Blue Devils completed an undefeated season Saturday, winning their 15th Drum Corps International World Championship, their fourth in the last six years. With a final score of 98.70, the California corps also took home hardware from Lucas Oil Stadium for caption awards in Visual Performance, General Effect, Percussion and Color Guard.

Blue Devils corps director David Gibbs said although he can't rank how this title compares to the corps' 14 others, he can say the 2012 corps is one of the best performing ensembles he's ever had. "We're just blessed," he said. "We're thankful that the whole activity is going great. This is one of the best ensembles we've had."

With their second place finish, Carolina Crown (97.65) tied their record high placement. They took home caption awards for Visual Performance (tied with Blue Devils) and Brass. After swapping places throughout the last half of the season, Phantom Regiment (96.55, 3rd) kept themselves ahead of The Cadets (95.05, 4th). In the end, the Cadets found themselves a point and a half away from the bronze. Improving both in score and ranking from 2011, Santa Clara Vanguard (94.45, 5th) kept themselves ahead of Bluecoats (92.55, 6th).

There was only one shakeup in placements during this year's Finals competition. Boston Crusaders (89.10, 7th) surpassed The Cavaliers (88.85, 8th). Despite trailing the Illinois-based corps coming into the World Championships, Boston had previously beaten The Cavaliers in Atlanta, San Antonio and Minneapolis. The last time The Cavaliers failed to break 90 points was in 1984.

Madison Scouts (88.00, 9th) staved off Blue Knights (86.70, 10th), who were less than one point away in Semi Finals. Spirit of Atlanta came 11th (84.40) and The Crossmen 12th (84.00). Scores and recaps can be found at www.dci.org/scores.


De Blue Devils with their champions flag. (Photo: dci.org)

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