Blue Devils won their 13th DCI World Championship in convincing fashion by scoring 99.05, 0.65 higher than their score from the Semifinals. They were able to increase their spread over second place Carolina Crown to 1.55 from 0.85 at the Semifinals.
Along the way, the corps won four of the five special caption awards that were determined by averaging the scores of Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals, losing only Brass Performance to Carolina Crown. Those four awards included Overall General Effect, Visual Performance, Color Guard and Percussion Performance.
The only captions on the score sheets the corps didn't win were Brass and Music Ensemble, leading to a 0.10 deficit to Carolina Crown in total Music. The corps received a 19.95 for Music Effect, just 0.05 from a perfect score after both judges were combined. Visual Performance was in at 19.9 and both Visual Ensemble and Color Guard nailed perfect scores of 20.0 so that the total Visual score came in at 29.95.
Remember that only the averaged scores from the two judges in each Visual Effect and Music Effect aren't divided in half before being added to the final score. The scores for the three Visual captions (Performance, Ensemble and Color Guard) and the three Music captions (Brass, Ensemble and Percussion) are divided in half before being added to the final score.
All in all, Blue Devils got perfect scores from three of the 10 judges; one of the Music Effect judges and those for Visual Ensemble and Color Guard, with perfect scores in eight sub-captions.
The score of 99.05 comes within 0.10 of the highest score recording at a World Class Finals, set in 2002 by the Cavaliers and matched in 2005 by the Cadets.
Perhaps more amazing is that Blue Devils have now won at least three championship titles in four consecutive decades. (1976, 1977, 1979/1980, 1982, 1986/1994, 1996-tie, 1997, 1999-tie/2003, 2007, 2009.)
Carolina Crown (2nd-97.50) dropped a scant 0.05 from Semifinals and took 1st place in both Brass and Music Ensemble, the same as in the Semifinals.
The corps' Percussion caption came in 2nd, also the same as on Friday, but total Music stayed in 1st. Music Effect dropped from 1st to 2nd despite scoring the same both nights, due to Blue Devils' score in that caption going up 0.45.
Visual Effect and Visual Performance came in 3rd, and Color Guard dropped from 2nd to 4th (-0.10) and Visual Ensemble dropped 0.50 to fall from 3rd to 5th.
Holy Name Cadets (3rd-97.20) scored the exact same as they did in the Semifinals.
Visual Effect was only 0.05 under Blue Devils for 2nd and Visual Ensemble and Color Guard remained in 2nd. Music Effect took 3rd, up 0.35 and one placement from Friday. Visual Performance dropped from 2nd to 4th and Music Ensemble was the only Music caption that didn't fall from Semifinals, taking 3rd both nights. Brass dropped from 3rd to 4th.
However, the big story why the corps didn't place 2nd can be found in the Percussion score. In Semifinals, the line took 3rd with a 19.5. In Finals, the line fell to 7th place with an 18.5, a full point lower. On Friday, their Percussion scored only 0.20 under Crown. In Finals, the Percussion scored 1.10 down from the 2nd place corps.
Since the Percussion score is one that is divided in half before being added to the final score, this caption was responsible for 0.55 of the difference between the two corps. Considering that Cadets finished 0.30 under Crown, the fall in Percussion was the difference between 2nd and 3rd place.
The Cavaliers (4th-96.15) failed to medal for the first time since 1999, but was the only other corps besides Blue Devils to be awarded a higher score than was given out in the Semifinals (by 0.10). A 2nd place in Visual Performance was the corps' highest placement, just 0.20 down from Blue Devils. Color Guard and Percussion came in 3rd, up from 5th and 4th, respectively.
Visual Effect tied for 4th with Santa Clara Vanguard and Music Effect took 5th, both placements identical to Friday (including the tie). Visual Ensemble took 4th and both Brass and Music Ensemble took 5th. Despite those two Music captions ending in 5th, the corps came in 3rd in total Music due to that 3rd place finish in Percussion.
Santa Clara Vanguard (5th-95.65) was 0.15 down to the Cavaliers on Friday but fell to 0.50 down in Finals, mainly due to being 0.60 down in Color Guard and 0.80 down in Percussion, (a combined total of 0.70 once those scores are divided in half).
Third place finishes in Visual Ensemble and Brass were the corps' highest placements. Fourth place finishes were received in Music Effect and Music Ensemble, with a tie for 4th in Visual Effect. Visual Performance and Color Guard took 5th and Percussion ended in 6th.
Of special note is this is the highest 5th place Finals score in DCI World Championships history, just nipping the Cadets of Bergen County's score of 95.60 in 1989.
Bluecoats (6th-93.15) moved up to 4th in Percussion after taking 5th on Friday. All other captions finished in 6th or 7th. Both Effect captions, Visual Performance, Visual Ensemble and Music Ensemble took 6th and Color Guard and Brass finished in 7th.
Boston Crusaders (7th-90.70) dropped 0.50 from Friday but was still able to maintain the same placement despite having six captions that finished lower than 7th place. Both Effect captions and Visual Ensemble finished in 7th, Color Guard, Brass and Percussion took 8th and Visual Performance and Music Ensemble finished in 9th.
Blue Stars (8th-90.05) dropped 0.35 from the Semifinals, but still became the only corps to move up a position from Friday. The Color Guard took 6th, and 8th place finishes were received in both Effect captions, Visual Ensemble and Music Ensemble. Brass and Percussion both took 9th and Visual Performance finished in 10th.
Phantom Regiment (9th-89.90) had the third largest drop in score from Semifinals (0.75) and was the only corps to drop a placement from Friday night. The corps' brightest spots were in the Music captions: Percussion took 5th, Brass 6th and Music Ensemble 7th, for a total Music placement of 7th. Both Brass and Percussion dropped one placement, but lost only 0.10 each from Friday. Visual Performance also finished in 7th, which actually moved up from 9th on Friday with a 0.90 increase in that caption score.
Music Effect took 9th (down from 8th), a drop of 0.45 and Visual Effect dropped from 9th to 11th, an equal drop of 0.45. Combined, the two Effect scores together dropped 0.90, canceling out the 0.90 gain in Visual Performance and that was enough to account for the difference between 7th and 9th place. Color Guard remained in 10th.
Glassmen (10th-87.75) took 8th in Visual Performance, 9th in Color Guard, 11th in Music Ensemble and 10th in the other five captions.
Visual Effect moved up from 11th to 9th and Percussion moved up from 12th to 10th.
Blue Knights (11th-86.45) had the largest drop from Semifinals at 0.90, with 0.60 of that coming in total Effect. Visual Effect ended in 9th, up from 10th with the same score, so the drop was due to a 0.60 fall in Music Effect, which finished in 11th. Music Ensemble ended in 10th and all three Visual captions (Performance, Ensemble and Color Guard) finished in 11th. Brass and Percussion ended in 12th.
Troopers (12th-85.10) had the second largest drop from Semifinals at 0.80. Brass and Percussion took 11th and every other caption took 12th.
