The Patuxent High School Marching Band has won the 2A State Championship. They called their season-long program “Imagination.” They were led by Band Director Andrew Ritenour. Their Drum Major was Senior Lea Humphreys. Both showed a great sense of pride in speaking with The Bay Net.
Lea said, “The difference between this season, and years prior, was that in band camp, we strived to make the band have a family sense. We helped each other out, and we ultimately developed trust through every member. Everybody had their job to do. If someone wasn’t performing, we would help instead of ignore them.”
Director Ritenour also noticed the efforts of Drum Major Humphreys. He pointed out, “Lea took on more of a role of an equal rather than superior to everybody. She really helped people in the basics of marching. From that, improvements shot up over night.”
When asked about his reaction when he had heard the first place finish, Ritenour responded: “Relief, and excitement. The feeling of relief was that the kids performed their best when they needed to. The excitement stemmed from the kids hard work and dedication showed in the end. That’s most important.”
The Patuxent High School Marching Band has a program history of success. However, after several disappointing seasons, a change was apparenly called for. Ritenour decided to move the band from TOB (Tournament of Bands), to the USBands.
When asked about the change, Ritenour said, “It felt like there was a better quality of judging. A change just felt necessary after some bad experiences with TOB judging. Another key component is the competitions are much more local.”
The hardships of a marching band season can be plenty. When asked what the biggest issue was for the season, Ritenour said, “Our biggest trouble was the length and intensity of the show. No question. Learning the show in August was a difficulty that we overcame.”
Of the individual performances throughout the season, Ritenour said, “Our best was the State Championship. But in second place to that, it would have to be Arundel.” The Marching Panthers travelled to Arundel High School on September 27, and came away from that competition with a score of a 73.5, and with it, a first-place finish. From the previous week, their score jumped 5.5 points.
Ritenour continued on to say: “Our worst performance would have to be Northern.” The Marching Panthers traveled to Northern High School on September 20, and came away with a score of 68.4, and a second-place finish. He added, “There were field-related issues. The field wasn’t in the best of all shape. The time of the performance also threw us off mentally.” The other performance times throughout the season were in the middle of the day, while their performance time was at 6:15 PM.
Through all their struggles, the Patuxent High School Marching Panthers have endured and are now at the pinnacle — Maryland Class 2A State Champions.