The hot summer days of band camp seem like only a few short weeks ago for the members of the marching band, but in reality the last four months have included a lot of hard work and produced another successful season for these young musicians.
With the competition season behind them and football season going strong, the members of the marching band will conclude their 2004 season with a public performance at the annual “Bands in Review” Concert on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium.
The 2004 season started with the Golden Eagles hosting their home competition at Gray/Veterans Memorial Field on September 25. As host, the band competed in exhibition only and received the score of 73.05. The first competition in October was held at DuBois Area High School. There the band competed against St. Marys High School and were able to improve their score to a 75.35 and brought home the awards for high music, high percussion, high auxiliary high drum major and second place in Group II.
From there Tyrone made the trip to Shikellamy High School where they went head to head with Mifflinburg High School, DuBois High School and Line Mountain High School. Tyrone came home with second place, the award for high marching and a 4.3 increase to land them a score of 79.65.
After a 6.5 point increase in score over three weeks, Tyrone made their way to the home of the Williamsport Marching Millionaires for a show on October 16. There Tyrone would face DuBois, St. Marys and Indian Valley. As the frigid night came to close, Tyrone came out on top winning awards for high music and high marching and captured the first place award with a score of 82.7.
The next week was a relaxing week off and time to prepare for the long trip to the Pocono Mountain Show held at the Lackawanna County Stadium in Scranton. This would be the biggest show of the season where Tyrone would compete against four other Group II bands from Perkiomen Valley, Shikellamy, Susquehanna Township and Pocono Mountain West. Armed with a screaming and supportive bus full of fans, Tyrone took the field to compete against these top bands in TOB. Tyrone came out of this challenge finishing fifth place with a score of 82.65.
November 6 brought Chapter XI Championships at IUP Stadium. There Tyrone would face the two Group II bands from Chapter XI to compete for the Championships and a shot to attend Atlantic Coast Championships. Tyrone, St. Marys and DuBois bands had seen each other at least two other times that season and the results had changed each time.
After the shows were finished and the scores tallied, Tyrone would finish in third place with the score of 86.5 and the award for high drum major. DuBois took the second place finish with an 87.2 and St. Marys took home the 2004 championship with an 88.2.
Tyrone senior Doug Conrad was awarded the 2004 Chapter XI Scholarship, an award selected by the band directors in Chapter XI that is given to a senior planning to pursue a degree in music education.
Tyrone finished the 2004 competitive season ranked 38th out of 93 Group II bands in TOB from eight states, including Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
Since the end of the competition season, the Golden Eagle Marching Band has continued to travel and support the football team on their road to victory as well as preparing for their annual concert next Thursday. The concert begins at 7 p.m.; tickets will be on sale in the auditorium lobby for $2, and the public is welcome.
