On Oct. 18, the Burroughs Band and Color Guard went down to Lancaster to participate in the Battle Royale competition, hosted by Quartz Hill. The event saw Burroughs take second place in the 2-A division of the competition, and Color Guard receive first in the Auxillary category.

With these awards, won by the rendition of music from How to Train Your Dragon (Dreamworks), it seems the collective group was quite excited. 

“As a whole, the band feels good about our performance. We are proud of ourselves, but we also know that there are a lot of things we can improve on. I’m excited to take the judge’s feedback and apply it to our performance so we can hopefully get first place in the next competition” said band member Meghan Albro, a senior. “We celebrated by singing our favorite pep tunes at the top of our lungs as we were getting on the bus. It was fun to hear everybody shouting “BHS!” during Cheers the Sequel, you could hear that everyone was proud to be a Burro.”

It certainly was a proud night for the Band, winning second place in their division despite a timing mishap.

“Some other schools with significantly larger marching programs have elaborate setups they use that time for,” said Band Director Brian Cosner. “The mishap was simply because this was the first competition for most of us and we weren’t familiar with the procedures. Our drum major Thomas Wonnacott handled the slip like a pro – the judges got a kick out of it and said he recovered nicely in their recorded comments.”

Color Guard Coach and English Teacher Melanie Arrieta had high praise for her team.

“From the moment they took the field in competition, I just knew that this was going to be their best show yet,” said Arrieta. “To beat some of the schools that we did, ones with larger numbers, a huge staff, and an exorbitant budget is truly the mark of a talented and hard-working team.”

When asked about the inspiration for the routine they performed, which was shown at the home Varsity football games, she told us, “We were fortunate that the field show package we purchased came with the foundation for the choreography, but in the design of the costumes and the embellishments we have added to the show, we tried to capture the spirit of a Viking warrior and the wonder of dragons flying through the sky.”

Senior Jessie Bell stated that the Color Guard was nervous going into the competition.

“This was our first official marching competition in a long time. But, we spun, tossed, and danced it all out, so things went well.” 

Bell was pleased with the accomplishment, which saw them not only winning first in the 2A Auxilary division but also outscoring all other teams in all other divisions.

“I remember coming off the field after awards and getting swarmed,” said Bell. “Words cannot describe the energy there. Everyone in the band and the guard looked astonished, and I’m not sure if we knew what to do initially.”

The Band is scheduled for its next competition on Nov. 5 at Centennial High School.

“We listened to the feedback from our judges and are trying to fix what they critique,” said senior Thomas Wonnacott, the drum major. “These next two weeks before our last competition I’m going to push the band harder than I ever have.”

Arrieta is also looking ahead.

“The marching band season is surprisingly short, so our next stop is Championships! We are going to be taking the audio notes given to us by our auxiliary judge and using them to fix any of our mistakes. With a little time and commitment, we will be the best guard at Championships!”