2023 Dutchmen Field Championship Preview

On Saturday, October 14, the MOC-Floyd Valley High School Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band will play host to 25 bands from Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota at the 20th Annual Dutchmen Field Championship. 

Bands will compete in one of the four Iowa High School Music Association classifications. Judges will evaluate bands in the area of General Effect Music, General Effect Visual, Music Performance Ensemble, Music Performance Individual, Visual Performance Ensemble, and Visual Performance Individual. There will also be judges evaluating colorguard performance and percussion performance. The 8-judge panel scoring system weights music more heavily than visual to maintain a music education focus on the marching band productions. 

In Class 1A, 2022 champion Gehlen Catholic HS from Le Mars will be returning to the Dutchmen Field Championship for the 20th time. The Marching Jays will be looking to defend their title against South O’brien HS and Woodbury Central. Looking to make a move in this year’s placing, 2022 runner-up South O’Brien HS is coming into DFC with a recent Division 1 rating at the Iowa High School Music Association Festival last Saturday. Woodbury Central will be competing at Dutchmen Field Championship for their 20th year, one of four bands that have attended every Dutchmen Field Championship event. 

West Lyon HS, the class 2A powerhouse, will be returning to Dutchmen Field Championship in a very strong position to keep their 1st place streak alive. The Marching Wildcats have remained undefeated in class competition this season at their previous three events and bolstered a very strong score in the music performance caption at Festival of Bands in Sioux Falls over the weekend. They are joined in class competition by seasoned 2A bands, Sheldon, Sibley-Ocheyedan, Luverne, and Pipestone Area. In 2022, Sheldon HS placed 3rd at the Orange City, Iowa event and will be striving to move up the placements. Sibley-Ocheyedan and Sheldon recently faced off against each other at Starfest, with Sheldon out-scoring it’s 2022 DFC rival in both prelims and finals.  Luverne and Pipestone recently competed at the Festival of Bands in Sioux Falls with Luverne topping its fellow Minnesotan rival, a flip of last year’s Dutchmen Field Championship placement. The 2022 DFC class 2A caption awards were shared amongst four of the five returning bands and that will more than likely keep things interesting heading into Saturday’s competition.

While there’s plenty of competition in Class 1A and 2A it is Class 3A that has the most dramatic competition potential. There will be eleven bands competing for the top-spot in Class 3A. Reigning 2022 DFC Class 3A champion Spirit Lake HS will be back to defend their position against the horde of bands. Spirit Lake topped the Class 3A competition at Starfest on September 30 against its Iowa 3A rivals. However, the South Dakota bands will be looking to move up the rankings. Both Lennox HS and West Central HS have had strong performances at their respective competitions leading up to Dutchmen, most recently at Festival of Bands with West Central narrowly beating Lennox by less than 0.5 points. This comes as a change from the week prior where Lennox placed ahead of its South Dakota rival with strong showings in the visual general effect and colorguard captions. Bishop Heelan HS will be looking to improve upon its 6th place finish at last year’s Dutchmen Field Championship and is poised to do so after strong showings at Starfest and the Iowa High School Music Association State Marching Festival. The wildcard this year will be Beatrice HS from Nebraska. A first-time DFC attendee, Beatrice HS has consistently received high ratings at their past Nebraska events and is seeking to see how they stack up against the Class 3A competition at an Iowa event. 

Finally, in class 4A Belleuve East HS from Nebraska. will be seeking to maintain their 1st place spot from the 2022 Dutchmen Field Championship. The Chieftan Marching Band will be joined in class by bands from Sioux City, Iowa and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It will be a battle for the top spots as Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Washington and Jefferson square off with the Nebraska reigning champion. Roosevelt is in the strongest position coming into Saturday’s competition after out-scoring its across town competition at the Big Sioux Review on September 30. Sioux City East has been working to up their scores and will be working hard to close the gap on Sioux Falls Washington after placing behind them in Brandon, South Dakota nearly two weeks ago. This will be the first time since September 16 that East HS and West HS have faced each other in competition. While the East HS Black Raiders came out ahead at that event, the West High Wolverines will be working hard to top its fellow district rival.

MOC-Floyd Valley High School’s Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band will be performing in exhibition at the conclusion of the competitive event at 9:00 PM. This will be the final field show performance for the host band after a very successful competition season. More information and the schedule for the day can be found at www.prideofthedutchmen.com or on the Pride of the Dutchmen Marching Band social media accounts.

by: Dan Mangold, Co-Director of Bands – MOC-Floyd Valley High School