BOA Hits The Palmetto State In Week 4
BOA Hits The Palmetto State In Week 4
It's going to be a close run for finals for these east coast bands at this weekend's BOA South Carolina Regional in the beautiful Palmetto State!
Twenty bands from the Carolinas will descend on the campus of Gaffney High School in South Carolina—however, one of the three outsiders will be gunning for that first place finish.
Dobyns-Bennett, from Tennessee, will be the only band at the BOA South Carolina Regional coming off of a finalist finish at the 2017 BOA Grand Nationals. The Kingsport, TN band placed sixth in Indianapolis a year ago, closing their season with a score of 92.725.
Saturday will be Dobyns-Bennett’s debut performance in 2018 for BOA, and its ONLY appearance until returning to the Grand Nationals this November.
But, Dobyns-Bennett won’t be lacking for competitors this Saturday. Three of last year’s Grand National semifinalists—Fort Mill (19th, 86.000), James F. Byrnes (26th, 82.950) and Bassett (30th, 80.550)—will be in attendance, as will Nation Ford (SC), fresh off of a top-three finish at last weekend’s event in Jacksonville, Alabama. Check out their finals performance from the BOA Alabama Regional that took place last Saturday—this recording does not have audio due to copyright restrictions.
At the 2017 regional at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, Fort Mill took first place, defeating Dobyns-Bennett by just one-tenth of a point. James F. Byrnes was just 0.6 point behind Fort Mill, with fourth-place Nation Ford another 0.6 points outside the top three.
Other finalists from the 2017 event who will return for more in 2018 include Green Hope, which took fifth, Panther Creek (NC), which took sixth, and York Comprehensive (SC), which took ninth.
Clover and Lugoff-Elgin from South Carolina, as well as Cary Senior, Northwest Guilford, Ardrey Kell and Jack Britt from North Carolina will also make return appearance from last year’s event. Of the six, Cary Senior, Clover and Ardrey Kell were the first three bands outside the group of ten finalists, with Bassett not far behind in 15th overall.
While Wando (SC) didn’t compete in the Carolinas last year, the band has impressed at the last several Super Regionals in Atlanta, and has made finals in each visit since 2009. Wando took second in Atlanta in 2016 and 2017, defeating a number of groups that they'll see this Saturday.
Outside of Dobyns-Bennett, Virginia bands Bassett and Battlefield are the lone competitors from outside North and South Carolina.
12 South Carolina bands will make the Palmetto State the most represented this weekend, as White Knoll, Rock Hill, Ninety Six, River Bluff and Dorman will appear along with bands from seven other previously-mentioned South Carolina schools. Representing the Tar Heel State, Forestview and Mooresville round out a group of eight North Carolina bands.