On Saturday, November 1, our Tigers marching band placed second in the 2025 New Jersey State Championships at South Brunswick High School. This was an outstanding performance by the band, led by Mike Jacobetz (Director) and John Fugaban (Assistant Director), placing second out of 10 other schools in their group.
The marching band competed in the Open Group IV, which is classified by the size of the band (Group IV is around 65-89 members), ranging from the smallest, Group I, to Group V, the largest. The skill classifications include the Regional A Class for inexperienced bands, the A Class for bands that have recently moved to a larger size group, and the Open class for established programs. In total, there are 15 classifications ranging from Group I Regional A to Group V Open, who perform and compete with bands of similar size and technique. In their group, our tigers showcased a great performance, receiving a high score of 92.6.
For this season, this was not the first achievement for our marching band. The Tenafly Marching Band attended numerous half-time shows at our football games and Regional Competitions at Northern Valley Old Tappan and Northern Highlands. Our tigers took the lead at their Regional Invitational Competition with a high score of 90.4.
In their performance, the marching band’s color guards presented radiant colors while performing tricks with flags colored with a gradient of bright orange and yellow. Meanwhile, the band performed in precise movement and coordination while playing their playful, traditional, and energetic melodies. Their musical selections for this season included “The Dragon Boy” by Joe Hisaishi, “Variations on a Korean Folk Song” by John Barnes Chance, and “Run Free” by Thomas Bergersen. These selections truly displayed their theme for this season, “The Year of the Dragon”.
Jacobetz, the band director, reflected on the marching band’s achievement of securing second place at their state competition.
“Every band in our class is performing at such a high level, and it was a real honor to be in second place,” he said. “Listening to them announce the awards and hearing all the names of the schools, and then getting all the way down to the last two was really incredible. The students have worked so hard on this production since June, and it was really nice to be recognized as one of the top bands in New Jersey. The level of artistry they’re exhibiting is truly impressive, and I’m so proud of them.”
The Tenafly Marching Band closed its season at its National Open Class Championship last Saturday, held at MetLife Stadium. The Tigers placed fifth out of eleven bands, demonstrating an exceptional performance. Jacobetz emphasized the excitement leading into the championship performance: “Having the opportunity to perform at MetLife Stadium under the lights, at the highest level of competition for USBands, is such an amazing experience for our students. We are the last band to perform in our class, which is considered the top seed, and the energy is going to be electric. Our goal is simple: we want to do our best for each other, give everything we have to this final performance, and walk off that field full of pride in what we created together this season.”
Our Tigers displayed an exceptional performance for their last competition of the season, and they look forward to continuing their striking performances next year.
