Sports at Jesuit are synonymous with success. In recent years, Jesuit’s varsity soccer, rugby, and crew teams have all won state championships. Our lacrosse team has made it to the state final, and many other teams have made deep playoff runs. In addition, our debate team has won the state championship the past two years.
Unfortunately, in recent years this tradition of excellence has not applied to the Jesuit Ursuline Ranger Band. Recent marching bands have been good, but never great. While the JURB earned “superior” ratings (the highest possible ranking awarded by the judges) each of the past three years, the group had never won a single “caption” award, given for excellence in individual aspects of the band.
That all changed this past weekend.
On October 29, 2011, the band took part in the TPSMEA State Marching Competition, hosted by Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco. The band performed a piece entitled “Beethoven: Music of a Genius,” and competed against nine other marching bands, including the rival Nolan Catholic Marching Band. Nolan is to marching band what Allen or Euless is to football: they have won the last seven state titles and have dominated ten of the last eleven competitions.
Band directors Donovan Putnam and Zane Crownover told the band that beating these mammoths of marching would be a tall order, but the students were nevertheless motivated to pull the upset. “For the past three years Nolan has beaten us in every way possible,” said drumline captain James Tabije ’12. “I wanted to at least win the Outstanding Percussion award.”
As Jesuit buses rolled into the Legacy Christian parking lot in the early afternoon, band members caught a glimpse of the elaborate on-field props Nolan would be using in their show, “A West Side Story.” “[Seeing those props] really fired me up to beat them,” said bass drummer Daniel Eboagu ’14. Undeterred by the imposing structures, the JURB focused on the task at hand: performing the marching show of their lives.
Unlike fans at football games who pay little attention to marching band performances, the audience at the marching contest was silent and focused on the band. The increased attention necessitated perfection out of every member, as the slightest imperfection would stand out. The Ranger Band stayed focused under pressure and delivered a strong performance to close out the season.
“We hit on most of the points we discussed during the week,” commented Eboagu. Trombone player Jeff Barone ’13 added, “The determination to beat Nolan gave us a reason to work harder, especially after our losses in past contests.” The dedication Crownover and Putnam have demanded of the players all season also played a big part in the show’s success. “We improved marching fundamentals by raising expectations,” said Mr. Putnam.
As the ten bands took the field for the awards ceremony at the end of the day, nerves were running high. The JURB listened intently as both Nolan Catholic and Pantego Christian Academy – the only other private schools in the 40+ member division – were both given superior ratings. The Ranger Band held their breath as they waited for their name.
Anxiety soon turned to ecstasy as the stadium announcer proclaimed they had received the coveted superior rating. As an added bonus, the Ranger Band took home four caption awards, two more than were earned by Nolan. Jim McCabe ’12 and Katie Ritter (UA) ’12 were named Outstanding Drum Majors, and the drumline, under the command of Tabije and recently acquired class of 2010 technician Jonathan Bailey, took home the award for Outstanding Percussion Section. The woodwind and brass sections, led by captains Justin Danko ’12 and Alex Briskey ’12, nabbed Outstanding Winds, and the band as a whole won Outstanding Musical Effect.
Unfortunately, as the final scores were announced, the Ranger Band learned they had lost to the mighty Vikings of Nolan by a mere five points. Nevertheless, the band was proud of its accomplishments, as winning four of the six available caption awards, earning the highest rating possible from the judges, and coming five points away from pulling the biggest coup since Appalachian State beat Michigan are nothing to be ashamed of.
“I can’t remember us winning any caption awards before,” Mr. Putnam told the band, “much less four caption awards.” Even some of the Nolan supporters in the audience remarked that the Ranger Band deserved the victory.
The outcome brought to mind a scene from the film Rocky II when Apollo Creed tells his entourage, “I won the fight but I didn’t beat” Rocky. As Nolan left the field Saturday evening, they were certainly thinking the exact same thing about the underdogs from Jesuit and Ursuline.
