Fifth for 007

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2024 Jay County Marching Patriots at Indiana State Fair

INDIANAPOLIS — Centerville’s Blue Regiment and Montgomery County United had been battling the Marching Patriots all summer.

Jay County had finished just ahead of and just behind both rivals at contests this year.

In the final and biggest contest, the Marching Patriots delivered.

Jay County High School scored 86.788 points, more than a full point ahead of its closest competitors this summer, to place fifth Friday during the Indiana State Fair Band Day competition.

Heading into the day, the Marching Patriots looked to be in a battle for fifth, sixth and seventh, but they were able to put some space between themselves and Centerville (85.7) and Montgomery County United (85.2). (JCHS and Centerville finished tied last year, with the Marching Patriots winning the tiebreaker for third place.)

Muncie Central totaled 93.05 points to reclaim the state fair championship from two-time defending champion Kokomo. The Spirit of Sound, which earned caption awards for music, visuals and general effect in Class AAA, won every contest it entered this summer.

Anderson scored 91.488 to edge Kokomo (91.225) for second place. Richmond was fourth with 89.838. Frankton Lapel (81.913) was eighth, with Western Boone (79.9) and Winchester (79.325) rounding out the top 10.

Roesch was thrilled with his group’s effort throughout the day.

He noted that marching band shows often open with an “in-your-face” moment to light up the crowd. For Jay County this year, it’s instead a long build through Caleb Garringer’s “haunting and mysterious” mellophone solo and the background music supporting it.

Once the Marching Patriots got to their impact moment of their preliminary performance, though, Roesch knew they were on their game.

"When they finally get to chart six for us and they turn to the front and they’ve got that big crescendo and that huge release, that for us as a staff on the front sideline is when we can kind of gauge, ‘Well, how’s this show going to go?’” he said. “We got to that point and they just turned around and let loose. It was really good, really good.”

Another sparkling moment for JCHS in both of its runs Friday was the explosion of sound in “Skyfall.”

Roesch said the song is so well-known that the opportunity for the big impact can be easily lost. It has to be approached properly.

“You have to set those moments up by being disciplined and staying kind of soft,” he said. “Otherwise, you kind of telegraph that, ‘Hey it’s gonna get loud here in a second.’ 

“So when they do that shaping underneath the soloist and Joseph just does an incredible job of leading us up and taking the energy and building that tension for us, when they finally get the chance to let loose with it, it’s something to be standing that close to them and feeling that energy coming through. Knowing that’s what they’re standing to the top of the stands, it’s pretty awesome.”

There had been questions about the status of Band Day throughout the week, with the weather forecast looking ominous.

Skies were overcast from the start of the competition at 9 a.m. Friday. Clouds looked ready to drop rain at any moment. (They never did.) And areas of the track were goopy from rain Thursday evening.

The message, though, for the Patriots was to handle the things that were in their control during their nine minutes on the track in front of the Indiana State Fair grandstand.

In Roesch’s assessment, they did just that.

“I could not be prouder of them,” the director said. “They went out there, they executed the best that they have all season long musically and visually. The guard had a great run on things today. The drum line was just smokin’. The winds were making some beautiful music out there, some great impact moments. We’re thrilled.”