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WRENTHAM -The King Philip Regional School District music program has won yet another honor, with the marching band and color guard capturing a national championship in Maryland this past weekend.

The 97 King Philip middle and high school band members Saturday captured the title in their division at the United States Scholastic Band Association national finals at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Their score was 97.45, just two-tenths of a point over a school from Pennsylvania in Division Four.

The local students were treated to an escort by three police cruisers - one from each of the King Philip towns, as their three buses rolled back to the high school late Sunday night.

The band also was recognized with a proclamation by Wrentham selectmen at Monday night's town meeting and are scheduled to receive similar honors at tonight's Norfolk town meeting. The trophy was in full display by Wrentham selectmen.

"It really is an amazing thing," said Wrentham Selectmen Chairman Bob Cohen, who attended the event. Other parents are equally thrilled.

"It is an incredible victory. They have worked hard for six months on this show. They just went out there and they nailed it," said Elizabeth Bugbee of Norfolk and a member of the King Philip Music Association. Her son, Tucker, is a 10th-grader in the drum unit. The King Philip show is titled "Rite of Poe."

"It was really quite a sight," Bugbee said of the escort back to Wrentham.

The show will again be performed by the King Philip band at the annual Thanksgiving Day football game against Franklin.

STEPHEN PETERSON covers the King Philip schools for The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0377 or at speterson@thesunchronicle.com.