Blue Devil Marching Band Preps for State Championships

The Huntington Blue Devil marching band continues to rehearse, refine and compete in the run-up to the 2024 New York State Field Band Conference Championships at the JMA Dome in Syracuse on Sunday, October 27.

The Blue Devils have been unbeatable in a string of invitationals this fall. Samuel Soric, Lily Wasoski and Dana Saramago are this year’s drum majors. The trio us respected by the entire band and all three are effective leaders who have enhanced the program.

Andre Rizzuto is the band’s director with Mallory Martilla and Patrick Neary serving as assistant directors. Dr. Jason Giachetti and Patrick Neary lead the percussion staff. Nicky Boyle, Lacy McIntyre and Michael Reed comprise the field staff. Patrick Neary, Mallory Martilla, Kelly Neary and David Chavez Hernandez oversee the color guard unit.

Huntington School Board members approved an overnight field trip request to allow the Blue Devils to compete in the state championships, which will bring together more than 50 of the top marching bands in the northeast United States.

The New York State Field Band Conference Championship show is the culmination of an eight-week season which features nearly five dozen bands in 34 regional competitions throughout the state. Band members, directors, staff members and boosters from each of the competing schools will have spent countless hours preparing for this prestigious event.

Bands are divided into six different classifications based on school size and past competitive experience. Each band in the championship show will perform a musical and visual show lasting about ten minutes for a panel of ten judges. The judges will score and rank each band within its class.

Each band will receive a plaque and the highest scoring New York State band in each class will take home the coveted Governor’s Cup. The bands in the championship show will represent nearly every region of the state along two bands from New Jersey and one from Pennsylvania.

Huntington will be competing in the Large School 2 Class division. The Blue Devils will be joined by bands from West Seneca, Corning-Painted Post, Sachem, Webster, Kingston, Orchard Park, Division Avenue and Greece.

First organized in 1934 by high school music teacher James Cloyd Doty, an Ohio native and Oberlin College graduate, the Blue Devil band is among New York’s oldest and most highly regarded.