Central, Wesclin bands compete at Edwardsville's Tiger Classic

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Written by: Bryan Hunt - Breese Journal Editor

    Several area high school marching bands had good showings in weekend field show competitions in southern Illinois.
    At the Tiger Marching Classic, held Sept. 16 and hosted by Edwardsville High School and their Marching Tiger band, Wesclin's Marching Warriors band, led by director Luke Davis, finished fourth among Field 2A bands, scoring a 49.450.
    In Field 3A, Highland Marching Bulldog band scored 51.750 to take fourth place, and Central Community High School's Marching Cougar band scored 48.450 for fifth place.
    Highland is led by directors John Case and Jamie Keys; Central is led by director Brodie Ordaz.
    Salem Community High School's Marching Wildcat band, led by director John Randolph, scored 51.600 to finish second in Field 1A, winning a caption award for percussion.
    O'Fallon Township High School's Marching Panther band, led by director Melissa Gustafson-Hinds and Philip Carter, scored 77.150 to take first in Field 4A and was named grand champion of the event.
    O'Fallon also won caption awards for music, visual appeal, general effect and percussion.
    The band is performing "Wednesday" as its field show this year, featuring "The Addams Family" main title theme, the "Wednesday" main title, "Frolic" by Danny Elfman of the pop/rock group "Oingo Boingo" fame, "Tango de Amor" and "Paint it Black."
    Also on Sept. 16, Carlyle High School's Marching Indians band scored 620 to place fifth in Field 1A, at the Sage City Invitational in Monticello.
    The band is led by director Hope Watts.
    Newton High School was named grand champion after scoring 938, placing first in Field 2A and winning caption awards for music, percussion and color guard.
    At Murphysboro's Drums at Appletime, the Centralia High School Marching Showcase, led by Breese resident Stephanie Aarons-Dennison, scored 77.250 to take first in Parade 3A, winning caption awards for drum major, auxiliary and percussion.
    And in Field 2A competition, Centralia took second with a score of 71.200, winning the caption award for drum major, behind first-place Waterloo High School, which scored 72.800.
    Centralia is performing "The Grid" for its field show this season, featuring original music by Joshua Hinkel and Aaron Railey.
    The event's grand champion was McCracken County, Kentucky, which scored 77.600 in Field 3A and won caption awards for percussion and auxiliary.
    Salem and Centralia will compete in the Marching Maroons Band Festival at Robinson High School on Saturday.
    Both will compete in Class 2A, with Salem scheduled to perform at 2:15 p.m. and Centralia at 2:45 p.m. Awards are scheduled to be presented at 5:45 p.m.