The Marching Woodmen performed at the Lucas Oil Stadium for the Band State Finals, achieving second in the state. 

The band felt confident and optimistic after last year’s thrilling second-place victory.

“The band felt extremely confident walking into state finals this year. After our performance and even before we walked out onto the field, we held a lot of confidence. We walked out feeling like champions,” sophomore Abraam Rodriguez said.  

The band leveraged both impressive technique and positive spirits to deliver a winning performance.  

“We did very well visually; that goes for both the band body and color guard work. Musically, we had a very good run, and the musicians did extremely well,” junior Carter Ericson said. 

The band’s impressive second-place win did not come without challenges off the field, as they faced many obstacles. 

“The beginning of the season definitely started out a little rocky, but after a while, we got locked in. There’s always kind of a weak point in the middle of the season, and I felt like we came back stronger after we passed that time,” sophomore Annie Brinker said. 

Among these challenges were miscommunication and a lack of focus towards the end of the season, which according to junior Cadence Mathias brought the band closer together. 

“We definitely had trouble agreeing; we have been around each other for six months for very long hours, and getting along and pushing through was tough. We eventually came together and realized we had the same goal: we wanted to win,” Mathias said. 

The substantial number of inexperienced new members and freshmen required guidance and support from everyone involved. 

“We had a lot of first years this year, and teaching them to march was difficult. Many of them improved throughout the season,” sophomore Nolan Stivers said. 

Throughout the season more experienced members supported and helped the new members and underclassmen get accustomed to the fast-paced environment. 

“Our upperclassmen were very good with their leadership skills and helped out a lot with pushing them to do their best,” Stivers said. 

In the weeks preceding State Finals, the band made the most of the last few practices before the big day. 

“The last week before finals we worked a lot on the small details that needed to be fixed because the show was already pretty good, but we just needed to get the last stuff fixed. The small details can be the difference between the outcome we want and what we don’t,” sophomore Zachary Wehnert said. 

The positivity and collaboration among the members created a unique bond that has outlasted the end of the season. 

“We all worked well together as a group because, by the end of the year, we had all really grown to be more like a family than just a group of kids in band,” Stivers said. 

Despite their impressive second-place finish, the band could not shake the feeling of wondering what stood between them and first place.

“I’m very glad that we were able to make it to State and get to where we got. We got a 90 which is unheard of, and I’m so proud of the band, but I definitely think we could’ve done better. The other school had better individual technique, and I think we should have worked on that a little bit more,” Mathias said.

The exceptional effort and work put into putting on a winning performance established the Marching Woodmen as a formidable competitor. 

“I am happy with the outcome; although I know much of the band is disappointed, we are all still happy because we worked our hardest. We tried to give over 100% effort every day at practice,” Stivers said.