Weston Plickerd, drum major for the Wawasee Marching Pride, leads the band during ISSMA finals held Saturday, Oct. 25. In front of Plikerd, members of percussion are seen playing. Photo provided by Tony Pawlicki.

By Lauren Zeugner
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE —  “When I was walking off the field, I knew,” said Tony Pawlicki, director of bands for Wawasee Community Schools. For the first time ever, the Marching Warrior Pride won the Indiana State School Music Association Scholastic Class Finals Saturday, Oct. 25.

“Top to bottom nailed it, you could sense it,” Pawlicki said of the band’s performance.

The band performed Friday at the Bands of America Super Regionals in Lucas Oil Stadium. For that performance, Pawlicki stressed to the students it being a fun learning experience.

“They crushed it Friday night; they had a great run,” he said.

While the band placed 68th at Bands of America, the real focus was on Saturday’s competition.

Rehearsal was held in the parking lot of Beach Grove High School. Afterward, a competing school’s music director, who was also rehearsing at Beech Grove, told Pawlicki the band sounded really good. During physical warm-ups, a former band director for Fairfield High School told Pawlicki this was the best Wawasee band he’s heard in many years.

Throughout the day, the momentum was building. When the band took the field, there was an outpouring of support from the stands. Pawlicki said he wasn’t sure if it was all from Wawasee High School parents and families cheering the band on.

“You could sense something was different,” he said.

Prior to the band making the trip down state, Pawlicki pulled his senior and junior leadership together and told them the trip down state “was a business trip.”

The Marching Pride has 15 seniors on its roster this year.

“There was a lot of leadership on that field who were locked in,” he said.

And band members were focused this season. At prelims, which Wawasee won, band members approached him saying they weren’t good enough – that the point spread between them and the next competitor wasn’t wide enough for comfort.

Pawlicki said he and his assistant directors weren’t looking at the scores but focused more on the judges’ comments and used them to the band’s advantage.

“We’re not done growing. We’re not done improving,” Pawlicki said.

The band’s final performance of the marching band season will be to perform an exhibition show at the Open Class State Finals Saturday, Nov. 8. At that time, the Marching Warrior Pride will also receive its championship trophy.

As an alum of the band program, Pawlicki said he felt the weight to bring home a state championship since he started as director. During his time, the band, which competed in Open Class B against the likes of Concord and Goshen, was never able to break through.

“We were up against way tougher competition. Stepping back into scholastic helped build confidence,” he said.

As for the win Saturday, Pawlicki is still on cloud nine.

“I’m thrilled for the kids, the program, the community and alumni of our program,” he said. “It’s really a team effort.”