The Spirit of Central Marching Band, from Lawrence Central High School, captured first place in the Class A division in the 38th annual Fort McDowell Fiesta Bowl Parade Jan. 3. In addition, the color guard was named best color guard.
On Jan. 1 the band had been named Grand Champion of the 31st annual Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Arizona Fiesta Bowl National Championship at the University of Phoenix. The band finished in first place at both the preliminary and finals competition. Thirteen bands from around the country competed for one of eight spots in finals competition.
In addition to being named the overall Grand Champion, the Spirit of Central won caption awards for Best Drum Majors, Best Percussion, Best Color Guard, Best Music Performance, and Best Visual Performance. The band achieved a season high score of 98.2 out of 100 possible points.
The concludes an extremely successful season for the Spirit of Central and add to other recent honors -- the ISSMA state championship and a third-place finish at the Bands of America Grand Nationals.
Band directors are Randy Greenwell and Matt James.
Photos by Eric Rees
