[October 19, 2008]

Bands march on: All 5A schools will return after Division 1 scores

Oct 19, 2008 (Odessa American - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Jean Pearce is one of those grandmothers who goes to a football game to watch the band.
Granted, her grandson plays the tuba for Alpine, but as she, the Fightin' Bucks and players in 32 other high school bands thought as they converged on Ratliff Stadium Saturday, they have a sport of their own to win.

This was the 2008 University Interscholastic League (UIL) Region VI Marching Contest, hosted each year in Odessa. About 800 ticket-buying parents and spectators took to the bleachers while the 4A schools were playing, with one official estimating 1,200 would be there when the 5A schools start performing.

Alpine already called it a day, its band director boarding his bus with a new decoration for the shelves.

"I'll be sleeping with this for a little while," director Chuck Wilson said as one of the band members gave him a trophy for earning the coveted "Division 1" score, the highest a band can earn on a scale of "Division 1" to "Division 5."

According to the UIL Web page, all the 5A schools with a "Division 1" score, which happened to be every 5A school that performed Saturday, will return to Ratliff Stadium next Saturday for the area competition. The two 3A schools that earned that score will head to Lubbock, but for 2A schools like Alpine and the 1A and 4A schools, this was the end of the road for the UIL until next year, when they compete and the 3A and 5A schools sit out of the state competitions.

Permian associate band director John Carroll said the area competition will have bands from places as far as El Paso and Fort Worth for the 3A and 5A schools, and at that competition, judges will narrow the field to three or four finalists that will compete at the state level in San Antonio.

Permian junior and viola player Bryce Pearce, who is not related to Jean, said the 5A band was going to try something different by bringing in string players like him to play with the rest of the band.

Was he ready? "Yeah ... sure," was his shaky response.
At the percussion warm-up area earlier that day, the 3A Monahans Loboes were about to take the field at 2:30.

"Now is when you get the butterflies," said Thomas Escamilla, one of the Monahans parent boosters as they were called up.

The band players themselves saw the competition as something fun to do, but their views on the competitive aspects varied.

Percussionist and Monahans sophomore Brant McDaniel said he and his band mates only try to "make sure everything's perfect."

Alpine alto saxophone player Bradley Bynum, on the other hand, described this contest, and most Fridays, as a "band war" between her band and the other schools.

"We get yelled at," she said. "It's like a personal thing."
2008 UIL Region VI Marching Contest Results
Bands are listed in order of when they performed Saturday.
Class CC
--(Monahans) Walker Junior High, Div. 1
Class 1A
--Stanton, Div. 1
--Water Valley, Div. 3
--Forsan, Div. 1
--(Mertzon) Irion County, Div. 1
--Christoval, Div. 3
--McCamey, Div. 3
--Iraan-Sheffield, Div. 2
--Sterling City, Div. 3
--Wink, Div. 1
Class 2A
--Crane, Div. 1
--Ozona, Div. 3
--(San Angelo) Grape Creek, Div. 1
--Coahoma, Div. 2
--Colorado (City), Div. 1
--Alpine, Div. 1
--Kermit, Div. 2
--(Big Lake) Reagan County, Div. 1
Class 3A
--Seminole, Div. 1
--Monahans, Div. 2
--(Midland) Greenwood, Div. 2
--Andrews, Div. 1
--Lamesa, Div. 3
--Pecos, Div. 3
--Fort Stockton, Div. 2
Class 5A-NV
--(Midland) Lee Freshman High, Div. 1
Class 4A
--(San Angelo) Lakeview, Div. 2
--Big Spring, Div. 1
Class 5A
--(Midland) Lee, Div. 1
--Odessa, Div. 1
--Permian, Div. 1
--Midland, Div. 1
--(San Angelo) Central, Div. 1
To see more of the Odessa American, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.oaoa.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Odessa American, Texas Distributed by
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax
to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave.,
Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]

Discussions: