Northern Lehigh marching band wins tournament back to back
The Northern Lehigh High School Marching Band recently won the Tournament of Bands Region 2 Championships for the second straight year. Pictured are, front, from left, Emily Bachman, Brianna Strohl, Charles Fleischmann and Alyssa Snyder. Back, Austin Deibert, Julia Thomason, Scott Schaeffer and Shayla Smith. Missing from the photo are Andrew Bowman, Chance Herman and Alyssa Hillegas. Scan this photo with the Prindeo app for a video. TERRY AHNER/TIMES NEWS
History really does repeat itself.
Just ask the Northern Lehigh High School Marching Band, which recently won the Tournament of Bands Region 2 Championships held at Northampton Area High School.
Northern Lehigh finished first with a score of 91.25, outperforming Blue Mountain (90.41), Northampton (87.96), Lake Lehman (87.05), Wilson (Easton) (86.88), North Schuylkill (86.3), Pen Argyl (83.97), Williams Valley (82.04) and Schuylkill Haven with a Gold Rating in Festival Class.
As if that wasn’t enough, the band also finished as the highest scoring band in the entire show, and also won awards for Best Music and Best Visual.
The band’s performance not only marks the second straight year it has won the tournament, but sixth time overall in school history.
Marching band member Alyssa Snyder said she’s thrilled with the band’s repeat performance.
“To me this proves that we are still making a comeback, and we are still here,” Snyder said.
Fellow marching band member Brianna Strohl said she’s proud to see the band’s diligence pay off.
“I think this means a lot for our school because it really shows how much hard work we put in through the entire season, and finally being recognized for all that hard work and dedication to the program is really great,” Strohl said.
The band then went on the following week to Hershey Park Stadium to compete in the Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast Championships, where it finished in fourth place in the Group 1 open with a score of 91.6 to mark the fourth straight year that the band has finished in the top 5, and the sixth time in the past eight years.
In addition, Senior Drum Major Charles Fleischmann won the $1,000 scholarship at the Atlantic Coast Championship in Hershey.
Fleischmann is the third Northern Lehigh student to win a Tournament of Bands scholarship at the ACC’s in the past four years, according to band director David Carroll.
The Tournament of Bands encompasses member bands from regional subdivisions in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, West Virginia and Virginia.
Region 2 is the greater Lehigh Valley that extends west to Reading and north into the Poconos. Each team competes against bands of the same approximate size.
