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.