The Mater Dei Marching Knights won the Class A state championship at the Illinois Marching Band championships. The Mater Dei Marching Knights continued their strong tradition at state competitions on Saturday, Oct. 17.
The Marching Knights went to the University of Illinois for the Illinois Marching Band championships and were crowned Class A state champions for a third straight year. They earned the visual and general effects captions.
The Knights had to go through tough competition to defend their championship. Saturday featured the most bands that had competed in Class A in the last 10 years. There were a lot of bands Mater Dei had not seen in the last few years.
The Mater Dei Marching Knights celebrated a third straight state championship on Saturday, Oct. 17. "We knew we definitely had it cut out for us," Mater Dei director Doug Schaffer said.
Mater Dei performed its show "Duality" at state. It was the same show they performed at halftime of the football games and at the Clinton County Marching Band Exhibition at Central. The show played with a lot of dark and light aspects with blue uniforms on one side and white uniforms on the other side.
This year, Mater Dei was growing a lot in the brass section, so they decided to go with the woodwind vs. brass light and dark theme.
The theme was picked, then Schaffer had to pick the music to fit the theme. The opening number is the theme from Pan's Labyrinth by Javier Navarrette. That is something that Schaffer has been wanting to do forever because he thinks it is great music. Everything came together from there.
Schaffer said it was a good feeling to get a third straight state championship.
Mater Dei Marching Knight baritone saxophone player Andrew Sinnock plays during the Clinton County Marching Band Exhibition. "This is just the validation of all of the work they have put in," Schaffer said. "You don't win a championship just on Oct. 17. We started on this in the middle of July and worked hard on it every day."
Schaffer said it was in the back of everyone's minds, but at no point in time this year were people saying "Lets go get No. 3 or lets get the three-peat." They were always about making the next performance better than the previous one.
Senior Andrew Sinnock, who plays the baritone saxophone, has been a part of all three state championship bands.
"It is definitely something that you dream of," Sinnock said. "I didn't come to high school knowing I was going to do marching band. I have enjoyed my time with the band."
Sinnock said Saturday was one of those times where everybody came together individually and the full team had a strong performance.
Schaffer said it was Mater Dei's best performance of the year. They have a tradition after a show where they get together and Schaffer calls "Hats." If a kid feels like they had a good performance, they will put their hat in the air. The message leading up to state was "33 hats" and for all of the band members to put up their hats after the performance.
"We had some good performances, but I don't think we got over 25 hats after a performance," Schaffer said. "We achieved 33 hats in the air on Saturday and it was a very magical feeling seeing all 33 kids raise their hats."
Junior Caitlyn Vonder Haar, who plays the clarinet, said there was a little bit of surprise when Mater Dei was announced as the Class A champion.
Last year, Mater Dei swept all of the categories en route to the state championship.
This year, Watseka High School won the music, ensemble and individual category. Mater Dei had not lost a music category in a long time.
"Losing music definitely scared us," Vonder Haar said.
Mater Dei dominated the music effect category. Mater Dei not only won the music effect category for its class, it was 13th out of 40 on the entire day regardless of class.
Vonder Haar said there was more pressure this year, especially because this year had more competition. Two weeks prior to state, Mater Dei placed fourth in its class at the Bands of America Regional in Louisville. It was their highest BOA placement ever and they did it against the toughest competition they had ever seen.
"It was a lot riding on our backs," Vonder Haar said. "Especially after only two weeks ago being at BOA and seeing those kinds of bands, and then coming back to here."
Sophomore Kaitlyn Kienlen, one of the flute players, has been a part of two state championship squads.
"Last year was scarier because I was a freshman," Kienlen said. "A lot of work went into the show this year. We had rehearsals three times a week for two and a half hours."
Kienlen said she was extremely happy when Mater Dei was announced as the first-place finisher.
There were 33 Marching Knight members this year.
Sinnock said the band featured one of the bigger freshman classes they have ever had.
"We had to teach them the tradition of the band and how things were done," Sinnock said. "Even the smallest things can really show up on the field."
Schaffer said the entire staff played a key role in Mater Dei's success this year. Eric Drake was the assistant director. Kara Grafton was the woodwind instructor and visual technician. Holly Dumstorff and Aidan Varel were the brass instructors.
Andrew Bosomworth ran all of the electronics and percussion. He wrote a lot of the percussion music this year. Rebekah Schaffer, Doug's wife, ran the color guard.
"I had a very large staff and a very good staff," Schaffer said. "They are fantastic at what they do. We are very blessed with what we have."
Drum majors were senior Olivia Kunz and junior Brianna Hemker.
Junior Kami Varel and freshman Lauryn Vonder Haar joined Kienlen in the flute section.
Seniors Reese Brines and Nick Adams, junior Adriana Bacilio Santos, and sophomore Taylor Leashaer joined Caitlyn Vonder Haar in the clarinet section.
Freshman Erica Larrubia played the bass clarinet. Sophomores Camdyn Porter and Parker Knuf played the alto saxophones.
Sophomores Violet Cox and Zack Loepker and freshmen Maribeth Cowgill and Grayson Cain were in the trumpet section. Freshman Charlotte Cleeton played the trombone.
Junior Daniel Ratermann and freshman Carson Loddeke played the baritone. Sophomore Ethan Litteken played the tuba.
Seniors Dawson Detmer, Noah Chambers and Oliver Varel, junior Emilie Brines, sophomores Emma Heiligenstein and Dane Kohlbrecher, and freshmen Hannah Norgaard and Isabella Crippen were in the percussion section.
Juniors Milah Diekemper and Lydia Thole and freshman Evie Albers were in the color guard.
There was a parade for the Marching Knights when they returned to Clinton County.
