Panther Regiment places third in Heart of Georgia Marching Invitational

For many of the Georgia born and raised, “home” is sitting under the Friday night lights with a hamburger or hotdog in hand, watching their alma mater’s football team. For some, it’s high school, while for others, it’s a college that’s vying for winning goals. However, for the musically inclined, it’s the half time, the marching band, that counts. And if you ask anyone who has ever marched, they have rivals and rankings of their own – and they compete fiercely to find who can make it to the top. Perry High School’s Panther Regiment Marching Band brought home a coveted trophy Saturday night after displaying their 2021 marching show, The Ascent, and snagging Third Overall Best Band in Competition.

For the unaware and uninitiated, during the football season, many high schools prepare marching shows, not only to display during half time at football games, but also to display at competitions. These competitions showcase bands from all over Georgia and states-around, and they typically take up the entire day. Warner Robins High School often hosts one of these competitions at the McConnell-Talbert Stadium, or The Mac, as it is affectionately called. Bands are organized by size, and take turns performing their shows. As they perform, bands are judged on things such as technical marching prowess, the quality of the musical performance and even on the performance of specific groups within the band such as drum line or color guard.

Bands begin preparing these shows well in advance of the actual season – often the show’s theme is already decided before the school year ends. Music and staging are practiced in band camp before the school year even starts. Students spend hours and days in the hot sun and cold nights preparing for these fleeting moments. To the students performing, worlds worth of people are watching, judging, and in awe of them, and them alone.

In Houston County, Saturday, October 23, was one such night. Bands from across the state gathered in Warner Robins wearing uniforms and with instruments in hand, anticipating the competition. Veterans, Northside, Warner Robins and Perry High Schools all prepared for their performances. When the time finally came, Veterans High School performed first, with its show, “Rising From the Ashes.” Shortly after Veterans left the field, Northside took the field as the first 4-A band to compete, with its show, “Cleopatra, Remember Me.” After several bands performed, Perry High School, as the largest competing band of the night, closed out the competition with its show, “The Ascent.” Warner Robins’ marching band put on an exhibition performance of their show, “Fuego Latino.” Finally, Troy University closed out the show with another face-melting exhibition performance, showcasing several performances of Elton John’s discography.

At last, it was time for scores, rankings and award presentations. Each band is scored in four categories: the performance of its Drum Majors, Color Guard, Percussion and Band. Depending on these scores, bands are then ranked within their class, and within the competition overall. With “one” being the highest possible score and “four” being the lowest, Veterans received a one for their Drum Majors and twos for their Color Guard, Percussion, and Band. Within their class of 3-A, they received a 3rd place ranking in each of these categories. Northside followed as a 4-A band with a ranking of one in all categories, ranking them second in all categories for their class. Finally, the 5-A Panther Regiment brought home a two for their Color Guard, and ones in all other categories, ranking them second in all categories for their class.

Performers and fans alike waited with baited breath as the speaker prepared to announce the winners of the competition overall. With a 92.88, only a point lower than the second place band, and only two points lower than the first place band, Perry received the Third-Place Overall Best Band in Competition award. Crowds cheered, competitors jeered, and Perry wore bright smiling faces for the remainder of the night. Band Director Andy Hursey took time to comment, stating that he felt amazing after bringing home third-place overall.

“It’s been such a crazy year trying to rebound from last year,” Hursey said. “When you take into account that only two of the four classes we have, have ever gone to a marching band contest, the future is super bright. I’ll take that all day.”

HHJ News