Jeff Griffith is a writer and columnist for FloMarching, and any perspective presented in this article represents his own only.

There’s "dominant." And then there’s "turn-of-the-century Cavaliers dominant". It’s something that really doesn’t get discussed anymore as often as it probably should. 2000. 2001. 2002. 2004. 2006. All gold medals. 2003 and 2005 were silvers.

So, for a minute, let’s go year by year. Just how good were The Cavaliers of the early 2000s?

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2000: "Niagara Falls" - 1st Place (97.650)

Okay, competitively speaking, it’s hard to call this one dominant, seeing as it was a tie for first place with The Cadets. But 2000 was the spark that lit the fire. In all honesty, 2000 Finals specifically lit the fire.

The Rosemont, Illinois corps actually entered that year’s Finals without a head-to-head victory over The Cadets, and trailed by more than half a point in the first two nights of the three-night World Championships. Earlier in August, they’d even lost head-to-head to that year’s bronze medalist, Blue Devils.

The Cadets were supposed to be alone on the proverbial podium. Instead, The Cavaliers kicked off a three-peat.

2001: "Four Corners" - 1st Place (98.350)

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The Cavaliers’ final score in ‘01 was a full seven-tenths ahead of the year prior — and ironically, almost a perfect midpoint between 2000’s tally and 2002's then record-setting tally. 

In 2001, there was little doubt once Finals night rolled around; despite opening the month of August with a head-to-head loss to Blue Devils, the Rosemont corps ended the season on a four-night win streak, never leading by less than half a point throughout that year’s World Championships in Buffalo. 

The 2001 Cavaliers earned perfect scores in four different scoring captions: Visual Repertoire, Visual Ensemble Composition, Color Guard Content, and Percussion Technique. Little did they know they still hadn’t peaked.

2002: "Frameworks" - 1st Place (99.150)

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This was dominance, the likes of which drum corps hadn’t seen in its modern era, and wouldn’t again see until 2014. The Cavaliers' final margin of victory, 1.85 points, has only been outdone by the Blue Devils’ 2014 margin of 2.425. 

A few mind-blowing facts about The Cavaliers in 2002:

-- At the time, the corps’ final score of 99.150 was a record high, and the first-ever score to crack 99 points.

-- The Cavaliers actually broke 99 in Semifinals with a score of 99.05. That means their Semifinals performance is tied for the fourth highest-scoring performance of all time. 

-- There was not a single night in 2002 that saw the undefeated Cavaliers win by any less than a point. Their closest margin of victory came on July 22, when they squeaked one out by 1.3 points against The Cadets in Baton Rouge. 

2004: "007" - 1st Place (98.700)

When the Blue Devils came out in 2003 and earned a gold medal by more than a point and a half over the second-place Cavaliers, it would have been reasonable to assume the best was in the rearview mirror for the Rosemont corps.

2004’s race came down to the wire, but with back-to-back close wins in Denver, The Cavaliers closed out their fourth title in five years. Their 98.700 tally to end the season is actually the second-highest in corps history to this day. 

2006: "Machine" - 1st Place (97.200)

After The Cadets tied their record high of 99.150 in 2005, The Cavaliers stormed back to make it five titles in seven years in ‘06. 

That season, The Cavaliers had close competition from both Blue Devils and Phantom Regiment — who spent 2006’s World Championships in Madison jockeying for position — but actually won their final 16 events in a row to close the season following a mid-July loss to Blue Devils, July 11 in Mankato. 

The Cavaliers haven’t won a gold or silver medal since, but their red-hot run through the early 2000s cemented truly them as a top competitor in the drum corps activity. In the time since, the Rosemont corps has finished among the Top Six in all but three years, and the Top Five in all but five years.