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Juniata band members play with Penn State Blue Band
at Blue-White Game
BY GREG WILLIAMS
Sentinel reporter
gwilliams@lewistownsentinel.com
UNIVERSITY PARK -- If you tuned in to Penn State's Blue-White Game Saturday, you might have seen the Blue Band.
Certainly not unusual. But if you looked a little closer, you might have seen some familiar faces -- at least those who knew the Juniata County Marching Band.
Six members of the band sat with the Blue Band in the stands during the Nittany Lions' spring football game on Saturday. Juniors Lexie Gilson, Ava Stoner and Slone Smith were joined by sophomores Damon Batt, Jessica Maben and Melanie Lane.
"It was really neat to see them performing with such a talented and skilled group," Juniata County Band Director Brad Eargle said. "A few of the music arrangements that the Blue Band uses are the same as what we use at JHS, so it was a good opportunity for them to perform some of the music that they play at home at a much higher level."
Batt and Gilson are percussionists, while Stone plays the trumpet, Maben and Lane were in with the clarinets and Smith sat with the saxophones.
Eargle said the Blue Band invites high school musicians in grades 10 to 12 to play with the band for this particular game as a recruiting tool.
"They just apply and - as long as there's space - they get in," he added.
Eargle didn't accompany them to the game, so he was excited to see them on television. "They went on their own," he said. "But I did get to see them on the TV broadcast, which was pretty neat."
This isn't the first time Juniata band members have played at the Blue-White Game. Gilson went last year. "We've had a few kids do it in the past," he added. "It didn't happen in 2020 and 2021."
The six sported long-sleeved baseball shirts with the Blue Band's iconic Penn State lettering on the front.