Marching Band wins Pontiac competition

Saturday night marching bands battled a constant drizzle at Williamson Field during marching band performances at the 7th annual Indian Showdown and presented amazing performances of music pageantry. Eleven visiting bands from central and northern Illinois, as well as an exhibition performances by Pontiac’s Marching Indians, delighted the spectators on hand for the competition. The event, hosted by the PTHS Music Department and PTHS Music Boosters, saw Eureka High School’s marching band being named Grand Champion of the event for the first time with the top score of the evening competition. They were presented with the newly named Tom and Laura Ramseyer Grand Champion trophy, named in honor of the chairpersons of the showdown during the competition’s first six years.
Saturday afternoon began with schools participating in clinics provided by marching band experts on the practice fields at PTHS. This year’s clinicians were Dr. Joe Manredo from the University of Illinois, Christopher Pitlik from Alan B. Shepard High School, and retired high school Unit 5 band director George York.
For the evening competition the eleven schools were divided into three classes based on school and band size, and competed for overall awards in each class as well as the award for the most outstanding percussion, auxiliary, drum majors, and music in each class. Eight judges evaluated the bands on music, visual presentation, and the integration of the two elements.
The awards for the evening competition were as follows:
Class AA overall awards: 4th place – University HS; 3rd place – Herscher HS; 2nd place – Prairie-Central HS; 1st place – Eureka HS. Caption award winners in Class AA were: Percussion – Prairie-Central HS; Auxiliary – Eureka HS; Drum majors – Eureka HS; Winds – Eureka HS.

Grand Champion: Eureka High School, Eureka, Illinois

Judges for the evening competition were Dr. Joe Manredo from Illinois State University, Illinois State University Director of Bands, Dr. Stephen Steele, Alan B. Shepard High School director, Christopher Pitlik, retired Unit 5 high school band director George York, and David Allen from the University of Illinois. Dan Swallow judged auxiliaries, Genaro Cantu of Wauconda judged percussion, and Kim Breen of Champaign judged drum majors.