SABETHA — Sabetha High School’s football stadium was crammed with football fans near and far for Friday’s Class 2A state quarterfinal showdown between Sabetha and Humboldt High.
Sure, almost all of them were there to watch the football powers. (Spoiler alert: Sabetha wore down the Cubs in the second half to win 49-18.)
But Iolans Brian and Traci Plumlee were there to watch the band. More specifically, they were there to watch their son, the band instructor.
Sabetha’s marching band is under the direction of Iola native Braden Plumlee.
Plumlee, 24, is in his second year at Sabetha, and is in the midst of rebuilding its music program.
With only 16 musicians, Plumlee’s squad relies upon some of the Blue Jays football players and cheerleaders to fill out their ensemble.
Plumlee arrived at Sabetha in 2022, replacing a long-time band instructor who left with a group of about 35 members.
“In the transition between getting a new teacher, they lost 27, and then they graduated a big senior class,” he explained.
But while the band is small in terms of numbers, Plumlee is pleased with their work.
“I have a lot of really talented kids,” he said. “They have a good sound. Plus, we have a huge middle school group coming in, so we’ll be doing better in terms of numbers.”
If there was any trepidation for Friday night’s performance, it’s that the band members hadn’t performed for more than two weeks prior to the matchup.
“We have our winter concert coming up, so they’re in concert band mode now,” Plumlee laughed. “We hadn’t done any marching band stuff up to tonight.”
Plumlee, a 2022 Washburn University graduate, found a natural fit at Sabetha, which has another local tie.
Former IHS band instructor Matt Kleopfer is from Hiawatha, just a stone’s throw from Sabetha. When Plumlee interviewed for the band director’s job, he stayed at the Kleopfer farm, just outside of town. In fact, one of the students under Plumlee’s tutelage is Kleopfer’s niece.
“I like it here,” he said. “I was hoping to teach at a small school, like Iola’s, and this is a smaller, tight-knight community. People are really involved.”
