their first appearance at BOA Grand Nationals. They are coming off a very successful season, including finals at UIL 6A State Marching Contest and a solid 5th-place finish at BOA St. Louis. Rock Hill made its BOA debut last year at the BOA Waco Regional, where they qualified for finals and finished in 9th place. Last weekend, they started their competitive season with a win at the Plano East Marching Invitational. Timber Creek qualified for the 6A State Marching Contest last year (finishing 15th in prelims) after many consecutive years as a State Alternate in their area. They started their season last weekend at the HEB Marching Contest, finishing 5th in finals. Finally, L.D. Bell makes its competitive premier after co-hosting the aforementioned HEB Marching Contest with Trinity (TX). With the program moving in a different direction in recent years, how they finish here could give us an idea of how they will do the following weekend at the BOA St. Louis Super Regional.
The final group of bands to discuss are likely finalist locks at this regional, given their past and present competitive history. These groups are #24 Wakeland (TX), #12 Marcus (TX), #4 Hebron (TX), #22 Keller (TX), #19 Coppell (TX), and #7 Flower Mound (TX). Starting with the defending champion of this regional, #7 Flower Mound had a successful 2021 season, including a 5th place finish at BOA Grand Nationals (winning Music in finals) and 4th place at the UIL 6A State Marching Contest. Last weekend, they attended the Wylie Marching Invitational, which they won. After their historic season winning both BOA San Antonio and the UIL 6A State Marching Contest, #4 Hebron is coming in hot with another highly demanding musical program. They won the 2022 Mesquite Marching Festival last weekend. The remaining groups were the top four placing bands last weekend at the HEB Marching Contest. In 4th place was #22 Keller, who finished in the top ten at both BOA San Antonio and the UIL 6A State Marching Contest last year. #22 Keller always brings an overall solid production which has granted them consistent high placements in BOA and UIL over recent years. 3rd place was #19 Coppell, who had potentially their strongest season in program history, which included a 3rd place finish at BOA St. Louis, 8th place at BOA San Antonio, and 5th place at the UIL 6A State Marching Contest. The night's big surprise was 2nd place #24 Wakeland, who tied with #12 Marcus for the Music caption in finals and even beat them in prelims. Last season was a strong one for #24 Wakeland, which finished with them placing 4th at the UIL 5A State Marching Contest, but not out of the ordinary for the program like this year has been so far. Finally, #12 Marcus rounds off these six programs, winning all captions (except for Auxiliary, taken by Prosper (TX)) at the HEB Marching Contest.
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.