Boston Crusaders Finally Finding Paradise
Boston Crusader's recent scores bode well for the corps from a historical perspective, but is history on their side this year?
Boston Crusaders have had quite the historic week heading into Allentown this weekend. They started by closing the gap between them and Blue Devils to a near-negligible 0.175 at the DCI Southeastern Championships in Atlanta, GA on July 30th. The following night, they were crowned champions at NightBEAT in Winston-Salem, NC (with Carolina Crown and Blue Devils having their performances rained out). To finish off the week before Allentown, they boasted an extremely impressive 95.20 at Glassboro, NJ on August 3rd, which is both their highest score in corps history as well as their first time breaking the 95 point barrier in corps history.
Not only are these scores impressive for the Boston Crusaders, they bode very well for finals week. Since 2014, every corps to have won at Winston-Salem/Charlotte has gone on to be crowned the champions at finals; 85.71% of corps to achieve this since 2013 have won in finals.
Since there are no contests on August 4th, they also hold the highest pre-Allentown score; 80.00% of corps to achieve this since 2010 have won in finals.
They are also the first corps to pass the 95 point barrier in this season; 77.78% of corps of corps to achieve this since 2010 have won in finals.
Now it is also likely that with a different schedule (and more cooperative weather in North Carolina), Blue Devils would possibly have the same 3 achievements that we are discussing with the Boston Crusaders now. Despite being the closest to championships weekend, Allentown only has a 50% success rate at predicting the winner at DCI finals, but every corps to have gotten all 4 of these achievements have gone on to win the championships with the notable exception of 2013 (Blue Devils eventually losing to Carolina Crown in semifinals and finals).
Is this the year for the Boston Crusaders to be crowned the (Wonderful) World Champions, or will the judges and fans Take Their Eyes Off of them in favor of another corps?