A chance to win

The Marching Patriots have a chance to win.

Of course, that’s technically true of all the 50 bands that will take the track. But the smaller contests leading up to the state fair are typically effective at shining a spotlight on the favorites.

This summer, three bands have topped the charts.

Richmond took the opener in Centerville but has faded.

Noblesville owns three wins.

The other belongs to the Marching Patriots.

Jay County High School’s group enters Saturday’s Indiana State Fair Band Day competition — it will perform in the preliminary round at 11:48 a.m. — as one of the bands with a real opportunity at victory. That fact stirs a variety of emotions.

“Exciting and scary,” said JCHS band director Kelly Smeltzer on Wednesday afternoon while taking a break from cleaning out the concession stand at Harold E. Schutz Memorial Stadium. “But hopefully mostly exciting.”

During practice that evening, it was like there was an echo.

“Scary … but exciting,” said junior drum major Kaitlyn Dow, with fellow juniors Molly Ault and Olivia Gundrum, and senior Drew Newland, using the same two words.

Jay County had one of the best bands in the state last summer. But throughout the competition season, the order was clear: Winchester was the front-runner, with Kokomo second and the Marching Patriots third.

This year has been less well-defined.

Richmond took the opening contest of the season, but the Red Devils haven’t finished higher than fifth since then. JCHS, performing only two-thirds of its show, was the runner-up.

The Marching Patriots soared to the top of the list at Jay County Fairgrounds, earning their first win in any contest since taking the Muncie title in 2002. (It was their first win at home since 2001, the last time Jay County won a state fair title.)

Noblesville band director Eric Thornbury, whose band has not won the state fair title since 1952, said he makes a point not to watch other bands. But he’s definitely heard JCHS play.

“We’ve been pretty close to Jay County a couple of times, so I can’t help but hear them,” he said of the band that has been winning music caption awards all summer. “They have an incredible sound.”

Noblesville joined the scene at Muncie this year, taking the No. 1 spot ahead of the Marching Patriots by nearly two points. The Millers won their own contest as well.

When Jay County and Noblesville had a second head-to-head matchup Saturday at the Drums at Winchester, the Millers were first again. But the gap had closed to 0.525 points.

“It’s a feeling that I’ve never felt before,” said Ault, a mellophone player, who added that her freshman year was more laid back before the intensity picked up last summer and even more this time around. “This year we’re a lot more strict. We’re just hammering down on everything, and cleaning and cleaning, and playing like crazy. We’ve worked really hard.”

“As Mr. Smeltzer would say, we’re hungry,” said Dow. “We want it really bad.”

Both the students and the director agree, improving Saturday and closing the narrow gap of just over a half point between the Marching Patriots and Noblesville will come down to the little things.

That’s especially true when it comes to marching.

It’s about feet landing in time, in the right place. It’s about toes being pointed. It’s about shoulders being square to the sideline.

“There’s still a lot that we have to work on that could be perfect, but I feel like everybody is giving it their all and they’re doing their best,” said Ault. “And that’s really all we can ask for.”

It’s been more than a decade — JCHS was one of the top contenders in 2006, when it finished second — since the Marching Patriots could really dream of a state fair title. And it’s been 16 years since they brought home the big trophy from Indianapolis.

In addition to Noblesville and Jay County this summer, Kokomo has been a consistent performer in the top five this year. Muncie Central has been there in three of the four contests it competed in as well. And defending state fair champion Winchester surged to third place on its home field after finishing no better than fourth in its first three contests.

Smeltzer has done his best not to talk much about the possibility of winning, instead trying to keep the focus on his band reaching its potential. Thornbury made similar comments about his strategy at Noblesville.

But Richmond assistant superintendent Chuck Reynolds, who attended the Marching Patriots’ practice Wednesday, told the JCHS band members that the battle for the state fair title is a two-dog fight.

“You have to know that,” said Reynolds, who backs up his opinion with the credentials of having directed Muncie Southside to state fair titles in 2000, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’06 and ’08. “You have to think like that. You’ve got to rehearse like that. You’ve got to want it.”