Rome Free Academy Black Knights Marching Band Wins State Championship

The RFA Black Knights are state champs, coming home with top honors from the 2018 New York State Field Band Conference championships.

The all-day competition at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse included marching bands from across the state, divided into divisions based on size. The Rome Free Academy Marching Black Knights dazzled the judges with their performance 'Mirage' - placing 1st in the Large Schools 3 Division, with a score of 83.25. The second place team, from Hilton, scored 81.2.

As they returned to Rome, the team was greeted by a parade of fire trucks.

The 2018 Rome Free Academy Marching Black Knights are directed by Jake Meiss, and their music arranger is Nick Baratta. According to the band's Facebook page, the drum majors are Izabella Rivera and Katie Dursi and the student leaders are Adriana Beckwith, Kayla Bush, Nick Ferretti, Zach Filer, Kaitlin Flint, Deven Hosley, Chris Incorvaia, Maria Keeney, Kayleen Martelli, David Salce, Dominic Sleszynski, Giovanna Sudol, Amity Szatko, Jakob Talbot, Sven Van Hoesel, Madison Wolfe, Emily Worth, and Alex Zappavigna.

Other Central New York schools performed in the competition as well:

• Norwich finished 5th in the Small School 3 Class
• Westmoreland finished 2nd in the Small School 2 Class
• New Hartford finished 5th in the Small School 1 Class

Congratulations to all the schools that placed in the competition - and a HUGE congrats to the RFA Marching Black Knights!

[H/T Syracuse.com]