Photo by David Gwyn
The White Sabers Drum and Bugle Corps from Dansville, N.Y., won its first Drum Corps Associates (DCA) Class A Championship over Labor Day weekend in Annapolis, Md.
“It means quite a bit to me, and all 74 members were so proud and are still talking about it,” says Pete Amico, White Sabers president. “We don’t even know what to do with ourselves now that the season is over.”
The corps has been around since 1928 and began competing in Class A in 2005.
“We expected to be very competitive this season, and all the pieces fell into place early on with a tremendous staff and membership,” says Ben Chaffee, White Sabers show coordinator. “Our first show out, we scored almost 10 points higher than any first show we’ve ever scored. That gave us a lot of confidence that we were in the ballpark.”
Behind the White Sabers score of 85.93 came second place Govenaires of St. Peter, Minn., with a score of 84.78. The Sun Devils of Inverness, Fla., placed third, scoring 81.08.
“We were undefeated throughout the regular season, but we never competed against the Govenaires, so we were worried,” Chaffee says. “They were seeded first, but once we took them down in prelims, we knew we had a good shot at winning.”
In Open Class, the Reading (Pa.) Buccaneers won a back-to-back championship and its eighth in nine years, with a score of 98.43. The Caballeros of Hawthorne, N.J., placed second with a score of 96.98, and (St. Paul) Minnesota Brass placed third with 96.65.
