The marching band placed fifth in the University Interscholastic League 5A State Finals in San Antonio on Nov. 2. 

Prior to competing at the state level, they competed in the region competition and scored a division one, the highest placement. They then went on to the area competition on Oct. 23, where they placed first. 

The marching band continued on to regionals and were able to make it through preliminaries. 

“It’s very clear from the results that we all did [well] and everyone did their job,” sophomore and saxophone player Jake Wood said. 

Sophomore and trumpet player William Allan is proud of the band’s performance during the region competition. 

“It went very well,” Allan said. “We did the best we could have hoped to do, which is all division one rankings, and I’m very proud of all the hard work we did. I think we really nailed it.” 

Wood credits band director Rylon Guidry for the band’s success. His dedication and attention to detail has allowed for the band to move up. 

“I think [Guidry is] very goal-oriented, and he’s willing to put in the work to get there,” Wood said. “It’s been paying off.” 

Between Guidry joining as director last year and restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus, the band has had to face adjustments. 

 “The marching band has been two years off and [has been] rebuilding a lot,” Guidry said. “They’ve been making minor adjustments and learning the intricacies of performing, getting nervous, controlling all that stuff and just doing the best they can.”

Allan said a lot of time and energy goes into making sure the band is a success at competitions.

“It’s an all-day process and not only is it just on the competition day,” he said. “It also takes months of hard work and dedication of working on the marching show from even in the summer.”

To help prepare his students for the UIL competition, Guidry worked on duplicating the performance environments by having them rehearse in the stadium everyday. This is done to make the performance feel as genuine as possible.

“We talk about the importance of every time we do anything in practice to practice performing, so that performing is easy, and it’s natural,” Guidry said. 

Guidry believes the practice has paid off for his students.

“Their show is really good,” he said.