Orange City, Iowa – This past Saturday, October 10, the MOC-Floyd Valley High School “Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band” hosted the 23rd Annual Dutchmen Field Championship. The event featured performances by twenty-eight bands from Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Minnesota, the largest field at the event since 2016. Bands competed in a preliminary round during the day, and the top eight scoring bands from prelims advanced to finals that night.
In Class 1A, IKM-Manning High School took top honors for the third year in a row with a score of 65.925, ninth overall in prelims, earning 1st place out of five bands. IKM-Manning had the class’s highest scores in Music Effect, Music, Visual, Percussion, and Guard. Sibley-Ocheyedan High School earned 2nd place with a score of 63.550, an improvement of more than 8 points from their 2025 prelim score, and had the class’s highest Visual Effect score. South O’Brien High School took 3rd place.
In Class 2A, seven bands competed for a medalist spot. Lennox High School from South Dakota, a 3A band in 2025, earned 1st place with a score of 76.400, third overall in prelims and an improvement of more than 7 points from last year. Lennox led the class in every caption. In 2nd was 2025 Class 2A Champion Okoboji High School at 67.400, and in 3rd was 2024 Class 2A Champion West Lyon High School at 65.850. Pipestone Area High School from Minnesota finished 0.6 points out of the top three at 65.250. That is Pipestone’s best DFC finish since at least 2017 and an improvement of nearly 10 points on 2025.
In Class 3A, West Central High School from South Dakota repeated as Class Champion with a score of 74.575, placing ahead of 2nd place Le Mars Community High School by more than 10 points. West Central, who finished 5th overall, had the class’s highest scores in Music Effect, Visual Effect, Music, Visual, and Guard. Sheldon High School had the class’s highest Percussion score at 76.0, third highest in the field. Sioux Center High School took 3rd place at 63.625, an improvement of nearly 4 points from 2025, and 2024 and 2025 finalist Waverly High School from Nebraska took 4th at 62.975.
In Class 4A, Bellevue West High School from Nebraska was crowned Class Champion with a score of 81.950, the highest prelim score of the day. Bellevue West had the field’s highest Music Effect, Visual Effect, Music, Percussion, and Guard scores. Sioux Falls Jefferson High School placed 2nd to earn a class medal for the sixth year in a row and had the field’s highest Visual score. Bellevue East High School took 3rd place at 75.525. Defending Grand Champion Mitchell High School placed 4th in class, and Omaha Central High School, in just its second DFC, took 5th in class and earned a finals spot as the 8th ranked band overall.
Finalist bands were Bellevue West High School, Sioux Falls Jefferson High School, West Central High School, Lennox High School, Bellevue East High School, Mitchell High School, Okoboji High School, and Omaha Central High School. Five of the eight returned from the 2025 finals field. Bellevue West finished the evening as the 2026 Dutchmen Field Championship Grand Champion with a score of 87.250, an improvement of 5.3 points on their prelim score. They had the finals round’s highest scores in Music Effect, Visual Effect, Music, Percussion, and Guard. Returning DFC finalist Jefferson finished in 2nd place at 86.450, 0.8 behind, and had the highest Visual score of the night. The winning score was 5.6 points higher than the 2025 Grand Champion score of 81.650.
West Central improved on their afternoon prelim score by nearly 5 points, earning a 79.350 and finishing in 3rd place for the second year in a row. Lennox finished in 4th place at 79.000, an improvement of more than 7 points on their 2025 finals score. Bellevue East took 5th at 78.675. Mitchell improved nearly 7 points on their prelim score to finish 6th at 77.425, and Okoboji finished 7th at 75.425. First-time DFC finalist Omaha Central finished in the 8th place spot with a score of 72.650.
The MOC-Floyd Valley “Pride of the Dutchmen” Marching Band performed in exhibition at the conclusion of finals performances, and the evening ended with fireworks.
Dutchmen Field Championship Results
Prelims
Class 1A
- 1st Place – IKM-Manning H.S. (IA)
- 2nd Place – Sibley-Ocheyedan H.S. (IA)
- 3rd Place – South O’Brien H.S. (IA)
Class 2A
- 1st Place – Lennox H.S. (SD)
- 2nd Place – Okoboji H.S. (IA)
- 3rd Place – West Lyon H.S. (IA)
Class 3A
- 1st Place – West Central H.S. (SD)
- 2nd Place – Le Mars Community H.S. (IA)
- 3rd Place – Sioux Center H.S. (IA)
Class 4A
- 1st Place – Bellevue West H.S. (NE)
- 2nd Place – Sioux Falls Jefferson H.S. (SD)
- 3rd Place – Bellevue East H.S. (NE)
Finals
- 1st Place – Bellevue West H.S. (NE) – 87.250
- 2nd Place – Sioux Falls Jefferson H.S. (SD) – 86.450
- 3rd Place – West Central H.S. (SD) – 79.350
- 4th Place – Lennox H.S. (SD) – 79.000
- 5th Place – Bellevue East H.S. (NE) – 78.675
- 6th Place – Mitchell H.S. (SD) – 77.425
- 7th Place – Okoboji H.S. (IA) – 75.425
- 8th Place – Omaha Central H.S. (NE) – 72.650
