West Essex Marching Band Wins First Place at North Jersey Regional Championship

The West Essex Marching Knights finished first place in their group at the Tournament of Bands Chapter X Championship at West Essex on Sunday, Oct. 19, receiving a high score of 94.75. The Knights are seeded third going into the Oct. 26 Atlantic Coast Championships at Hershey Park Stadium.

West Essex Band Director John Scozzaro said he is very proud of the Knights and the wonderful performance of their 2014-15 routine “Olympus.” “The West Essex Marching Knights finished 1st place in their group with a score of 94.75 and won specialty awards for Best Music, Best Visual, Best Color Guard, and Best Percussion.

Their score of 94.75 set a new school record for highest score for that point of the season. The Marching Knights will be travelling to Hershey Park next Sunday, October 26 to compete at the Atlantic Coast Championships where they will battle it out against the best bands on the East Coast.“

The Chapter X Championship was an all-day event is the regional championship for northern New Jersey, which determines which bands compete in the Atlantic Coast Championships. The Chapter X Championship featured performances by more than 30 marching bands, the biggest turnout yet.

Bands that participated include: West Essex, Rutherford HS, Manville HS, Florence Twp Memorial HS, Raritan HS, Union City HS, Lodi HS, Carteret HS, Union HS, Hawthorne HS, John F. Kennedy HS, Toms River North HS, North Bergen HS, Metuchen HS, Sayreville War Memorial HS, Hanover Park HS, Sparta HS, Memorial HS, Toms River HS South, Tottenville HS, Roselle Park HS, Madison HS, Matawan Reg. HS, Governor Livingston HS, Arthur L. Johnson HS, Brick Memorial HS and Ramsey HS.

On Sept. 27, the West Essex Marching Knights travelled to Roxbury High School for the Roxbury Classic Marching Band Competition. The Marching Knights won first place in their group and swept all the specialty awards of Best Music, Best Visual, Best Color Guard, and Best Percussion for their group. In addition, Seniors Victoria Dominguez and Kenneth Gonzalez won the award for Best Drum Major for the entire show, which was comprised of 14 bands.

On Oct. 4, the Marching Band competed at Ramsey High School and came in first place and won awards for Best Music and Best Visual.

The Marching Knights had two outstanding performances Oct. 11 and 12 at West Deptford and Governor Livingston. The knights are currently ranked No. 1 in the ACC out of 30 bands with a current score of 92.95.

Information courtesy of Allison Freeman. Photo courtesy of Len Bachmann