The Stark County-based Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps capped its dream season Aug. 8 with a third world championship in the storied program’s history.
The Bluecoats rode a streak of first place finishes this season into the Drum Corps International (DCI) World Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
All eyes were on the Bluecoats as the squad to beat. They had placed first in the DCI preliminary round and semi-finals earlier in the weekend in Indianapolis.
The Bluecoats were nearly flawless under pressure, tallying a score of 99 for only the fifth time in the DCI’s 54-year history. And they became only the fifth drum corps ever to win three or more gold medals (first place) at the event.
‘It’s just surreal.’
The Bluecoats also won the Donald Angelica Best General Effect Award, John Brazale Best Visual Performance Award, Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award, and the organization’s first-ever George Zingali Best Color Guard Award.
A DCI news release said the Bluecoats should be considered one of the all-time great programs in drum corps competition.
“It’s just surreal,” Bluecoats drum major Jason Zheng said in the release. “After the awards were announced, I just had to stand here and just take it all in, just take a few breaths, and it’ll take me a little bit to process this for sure. It’s really incredible having so much hard work pay off, and to be here with everyone. It’s really amazing, this is a feeling like no other.”
Perfect season
The Bluecoats trio of championships has occurred over a span of 10 years. They claimed their first in 2016 before winning a second title in 2024. They placed second last year.
The Bluecoats have been a top three finisher in all but one of the last 11 seasons, DCI noted.
Their perfect 2026 season of first place finishes included winning the Innovations in Brass competition on Aug. 3 at InfoCision Stadium in Akron.
‘This is really special to us.’
The Bluecoats easily topped the other corps at the DCI World Championships with a score of 99.100. Second place went to the Blue Devils with a score of 97.500 and third place went to Carolina Crown at 97.038.
This summer also marked the Bluecoats’ first tour of California and the Western states since 2009.
“This is something we’ve been working for for a long time, not just this season, but over time, to be a consistent contender for the championship,” Bluecoats CFO/COO Genevieve Geisler told DCI. “So this is really special to us. We’ve been working so incredibly hard to make this happen and to build up the consistency that’s necessary to win caption awards and to win the championship, so we’re really thrilled about it.”
Reach Ed at ed.balint@cantonrep.com. Follow on Instagram at ed_balint and TikTok @edwardbalint.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: ‘It’s just surreal.’ Bluecoats win third drum corps world championship
Reporting by Ed Balint, Canton Repository / The Repository
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By Ed Balint, Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
