State champion high school marching band opens year with another first-place performance

The state champions have begun their march to a repeat performance.

The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Marching Band launched its title defense when the group performed in its first competition of the school year on Saturday, September 24, at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School.

And the results continued to produce a first-place finish.

Bridgewater-Raritan placed first in its group at Scotch-Plains-Fanwood High’s Tyson Field in the initial New Jersey Marching Band Directors Association’s competition of the 2022-2023 school year.

Bridgewater-Raritan finished in first place ahead of Manalapan High School and Piscataway High School. There were a total of 12 high schools competing in the competition, with three schools each broken down into four groups.

Bridgewater-Raritan also claimed first in its group with the Best Music and Best Overall Effect awards.

“I was very happy in how they performed,” said Nick Mossa, the Band Director for Bridgewater-Raritan. “We always ask our kids to raise their hand if they thought that they had their best performance and 90 percent raised their hands so that was a good sign.”

Next up is the New Jersey Marching Band Directors Association’s second competition that will be held on Saturday, October 1 at J.P. Stevens High School in Edison.