DCPI Season 23 Discussion Thread

[Galen]

In St. Peter MN last night, Polaris Regiment made it back on top after a bit of a stumble in their previous show, besting The Thoroughbreds by a point at Gustavus Adolphus University. Northern Light was a big surprise, jumping over The Knights and Dune Battalion as they surged up to 3rd place. In Open Class, Marauders and Huddersfield Hundred started to pull away from the rest of the pack a bit, as both corps finished well ahead of 3rd place The Colonels. In Class A, Mirfield Lockmen narrowly got the better of Xothyme, while Cape Cod Regiment closed the gap on Enlightenment.

At Waukee Stadium in Des Moines IA, Golden Panthers emerged as kings of the cornfield and proved that their win in Columbia the night before was no fluke. Dark Knights, Dewsbury Regiment and Harmonic all waged a spirited battle for 2nd, as a quarter of a point was all that separated those three corps. While their big brother was absent tonight, Buckeye Brass B and C both won honors for the Ohio-based group as they won their respective divisions.

[kiwidrummer]

How exciting is this? Going into Madison for the Fanfare Championships riding a 3-way tie for first the night before in Minneapolis.

[Galen]

It was a very exciting time in Minnesota last night!

TCF Bank Stadium had more ties than the inside of a closet in World Class, as Aftershock NZ, Dewsbury Regulars and Violet Knights all found themselves atop the standings, marking some impressive comebacks. The Thoroughbreds and Quiksilver were neck and neck, and Star of Jupiter, Polaris Regiment and Buckeye Brass all tied for the final sweepstakes point. With the scores this close, this could be a realistic look at what championship week looks like.

With so many corps in attendance, other venues had to be brought into play. Open Class corps competed at East Ridge HS in Woodbury, where Mercury reclaimed the top spot over Star of Hawaii and Texas Zephyrs. Les Blanc Chevaliers found themselves very far down the standings in 12th place, 2 points behind the Columbia-based corps.

Class A corps returned to Eden Prairie HS, where Hg narrowly won the day over Xothyme and Cape Cod Regiment. This event also saw the debut of the Acronym corps, ERDC, JRDC and ECDC. This group has been very quiet and mysterious about its plans for this season, so we hope they'll open up and share some information soon.

[Galen]

Camp Randall Stadium was ELECTRIC for tonight's Fanfare championships, which just wrapped up a few minutes ago. Madison has seen some spectacular events in past years, and tonight's certainly deserved to be listed with those events, as the Forward Dynamics corps claimed two of the three divisions this evening. In World Class, it was Polaris Regiment edging season 21 champion Buckeye Brass to claim their third sweepstakes victory. They're definitely showing the consistency needed to contend for a title this year. Scores were close top to bottom, with Circle City Sound and River City Regiment having the tightest margin- just 0.02!

In Open Class, it was Mercury adding yet another sweepstakes victory to its belt. They've been strong all year, and while they've been defeated on a few occasions, they've always managed to rebound and have their strongest performances when it matters most. Star of Hawaii and The Marauders kept it close, but it was Mercury's tremendous visual package that paved the way to victory. Buckeye Brass B narrowly missed out on a sweepstakes point, but finished comfortably ahead of Aftershock NZ B. It looks like there may be some separation starting to occur in Open Class.

Finally, Xothyme pulled off an extremely close win over Hg, by less than 0.075 points. Both Mirfield Lockmen and Cape Cod Regiment were very close behind. Further back, Stars of St. Louis and Enlightenment continued their season-long battle with each other, with the Missouri corps coming out ahead tonight by just 0.015 points. Class A seems to be more and more competitive the further down the standings you look, as four corps, Euphony Cadets, Northern Cadets, Hoosier Regiment and White Chords were separated by less than 2 tenths!

[StarOrg]

Love to see Fanfare corps take the Fanfare crowns. Congrats Kevin and Craig.

[Galen]

Sweepstakes scores from that event will be posted later this week.

Tonight saw a shakeup in the standings at both events. At Grand Haven HS in Grand Haven MI, Euphony Empire rocketed up to the top of the world class standings, coming out ahead of Great Lakes Sound and The Royal Crusaders. They may have gotten off to a late start, but Euphony's members have been hard at work since their first show midway through the season, and it looks like that effort is paying off at last. In Open Class, Northern Lights were one of 4 corps to score above the 82 point barrier, along with Spartan Vanguard, Euphony Vanguard and San Antonio Xpress. In Class A, E.R.D.C. had the field all to themselves, and walked away with a nice result.

