A busy weekend of Bands of America events featured a couple of familiar names earning victories, a crazy-close top five in North Carolina, and a bit of fun with alliteration down in Texas.  

Here’s the rundown from October 14-15:

ST. LOUIS, MO | Broken Arrow Wins Close

It’s not hyperbole to call this the biggest event of the BOA season to date.

I mean, in a basic sense, it literally was the biggest — the most bands, by far. It’s a super regional, and it’s the first super regional, so that’s kind of the idea.

But beyond that, in terms of the big picture, it featured the defending Grand National champions, against a lineup of formidable competition. 

In short, Broken Arrow (1st, 92.450) got the job done, topping a deep field of competitors and earning first place by less than half a point over second-place Blue Springs (92.000). 

Broken Arrow won Class AAAA, music performance and general effect, while Blue Springs won class AAA,  — all in all, a pretty successful day for both bands. Class titles also went to Grain Valley (AA) and Russell County (A).

Rounding out the top three, Bentonville (3rd, 88.950) posted a strong score, closing in on the 90-point mark. A close race unfolded for remaining top-five spots, with Lincoln (4th, 87.950) coming out ahead of a very close pack in its final BOA appearance of the season. 

Just 0.20 points back, O’Fallon Township earned fifth place with a score of 87.750, also beating out sixth-place L.D. Bell (87.550) by the same margin of 0.20.

JOHNSON CITY, TN | Dobyns-Bennett Rolls in Home State

Another headliner set to compete in November at the 2022 Grand Nationals earned a resounding win Saturday, as Tennessee-based Dobyns-Bennett came out atop a group of 20 bands by more than four points. Dobyns-Bennett earned the event’s top score of 88.700, won all captions, and took home a Class AAA title.

Ultimately, four unique states were represented among the day’s top five, with Mississippi’s South Jones (2nd, 84.500) and Arkansas’ Lake Hamilton (3rd, 82.950) rounding out the top three. South Jones also won Class AA. 

One of three Tennessee bands to earn finalist positions, Elizabethton (4th, 81.800) fended off Class AAAA champion Clover (5th, 81.775) by a razor-thin margin of 0.025. 

Archbishop Alter, which earned an impressive seventh place, won the day’s Class A title. 

WINSTON-SALEM, NC | Close Finish at Wake Forest

While Catawba Ridge (1st, 82.100) won Saturday’s North Carolina Regional Championship going away — while also earring top general effect, tying Harrison for top music, an dwinning Class AA — the race among the rest of the top five was airtight.

In all, just 1.20 points separated second place from fifth place, with Georgia-based Harrison (2nd, 79.900) eking out a close second. Also from Georgia, Walton (3rd, 79.550) finished third while also earning a Class AAAA win and outstanding visual performance.

The day’s Class AAA champion, Cleveland (4th, 79.450) landed in fourth place by just a tenth of a point after a shakeup in placement from Prelims to Finals. In Prelims competition, Cleveland actually topped the overall lineup, with Walton in second and Catawba Ridge in third.  

Less than a point behind fourth-place Cleveland, Nation Ford held serve in fifth from Prelims to Finals. Just behind Nation Ford, a pair of bands nearly tied with Green Level (6th, 75.550) ousting Bassett (75.500) by just five hundredths of a point. 

DALLAS/FORTH, TX | Ws Dominate in North Texas

In one of the weirder stats to date of the BOA season, five of the top six schools at Saturday’s North Texas Regional Championship have names that start with ‘W.’

So, that’s fun! 

In seriousness, the event held at Prosper ISD Children’s Health Stadium saw its top two finishers separated by less than a point, with Wakeland (1st, 88.700) beating out Westlake (2nd, 88.075) and earning all caption awards. Westlake, however, won Class AAAA, earring a close Prelims victory over Wakeland. 

The only band that broke up the string of ‘W’ schools was actually the hometown band; Prosper earned fifth (85.050), closely behind Class AAA champion Waxahachie (3rd, 86.950) and Wylie East (4th, 85.400). Westwood rounded out the top six, scoring 84.525. Class titles also went to Choctaw (AA) and Mineola (A).