Patriots ready to rise to the challenge

Chuck Roesch was thrilled with band camp.

He said his Marching Patriots came out a different group following their week at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Their first performance following band camp, though, wasn’t quite up to the standards they expected. 

After a couple of quality runs in front of their home fans Tuesday night, they feel ready for the state fair.

Jay County High School’s Marching Patriots will compete Friday at Indiana State Fair Band Day, taking the track early at 10:21 a.m.

“When they play smart, when they play together, when they’re focused in and they’re concentrating, they are at their best,” said Roesch following Tuesday evening’s state fair preview performance. “The two runs that we had tonight are indicative of that.

“Saturday night was a good show, but it wasn’t a great show.”

The preliminary round of the state fair competition begins at 9 a.m. Kokomo is the first of the top contenders to take the track at 9:45 a.m., with Muncie Central and Richmond back-to-back at 10:45 and 10:54 a.m. Montgomery County, Anderson and Centerville perform in succession beginning at 11:39 a.m.

Awards from the preliminaries will be at 4:30 p.m. Finals are scheduled for 8 p.m., with awards to follow.

The weather forecast does not look promising, with a 41% chance of rain beginning and 9 a.m. and increasing through the evening hours. Thunderstorms are also possible.

Rain, thunder and lightning can’t be a concern for his crew, Roesch said.

“We can’t get can’t get caught up with distractions — if it’s gonna rain, if it’s not gonna rain,” he said. “The one thing that I’ve always learned and the thing that I try to get my students to understand is there are things that are within your control and things that are outside your control.

“We’ll be there. We’ll be ready to go. We’ll also be flexible if something gets (changed) with the schedule. But when it’s time to light it up, we’re gonna to be ready to go out there and just lay down a great show for everybody and entertain them.”

So far this summer, Jay County has finished third twice — at Anderson and on their home track at Jay County Fairgrounds. It was also fifth at both Muncie Central’s Spirit of Sound and the Drums at Winchester.

Results from throughout the summer make Muncie Central a heavy favorite heading into the state fair competition. The band has won every contest it has entered this summer.

Two-time defending champion Kokomo follows, with Anderson and Richmond together in the next group based on scores thus far. Jay County is in the next pack along with Centerville and Montgomery County, having finished just ahead of and just behind both groups at points during the summer.

JCHS knows full well, though, that Friday comes down to one performance. It was sixth in the preliminary round of the state fair in 2023 before surging all the way to a third-place finish in the finals, winning a tiebreaker over Centerville for that spot.

“The kids have themselves set up real nicely,” said Roesch, who is in his third year with Jay County after two decades at Centerville. “They’re in a good position. They can move up with a good run on Friday and another good run Friday night. … 

“With this group, based on the shows that we saw tonight, I anticipate them going out there and going ahead and lighting it up and being able to make up some ground on some of the groups that are ahead of us.”

That said, he noted that the Marching Patriots can only control their own performance. It’s reaching their best that is the ultimate goal.

“This group will be happiest when they can come off the finish line knowing that they did every single thing on that field and sacrificed and gave it their all for every other member in the group,” Roesch said. “It’s not going to be about points. It’s not going to be about placing. …

“That’s always the goal — just pushing ourselves to make the show the best that it can possibly be."