Fossil Ridge High School marching band wins 6th state title in 12 years

Kelly Lyell, Fort Collins Coloradoan
·1 min read

Fossil Ridge High School’s marching band won the Colorado Class 5A state championship for the second consecutive year and sixth time in 12 years Saturday.

The SaberCats were rated No. 1 among the 12 qualifying bands in all three scoring categories — music performance, visual performance and general effect — while competing in a snowstorm at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Falcon Stadium just north of Colorado Springs.

Fossil Ridge’s winning score of 84.050 easily outdistanced runner-up Legacy, which scored 81.800 in the competition run by the Colorado Bandmasters Association. Fountain-Fort Carson was third at 80.900. Results are available online at cbamarching.com.

Fossil Ridge has finished among the top two teams in its classification every year since 2012, winning state titles in 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019 and 2022.

More: After persevering through pandemic, Fossil Ridge marching band retakes 5A state crown

Earlier this month, the SaberCats won the Class AAA title in preliminary competition and finished fourth overall at the Bands of America regional championships in Flagstaff, Arizona, an event that drew teams from across the western United States. Fossil Ridge’s score of 84.400 in that competition was bested only by the top two schools in Class AAAA — American Fork, Utah (87.700) and Vista Murietta, California (85.050) — and Clovis, New Mexico (84.925). Fossil Ridge had beaten Clovis in the preliminary round to claim the AAA title.

The SaberCats had finished second overall in the Bands of America regional championships in 2022.

Fossil Ridge is the only high school in Poudre School District with a competitive marching band.

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fossil Ridge High marching band wins 6th state title in 12 years