Photo submitted to Times Observer Members of The Youngsville Eagles High School Marching Band after achieving a score of 95.15 at this past weekend at The Tournament of Bands Region Championship at Penn-Trafford. Pictured from left are one of the competition judges, two student from Penn-Trafford and Eagles Field Captain Lilly Camp, Drum Major Lydia Rose, Eagles Band Director Cindy Scheid and the Band Director from Penn-Trafford.

The Youngsville Marching Eagles High School Band and Eisenhower Marching band both took first place in their class this past weekend at the Tournament of Bands (TOB) Region 8 Chapter Championships at Penn-Trafford.

Youngsville placed first in Group 1 Open, Eisenhower took first in Group 1A, both scoring the highest both for their competitive season and in as recent as 29 years in the bands’ histories.

The TOB is a competitive circuit throughout a nine state area in the mid-Atlantic region.

“The kids set a goal to score 95, which is really high and I was a little worried,” said Cindy Scheid, Youngsville band director. The band officially scored 95.15 at this past weekend’s competition, exceeding their goal. “This is the highest score for this year and in my past 29 years with the band.”

Youngsville has competed in six competitions this year, performing their show “I Stole a Ride on a Passing Star.” They began their season scoring 80.8.

Photo submitted to Times Observer The Eisenhower Knights Marching Band after winning first place at this past weekend’s Tournament of Bands Region Championship at Penn-Trafford. Director Mark Napolitan said of their score of 90.145, “That’s historic, it’s the highest our group has ever received.”

The band has been ranked number one for the past three weeks out of the 20 bands, representing nine states, that they compete against in Group 1 Open.

“They have made massive improvements both musically and visually,” said Scheid. “Just putting both of those together to make a really cohesive show.”

Youngsville will be traveling to the TOB Atlantic Coast Championships in Hershey next Sunday, October 27.

“We’re very nervous,” said Scheid. “We have been riding so close to the top, it’s just so exciting to think that maybe we could win and take first in the nine states.”

All 20 bands in Group 1 Open will be present to compete at next weekends championships.

Eisenhower has performed at three competitions and two exhibitions this year, beginning with a score of 78.685. They won their group this past weekend with a score of 90.145.

“That’s historic, it’s the highest our group has ever received,” said Mark Napolitan, Eisenhower band director. “There’s only18 kids in our band, that’s the smallest band going into any competition and one third of them are sixth graders, so we did really well.”

The band also received Best Music and Best Visual captions as well as Best Percussion and Best Colorguard.

Their show, “Synesthesia,” is based on the concept of senses being crosses, such as hearing music and associating different colors with it depending on what type of music.

Eisenhower has currently been ranked third overall as of two weekends ago out of 50 bands representing nine states. Both Eisenhower and Youngsville compete in the same circuit, just different groups.

“We improved our score every weekend we competed,” said Napolitan.

This past weekend’s competition officially finished their performance season. Eisenhower did qualify to compete in the TOB Atlantic Coas Championships, but will not be attending to due lack of funding.

“It is unfortunate since this is our highest ranking and score since we started competing with the TOB circuit in 2002,” said Napolitan.

Next for the band will be their half time review performance at Eisenhower High School this coming Wednesday, October 23.

End of the year awards will be presented, the band will perform stand tunes and they will perform their show.