Showtime! Wells County

Monday, September 24, 2012


Norwell’s Marching Knights stole the show at East Noble Saturday afternoon.

Competing in Class C, Norwell swept the caption awards, winning Best Color Guard, Best Percussion, Best Visual, Best Music and Best General Effect, on their way to first place.

But that wasn’t all.

As the highest scoring band across all four classes, they were named event “Grand Champion.”

Norwell travel to Homestead this weekend, where they will be joined by Bluffton’s Bengal Brigade, as both contest their respective divisions at the ISSMA District Championships in the hope of qualifying for the State Championships.


Pictured above are Drum Major Kelly McAvoy and Color Guard Captain Emily Easley, showing off the trophy haul from East Noble. Thanks to Chris Garrett for the pic and information.




Tuesday, September 18, 2012

County bands shine at DeKalb


Saturday provided both Bluffton and Norwell marching bands with a profitable raid to DeKalb.

Norwell (pictured above) finished top of Class C, and also taking the caption awards for Best Music and Best Visual. They tied with Concordia Lutheran for the caption award for Best General Effect.

In Class D, Bluffton tied with Eastside for the caption award for Best Visual, placing second behind Adams Central.

Bluffton compete at Hamilton Southeastern this Saturday, in a Midstates competition. Norwell will compete at East Noble on Saturday.

Monday, September 10, 2012

N-B Video: Bluffton and Norwell perform at "On the Banks of the Wabash"

The Bluffton High School and Norwell High School bands entertain and compete during the annual "On the Banks of the Wabash" show. Learn more in the Monday, Sept. 10, News-Banner. (Video by Frank Shanly)



Norwell Places Second at Bluffton's "On The Banks Of The Wabash" Competition




Saturday’s 35th annual “On The Banks Of The Wabash” at Fred Park Field presented something of a dilemma for Norwell’s Marching Knights.

Would they come to Bluffton to defend the Class C title they had won the past two years, or would they participate in the Ossian Days festivities?

In the end, they came up with a compromise, repeating the decision they made in 2009, when faced with a similar situation. They would participate in Ossian Days, then head south to Bluffton to compete, not in Class C, but up a class, against bigger schools, in Class B.

Dekalb has been the dominant force in this class over recent years, consistently taking first place, and the bulk of the caption awards. In 2009, Norwell was able to equal Dekalb’s scores in the “Best Visual” and “Best General Effect” categories, but Dekalb was able to edge ahead in “Best Music,” enabling them to hold out the Wells County challenge. In 2010, Dekalb had a much easier road to victory, sweeping the caption awards and taking top honors. Last year, Angola was able to pinch the “Best General Effect” category prize, but Dekalb retained its grip on everything else.

This year, with new Band Director Cory Kelley at the helm, the Marching Knights joined Bishop Dwenger, Columbia City, New Haven, South Side and Wayne in trying to dethrone Dekalb’s Baron Brigade. And once again, it was Norwell who provided Dekalb with its toughest challenge. Dekalb was able to retain their crown, but Norwell’s performance of its “Creye” routine came out tops in “Best Music”, and opened its competition season with a second place in Class B.

In all, 21 bands contested four divisions at the event. After the storms of Friday evening that forced the football to be carried over to the morning, a bright, mostly sunny day greeted the bands. During the afternoon, there was just enough wind to provide an extra challenge to color guard performers, however, this subsided for the evening portion of the event.

Homestead continued its run of success in Class A, once again also sweeping the caption awards in this division. Concordia completed a similar sweep in Class C, as did Adams Central in Class D. Homestead won the award for “Overall Grand Champion,” scoring the most points across all four divisions.

Bluffton’s Bengal Brigade brought the performance portion of the competition to a close, with an exhibition performance of the “Area 51” routine that it will take to competitions this season.

Bluffton-Harrison Metropolitan Schools District Wayne Barker resented the trophies for classes A and B. Bluffton’s Assistant Band Director Scott Shoup presented the trophies for Class C and D.

Both Bluffton and Norwell travel to Dekalb for competition this weekend. Bluffton will contest Class D, while Norwell will return to Class C for the competition.

Full results from “On The Banks of the Wabash” are as follows:

Class A:
1st — Homestead.
2nd — Carroll.
3rd — Snider.
4th — Northrop.
5th — Huntington North.
Visual — Homestead.
Music — Homestead.
General Effect — Homestead.


Class B:

1st — Dekalb.
2nd — Norwell.
3rd — Columbia City.
4th — Bishop Dwenger.
5th — Wayne.
6th — South Side.
7th — New Haven.
Visual — Dekalb.
Music — Norwell.
General Effect — Dekalb.

Class C:
1st — Concordia.
2nd — Angola.
3rd — Woodlan.
4th — Garrett.
5th — Heritage.
6th — Belmont.
Visual — Concordia.
Music — Concordia.
General Effect — Concordia.

Class D:
1st — Adams Central.
2nd — Eastside.
3rd — Bremen.
Visual — Adams Central.
Music — Adams Central.
General Effect — Adams Central.

Video from the event will be posted over the next couple of days.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Bluffton Hosts 'On The Banks Of The Wabash" Saturday

It’s marching band season once again!

And in Bluffton, that means its time for the annual “On The Banks Of The Wabash” spectacular at Fred Park Stadium.

A total of 21 bands will compete in four classes this year, with the event sponsored by the Bluffton Band Boosters, and is their biggest fundraising event of the year.

The Indiana State School Music Association organizes marching band contests into four classes (A, B, C, and D) with A being for the largest schools.

The Norwell Marching Knights compete in Class B and will perform at 7:15 p.m. this year.

The Bluffton Bengal Brigade competes in Class D but as host school, will only be giving an exhibition performance Saturday. The Bengal Brigade is scheduled to take the field at 9:51 p.m., prior to the final awards ceremony.

Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for senior citizens and students.

The gates will open at 3:30 p.m., with competition set to commence at 4:13 p.m..
The event is expected to continue until approximately 10:30 p.m.

Concessions will be available at Fred Park Stadium as well as at the middle school. Spectators are encouraged to park at the middle school. Spectator parking will not be allowed in any high school parking lot due to the use of those lots for participating band buses and trailers.

The competing bands and their performance times are:

Class D:
4:13 p.m. — Bremen
4:26 p.m. — Eastside
4:39 p.m. — Adams Central

Class C:
4:52 p.m. — Belmont
5:05 p.m. — Garrett
5:18 p.m. — Heritage
5:31 p.m. — Woodlan
5:44 p.m. — Angola
5:57 p.m. — Concordia

Awards:
6:23 p.m. — Class D and C awards will take place after a short break at the end of Class C competition.

Class B:
7:15 p.m. — Norwell
7:28 p.m. — Wayne
7:41 p.m. — New Haven
7:54 p.m. — South Side
8:07 p.m. — Bishop Dwenger
8:20 p.m. — Columbia City
8:33 p.m. — Dekalb

Class A:
8:46 p.m. — Huntington North
8:59 p.m. — Carroll
9:12 p.m. — Northrop
9:25 p.m. — Snider
9:38 p.m. — Homestead

Exhibition:
10:51 p.m. — Bluffton

Awards:
Class A and Class B awards will be presented after the exhibition performance by Bluffton High School’s Bengal Brigade.