Blood, sweat, tears, tears and more tears. Marching season is over, and with the playoffs over, under and upperclassmen cherish their last moments in the stands and on the field.

October 26 marks the day that the band lost their chances of making it to state this season. After placing 14th in the preliminary round of the competition, the band was sent back home. UIL Marching Competition for division AAAAA bands takes place every other year, so the band’s next state year won’t be until 2021. Shocked and defeated, the band went home thinking about what they were leaving behind and what was next to come.

“I’m very sad because I love marching, marching was a big part of the beginning of the school year, and now that it’s ending it’s really sad,” freshman Kaitlyn Colburn said. “I liked band a lot because it just brought a bunch of people together like a family.”

Many band members share this sentiment. A common phrase the band heard from the head director Arnie Lawson was “Band means together!” This notion gave the band a feeling of unity, one that many are sad to see go as they move forward into concert season.

“For some reason [concert season] just kinda feels like band has already ended. I feel like marching season ending is like the end of band completely, and like concert season doesn’t really count,” senior Skylar Allen said. 

The field was a place that presented many challenges over the year. With the heat at the beginning of the season came sweat and struggles, then the bone-chilling cold that crept in October. Nonetheless, the band pushed through to the other side of the practice and became closer to one another.

“At the beginning of the year, it was tough. There were a lot of people who just didn’t feel like they were really going at it as much,” Allen said. “But whenever we got to the end, we really started pushing harder, and it started to improve really fast.”

Despite all their work, they were unable to succeed at area. It came as a shock to much of the band, and many were frustrated with all their hard work only leading them to 14th place.

“It was a little tragic thinking we’d put so much effort doing the 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. practices during summer band and doing so much more for marching, and I put everything I had into that show,” Allen said. “So whenever [Lawson] told us we got 14th, which was lower than [the previous state year], it was really disappointing.”

However, even through the struggles of the field and loss, the band never failed to march on and put on a show.

“I loved marching for halftime because for everyone it seemed like whenever we marching we either were really excited or really didn’t wanna do it, but we had to,” Colburn said. “It was just so fun and to know that it’s ending and the way we were in the stands supporting the football team is over [is sad].”

This year meant many different things to the band. There were triumphs, trials, and defeats. This year could be seen as a stepping stone to something greater, or just a flop to some, but nonetheless, the band remains together and proud.

“Even though we didn’t get to state, we tried our hardest and we showed that we were Texas High and Texas High can do things you wouldn’t expect,” Colburn said.