The band anxiously awaits the announcement of the band who will advance to state. Their hearts pound when they hear, “The band advancing to the 4A/5A state competition is…” They knew there would be tears, but they didn’t know which emotion would fuel them.

The band competed in the UIL Area competition in Lubbock last Saturday. The band placed fifth and will not be advancing to the state competition in San Antonio.

“I think the music judges were from a different school of thought,” head band director Mike Sheffield said. “As far as the marching goes, we  got a very differing score from the judges and I think one of the judges decided that every problem we had was a big thing.”

Even though the band did not advance, Sheffield said it was strangely peaceful finding out the results.

“I usually get really uptight about it, but I just didn’t have any regrets,” Sheffield said. “I felt like we did everything we could with the time that we had. There was nothing within our control that we could have done better.

For the juniors and seniors in band, this was the last chance to compete for the state competition.

“It was really bittersweet,” senior marimba player Olivia Hartman said. “We’ve had such a good year and everything had been really working out. Throughout the year we were hitting these checkpoints that were a really good sign that we were going to make it to state. I’m happy that we had a good year but at the same time it’s still really sad that we didn’t make it.”

The band will now focus on All-Region auditions and their Christmas concert on Dec. 16.

“We’re just going to switch tracks and start in on the next part of our season,” Sheffield said.