LAKEWOOD RANCH — Fresh off a fourth place finish in the state championships Saturday, the Lakewood Ranch High School marching band is heading for the Sugar Bowl in the New Orleans’ Superdome on Jan. 3.The Mustangs, who recorded 87.675 points to fall just behind Seminole, Stoneman Douglas and Fleming Island high schools in Class 4A, will leave for New Orleans on Dec. 31 with 80 band members and will return home on Jan. 4, said band director Bob Schaer.The Sugar Bowl will also be special for Schaer, for it’s likely his last bowl trip as he plans to retire after this, his 14th year at the school on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. “The really amazing thing about our trip to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl is that we are taking a tour of the World War II Museum in New Orleans,” Schaer said. “That’s fitting because our show this year was ‘The Greatest Generation,” our take on the Tom Brokaw book.Led by drum major Katelyn Glover and band captain Rylan Douthett, the Mustangs produced four intense movements in their show, starting with the time and era before World War II and finishing with a gospel arrangement of “America the Beautiful,” that put many in mind of Ray Charles, Schaer said.In between, the Mustangs performed songs like “Happy Days Are Here Again,” “Get Happy” and “When Your Dreams Come True.”The Mustang color guard stole the show, many said, with their hair made up in 1940s period hairdos and their costumes consisting of long blue dresses.Schaer said the performance in the state competition was the best the band did out of a dozen shows this year.“We saved the best for last,” said Schaer, whose bands at Lakewood Ranch finished as high as third at state two times. “But we were in a tough division.”“This was by far the strongest 4A field ever,” said future Mustang band director and present assistant Ron Lambert.Schaer said he wasn’t emotional on Saturday, but he was at band practice a few days before.“I was so excited at state that I wanted to soak it all up,” Schaer said. “But I shed a tear on Thursday when I told the kids that this would be my last run-through.”Parents and fans who make the trip to New Orleans will get to see the black and white-clad Mustangs perform, along with 1,000 other students, such numbers as “Save The Last Dance” and “Fly Me To The Moon,” all part of “Jazz Vocals, Then and Now.”Under Schaer, the Mustang band performed at the Fiesta Bowl in 2000 and 2006, but never the Sugar Bowl, Schaer said.The Mustangs delegation, staying at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans, will also be performing in a concert along the Mississippi River on Jan. 2, Schaer said.In other Mustang music news:Lakewood Ranch Silver Stars Dance Team Captain and four-year performer Melanie Hahn was chosen by Universal Dance Association for its All American Team, said Coach Hope Hahn.As a result, Melanie was invited to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York Thursday with Spirit of America Productions/Varsity Spirit, Hope Hahn said.The entire Silver Stars Dance Team has been invited by Bowl Games of America, now united with World Strides Heritage Performance Programs, to participate in the halftime show of the upcoming nationally televised Orange Bowl Game in Miami on January 4, Hahn said.