With a score of 89.700 this weekend in Houston, Ronald Reagan raised the bar.

Ronald Reagan’s near-90 is the highest number breached to date this season. This weekend, in particular, no other brand broke 87. Anywhere.

Nonetheless, plenty of bands at this weekend’s Bands of America Houston Regional posted impressive numbers from top to bottom and the finalists were ready for their performance under the lights on Saturday, October 5th.

The Finalists

Several of the 10 finalists broke 80 points, but the top two certainly separated themselves from the pack. Ronald Reagan swept every caption, while The Woodlands (2nd, 86.800) took second place almost entirely across the board. Westwood rounded out the top three with a score of 85.030, despite Westlake's excellence (4th, 83.900) in music performance.

That said, The Woodlands surged into second after taking third to Westwood in the event’s Prelims competition by less than two tenths. 

A close race emerged for the last spot in the top five, as Clear Brook (5th, 82.750) — Saturday’s AAA champion — earned a slim defeat over Pearland (6th, 82.400) even though they earned a head-to-head win in visual performance.

Pearland had taken seventh in Prelims, close behind Stephen F. Austin, but the two flipped in Finals largely thanks to Pearland’s strong scores in music and visual performance captions — both of which were among the top five.

Stephen F. Austin ended up in seventh in Finals with a score of 79.400, topping Brazoswood (9th, 78.900) despite a slim deficit in general effect. James E. Taylor also wasn’t far off the pack in tenth, scoring 78.300 after a penalty of 0.3.

The Cut-Off

Things were quite close for James. E Taylor to earn the last spot in Finals, though, with four different bands within 1.55 points or less of the cutoff. Obra D. Tompkins was the closest competitor with their 79.930 in 11th place. Tompkins posted impressive music scores, but James E. Taylor’s scores in general effect really seemed to make the difference. 

Seven Lakes (12th, 79.800) was just over a tenth off of Obra D. Tompkins, though, with Cy-Fair (13th, 79.050) less than a point behind that. 

The next three bands were neck-neck-and-neck, all separated by less than half a point fighting for spots in the Top 15. Dawson’s (14th, 78.750) lead over Richland (15th, 78.500) was just a quarter of a point, with the visual performance caption being a major strength for Richland. 

Just two tenths spearated Richland from Cypress Woods (16th, 78.300) for the last top 15 position, as Cypress Woods’ impressive fourth-place visual performance scores kept things close. 

Other Intriguing Notes

• Klein Oak (20th, 75.820) posted standout visual numbers as well, earning eight overall in the visual performance caption. 
• Churchill Fulshear took home the AA title for the weekend, earning 30th place overall with a score of 66.850. 
• Every single group competing in Houston broke 60, which wasn’t true of any of the other three regionals this weekend.