The OHS Brahman Band earned the second highest score overall at the FFCC Outdoor competition on Oct. 10. [Photo courtesy Brahman Band]

The Okeechobee High School Brahman Band finished with the second-highest score of the day at the FFCC Outdoor competition at Martin County High School in Stuart on Oct. 10.

The Brahman Band earned a 77.350 and swept all five caption awards in its class: Best General Effect, Best Music, Best Visual, Best Color Guard and Best Percussion. Fifteen bands performed across six classes, and only 6A winner Jupiter High School scored higher with 81.125.

The contest is part of FFCC Outdoor, the marching band circuit run by the Florida Federation of Colorguards Circuit. Bands are scored on a 100-point scale by a panel of judges, each covering one area of the performance.

Okeechobee's strongest marks came in general effect, which measures how well a show connects with its audience. The band scored 24.15 of a possible 30 there. It added 23.10 of 30 in music and 14.75 of 20 in visual.

The percussion section scored 7.90 of 10. That was second only to Jupiter's 8.10 among all 15 bands, and it came in the first season since the loss of the section's instructor. The color guard added 7.45 of 10.

St. Lucie West Centennial High School was the only other band in 5A and finished second in the class with a 63.788.

The band is competing this fall without percussion instructor Luis Rivera, who tragically passed away in a car crash in August. Rivera grew up in Okeechobee and came to band late. He joined in eighth grade at Osceola Middle School under Chris Bowen, when most students start in fifth or sixth grade. He played percussion all four years at Okeechobee High School under Band Director Clint LaFlam, growing from a beginner into one of the program's student leaders.

The Brahman Band comes off its best season at the Florida Marching Band Championships. Last November at FIU's Pitbull Stadium, the band scored 81.525 and placed fifth in its region, the highest score Okeechobee has ever earned at FMBC.

LaFlam has said the program's standard is simple: "be better than you were yesterday." He asks students to focus on what they can control, their attitude and effort.

This season, that standard carries the memory of the instructor who helped teach it. For those who want to honor Rivera, his friends and family offer three words: Love like Luis.