Last weekend marked the end of a great year for Lockport’s Marching Porters. The Lockport Township High School marching band participated in the Bands of America Grand National Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. This competition took place over a span of three days, with the band performing on both Thursday, November 10 and Saturday, November 12.

The first two days of the competition were preliminary performances for all bands competing. The preliminary rounds were the first performances in front of the judges for the bands. The results of the preliminary performances decided which bands would move on to semifinals. Bands were classified by school size, meaning the Marching Porters were placed with many large schools and lots of tough competition. On Friday night the announcement of the bands that qualified for semifinals, which would take place Saturday, was made.

Semifinals consisted of the top 34 bands competing for a spot in finals, which declared the best 14 bands in the nation. The last time the Marching Porters had made semifinals was three years ago.

It was announced Friday that the Lockport Township High School marching band had in fact made semifinals, with a total score of 84.80 on their first performance. The band’s preliminary performance landed them in ninth place for their class and fourteenth overall for performances on Thursday.

Their Saturday performance scored eighteenth out of 26 total bands, with a total score of 81.80. Though the band did not make it to finals, they had two amazing performances and should be proud of everything they have accomplished this year. Congratulations to the Lockport Township High School marching band for a great season!