Forged in the heat of Arizona 15 years ago, the Academy Drum & Bugle Corps capped its historic run through the 2016 DCI season by cracking the Top 12 and making World Class Finals for the first time in the corps' history.

Bringing to life their production entitled The Drum Corpse Bride, they captured the hearts of audiences with a love story.

In 2001, The Academy's origins were founded by creating The Academy Brass and Percussion Ensemble. Established as a way for young marching musicians to experience what it is like to participate in a drum corps, the ensemble quickly created interest throughout the community.

In 2004, the organization added a colorguard and was sanctioned by DCI to becoming a competing member. Just 2 years later, the corps had grown in size to 135 members and captured the Division II championship.

The 2007 season marked their first year competing in Division I--which was later renamed World Class--where they finished 13th and nearly made finals but were beat out by Spirit from JSU by 1 point.

The Academy spent the next 8 years floating between 19th and 14th, but never could crash the Finals party.

As this summer heated up, The Academy's scores kept rising, always floating around 12th or 13th overall. But we hadn't seen everyone compete against each other on the same night with the same judges.

Then at the regionals in San Antonio and Atlanta they announced to the world they were gunning for finals. Scoring a 75.525 at San Antonio and a 81.413 in Atlanta, The Academy firmly planted themselves into the finals discussion.

At the last major regional, the DCI Eastern Classic in Allentown, PA., The Academy began to make the discussion a reality. They blew past the 2-time world champion Madison Scouts with a score of 85.550, nearly beating the Scouts by full 1.5 points.

On Thursday at Lucas Oil Stadium, The Academy maintained that point spread and landed comfortably in 11th place after their semi-finals performance. But relaxing at Finals can cost you big time. Just ask Carolina Crown from 2015.

After winning the prelims and semi-finals, Crown seemed to take their foot off the gas pedal, and the Blue Devils managed to overtake them for the championship.

But The Academy had no intentions of backing down.

On Friday night during semi-finals, The Academy actually widened the gap between themselves and the Boston Crusaders, who past the Scouts for 12th, to 1.962 points by posting a score of 87.225.

With this score, The Academy has secured their position in Finals for the first time in the corps' history. They are also the first new finalist since the Boston Crusaders made it to Finals in 1999 and Carolina Crown in 1995.

On Saturday night, they finished off their 2016 season by scoring 86.100 and finishing in 11th place. They were also met with one of the most thunderous applauses of the night from the crowd, a token of appreciation from fans recognizing a magical run.