Further midwest, the Lincoln NE show had to be relocated to Heedum Field in nearby Fremont (where DCI will be this season themselves) due to ongoing renovations taking place at Seacrest Field. The attending corps didn't let the late adjustment faze them, as Alpine Scouts made a nice comeback to win their first event since early in the season. Harmonic and Northern Light were very close to each other, with GE and Music tipping the edge toward Harmonic. In Open Class, Dark Knights B kept things close, but couldn't get ahead of Huddersfield Hundred despite finishing ahead of the Brits in two of the three major caption categories. Huddersfield's win tonight is another example of how important the GE scores can be. Also, the unknown J.R.D.C. corps caught several corps by surprise with a solid third place finish ahead of West Virginia Sound. And in Class A, Western Wind finished ahead of Northern Cadets to take the victory tonight, thanks to their GE and Visual scores.

[gcurrier]

been a somewhat sluggish season for Knight Org but Cape Cod Regiment is taking the lead to show their big brothers how to do it as our corps work to come in with a strong finish!

[Eleran]

With 2 of our 3 corps meeting up in Kansas today, and Oklahoma tomorrow, key staff members are taking the opportunity to coordinate details of their DCPI Season 24 shows, to be announced in several weeks.

[Galen]

At Bishop D'Arcy Stadium in Fort Wayne, Polaris Regiment was out to prove that they perhaps should be included in tomorrow night's Masters of DCPI event by crushing two past champions, Ivory Brigade and Star of Jupiter. Circle City Sound and Dark Knights were also very competitive tonight, while Great Lakes Sound, Pride of Salem and River City Regiment were among five corps that placed within 3 tenths of each other further back in World Class. Open Class went to Star of Hawaii, who easily took care of The Colonels and Thunder Cadets, while Mirfield Cadets saw their lead in Class A slip a bit as they beat Cross by only a quarter of a point this evening, which saw both corps break the 80 point mark for the first time this season.

In Kansas, we're taking a break from Wichita to travel to Great Bend, located more centrally in the state. It was a small show at Great Bend HS but certainly an entertaining one as Dewsbury Regulars made their way back to the winner's circle, and the unknown Acronym corps E.C.D.C. edged a little higher up the charts, finishing in second place. Alpine Scouts suffered some setbacks in the visual department after last night's win and found themselves narrowly slipping back to third. Open Class saw an exceptionally close finish, as Spirit of Indy triumphed over Abracadabra Academy by just a tenth of a point. Academy were in a tight finish themselves, finishing just a tenth ahead of Huddersfield Hundred. Stars of St. Louis took Class A, but Kaiju Corps and Hoosier Regiment staged the closest contest in this division, with the Indiana corps just beating out Kaiju.

[Galen]

What a night (and day) it was in Columbus OH! Crew Stadium was the site of not one but two events today, as several corps from all 3 divisions took the field in the afternoon for an exciting round of competition, followed by the nightcap event which saw 5 former DCPI champions in all 3 divisions show why they're among the best of the best in the activity today. The early event saw The Thoroughbreds become the first corps this season to break 90, finishing well ahead of Dune Battalion and Great Lakes Sound in the process. In Open Class, The Colonels captured top honors with a comfortable margin over Valley Vanguard, while in Class A, Mountain Magic prevented the Kentucky organization from pulling off a clean sweep with a win over Enlightenment.

The evening's event saw extremely close competition across the board at Wantland Stadium in Oklahoma City OK, as the five world class corps finished within 0.75 points of each other, but in the end it was the Quiksilver group of corps pulling off the clean sweep of all 3 divisions, with Mercury and Hg winning Open Class and Class A, respectively. Star of Jupiter was right on Quiksilver's heels followed by The Knights, who had a solid performance from beginning to end that may mark a turning point in their season. Home state (and home city) Buckeye Brass brought the house down and had the crowd on their feet before their show even began, but had to settle for an extremely narrow fourth place result ahead of Ivory Brigade as the judges didn't seem to be in the mood for hometown lovin' tonight. Open Class saw a tight spread between the top 4 corps, with The Marauders right behind Mercury and Les Blanc Chevaliers making a good move up the charts with a third place finish. Hg had the widest margin of victory, while Cape Cod Regiment, Xothyme and Cross all kept things close.

Back down south, Violet Knights became the second corps to post a score of 90, eclipsing The Thoroughbreds' achievement by a bit as they finished ahead of Dewsbury Regulars and Confederate Regiment. Euphony Empire continues to make good strides with their fourth place finish, and Pride of Salem, Alpine Scouts and Harmonic were neck and neck (and neck), as just two tenths separated these three corps. Open Class saw Huddersfield Hundred posting a rather uncontested victory, while Acronym corps J.R.D.C. made a strong move up to second place as they try to position themselves to get their first victory. In Class A, Western Wind led the way, with a close finish over Crusade and Pandemonium NZ.