The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Marching Band put on quite a show to close the 2026 season.
Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s highly acclaimed Marching Band program capped the 2026 competition season when it placed fifth in The Garden State Cup on Sunday, November 1, at The College of New Jersey in Ewing.
According to Nick Mossa, who is the Co-Director of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Marching Band with Dr. Tom Bourgault, The Garden State Cup is a newly formed championship event that combines the very best bands in New Jersey in a singular 15-band competitive field regardless of class or band size.
At this state championship competition, Bridgewater-Raritan performed its best show to date with its season-high score of 91.85 in the Open Class Finals of The Garden State Cup. Bridgewater-Raritan’s fifth-place honors were ahead of 16 groups that did not qualify for the Open Class Finals and 10 other marching bands in the Open Class Finals field.
Bridgewater-Raritan had qualified to compete in the Open Class Finals off its second-place showing at the New Jersey Marching Band Directors Association Class State Championships that were held on Saturday, October 24, at Piscataway High School.
At the Class State Championships in Piscataway, Bridgewater-Raritan scored a 90.1, which was almost 15 points higher than its previous competitive score. That showing came in Class 3, which had 10 schools competing.
Mr. Mossa summed up not only a successful fall season but also a period during which these Bridgewater-Raritan High School students continued to improve and eventually established themselves as one of the premier groups in all of New Jersey.
"Although the competitive success we've achieved this year is rewarding, the bigger prize is realizing the incredible growth of the band members and the show. I'm so proud of the thousands of success stories written in each band member's journey from June until now,” Mr. Mossa revealed.
He shared his thanks to many supporters.
"I'm very grateful for the band parent community and their perpetual support, our amazing student leadership within the band for giving so much of themselves in service to the program and their peers, and our incredible marching band staff for providing our students with a professionalism and quality of instruction second to none."