After a long Saturday chock-full of shows in Johnson City at East Tennessee State University, the finalists were picked and the cards have fallen where they'll fall. 

Only one Tennessee band managed to crack the top 10: Dobyns-Bennett (TN). They're walking away from Saturday's competition with second place and a score of 88.75. 

So how did the other Appalachian bands fare? And who took home the top spot? 

Top 10 Roundup

Saturday night's top score went to Lafayette H.S. (KY) with a score of 88.80, a mere 0.05 points ahead of the runner-up, Dobyns-Bennett (TN). Both of these top-tier performing groups split the finals captions awards with Lafayette taking Outstanding Music Performance and Dobyns-Bennett taking Oustanding Visual Performance. The two tied for Oustanding General Effect. This finals placement is different from the prelims competition earlier on the same day, where Dobyns-Bennett was ahead of Layafette by over a point. 

Another BOA favorite, Kennesaw Mountain H.S. (GA), came in third on Saturday night, with a score of 86.40. While they did take the Oustanding General Effect caption for Class AAA in prelims, they were unable to capture the overall award in finals.

Our next three finalists come from North Carolina. In fourth place went Green Hope H.S. with a score of 83.100. Fifth place went to Cleveland H.S. with an 82.900. In sixth place, Mooresville H.S. finished with an 81.350. 

Another close competitive gap was between Mooresville H.S. (NC) and Bassett H.S. (VA). Mooresville just pulled ahead of Bassett's score of 81.300 in finals by just 0.05 points, putting Bassett into seventh place overall. In prelims competition, Bassett had taken first in AA Class and took the Outstanding Visual and General Effect captions for their class. 

Rounding out our finalists were Estill County H.S. (KY) in eighth with a score of 78.650, White Knoll H.S. (SC) in ninth with a 78.000, and Ardrey Kell H.S. (NS) in 10th with a 75.200. 

Other Competitive Ranks

Coming out of prelims, Hardin Valley Academy (TN) was the second-highest placing Tennessee band of the day with a score of 77.70. This put them just under 1.5 points from making a finals appearance, just behind White Knoll. 

Just 0.9 points separated 12th through 16th place. From Seymour H.S. (TN) all the way to Dutch Fork H.S. (SC), each group scored between a 76 and 76.90. The closest spread of the group is 13th though 15th with just 0.16 points separating them. The groups are as follows: 

• 12th - Seymour H.S. (TN) - 76.90
• 13th - Easley H.S. (SC) - 76.75
• 14th - Corinth Holders H.S. (NC) - 76.65
• 15th - York Comprehensive H.S. (SC) - 76.60
• 16th - Dutch Fork H.S. (SC) - 76.0 

Another close competitive grouping was between 23rd and 25th. Gateway H.S. (PA) was on top with their score of 66.45 but Elizabethton H.S. (TN) and LaRue County HS (KY) weren't far behind, with scores of 66.25 and 66.15, respectively. The 0.1 point spread between Elizabethton and LaRue was the closest of the day.