Rams win inaugural NMAA Marching Band State Championship

RIO RANCHO — The inaugural NMAA Marching Band State Championship is in the books, and it was a good day for the Rio Rancho schools. Rio Rancho High School is officially the first ever Marching Band State Champion. Finishing in a close second place was Cleveland High School.

“I think the band did fantastic. They’ve been working so hard since July putting this production together,” said state champion band director for Rio Rancho High School Matt Casarez. “And we are just so thrilled and proud of these kids with the commitment and hard work they’ve put in. It’s fantastic.”

The Championship, which took place at RRHS on Saturday, featured 28 teams from across the state-12 from Classes 1-4A and 16 from Class 5A. Each team went through a preliminary round early in the day. The top four teams from 1-4A and the top six from 5A moved on to the finals, which took place that night.

Rio Rancho’s performance, The Ashes of Time, was intense and artistic. As the name suggests, there were heavy fire and clock themes throughout the performance, which was nearly flawless in both rounds. The esoteric theme was the brainchild of director Matt Casarez, who now has a State Championship to show for his outside-the-box thinking.

Cleveland, under director Daniel Holmes, opted for a lighter touch. Their performance, Cubicle Chaos, was filled with bright colors to offset “The Office” theme of the set. Their show was no less spectacular and even included a song by Creed Bratton, whom some may know as the guitarist for 60’s classic rock folk band The Grassroots, but most probably know him as the creepy guy from “The Office”.

Rio Rancho, which has 168 performers, also took three of the four Caption Awards: High Guard, High Percussion and High General Effect. Organ Mountain took the last category, High Music.

In Class1-4A, Goddard won first place and nearly swept the caption awards, also taking three of the four categories: High Guard, High Percussion and High Music. High General Effect went to Los Alamos.

Coming into the competition, Clovis was the favorite to take the whole thing. They won the Zia Marching Fiesta at UNM on Oct. 19, which many predicted might be a preview of how the state championship could go. That turned out not to be the case.

Clovis had a stylish and finely tuned performance. Set against twisted, dark trees, and ominous music, it certainly set a scene. The performance itself was nearly perfect, but in the end, their set just didn’t have some of the fireworks and “awe-factor” of some of the other top schools.

Organ Mountain was another top contender, and ultimately took third place. At first glance, they didn’t seem to have a shot. The medieval theme they chose brought with it a lot of gray and dull tones. But it only served to juxtapose the rest of their set. Once the music started, the costumes got flashier, the colorful flags came out, the music soared, and Organ Mountain declared themselves a marching band force who will need to be confronted by any band hoping to get that first 1st-place trophy.

Though 16 teams competed in Class 5A, only six made it through to the finals, so that meant there were notable snubs.

Volcano Vista, for example, typically has impeccable style in terms of logos, uniforms and branding across all sports. Marching band was no exception. Their drum majors, decked out in all white, directed the band members, in all black, through a beautiful performance.

Volcano is a small band, though. In marching band, the smaller the group, the lower the scores, typically, and that factor may have come back to bite them.

After the preliminary rounds, the directors of the six finals bands met at mid-field and drew lots for performance position in the finals. Often, in marching band competitions, the order of the finals is determined by scoring in the preliminary rounds. In the NMAA State Championship, the order was randomized.

After the prelims, both band directors were proud of their kids and ready to attack the finals.

“They had a great show. They played with a lot of energy,” said Holmes. “They were really working on the attention to detail; paying attention to the small things but also really going for it with confidence and a lot of aggression.”

The finals started that night with 1-4A.

The 5A schools started around 8 p.m. and finished around 10 p.m., each playing a roughly 15-minute set. In between performances, entering and exiting bands have two minutes to get on and off the field, creating a mad dash carrying heavy equipment. Luckily, these are groups who are well-versed in staying organized and following directions. The transitions between bands went off without a hitch.

After the finals, all of the bands entered the field and NMAA executive director Sally Marquez presented each winner with their plaque.

Rio Rancho and Cleveland shared hugs and tears on the field in celebration and congratulations.

“We always tell our kids that they are only competing against themselves, and whatever happens with the judges happens. All you can do is go out and give your best performance,” Casarez said. “I think that was one of their best run throughs.”

NMAA Marching Band State Championship ResultsClass 5A

1 – Rio Rancho – 78.769

2 – Cleveland – 78.700

3 – Organ Mtn. – 77.525

4 – Clovis – 74.950

5 – La Cueva – 73.738

6 – Hobbs – 55.750

High Guard – Rio Rancho

High Percussion – Rio Rancho

High General Effect – Rio Rancho

High Music – Organ Mountain

Class 1A-4A

1 – Goddard – 65.875

2 – Lovington – 65.613

3 – Los Alamos – 65.475

4 – Portales – 62.225

High Guard – Goddard

High Percussion – Goddard

High General Effect – Los Alamos

High Music - Goddard