Last Saturday, October 22, 2022, the Pirate Band competed at the 3A Area Marching Band Competition for the 5th consecutive time. This time, however, was different…as the band took the field for prelims in 16 mph hour cross winds, the energy from the band was palpable. These young men and women gave their best performance yet, bringing the crowd to their feet with applause. A rival band mom even commented on how “crispy clean” the band was, which was one of our goals! When the dust settled, the Lytle Pirate Band earned 7th place out of 35 bands in prelims, which was a huge improvement over our ranking at area last year…and the first time in the history of Lytle ISD that the band has progressed to the Finals!
After a quick break and a meal, the Pirate Band took the field under the stadium lights for the Finals performance, and to say it was emotional would be an understatement. The kids left everything they had on the field, and their efforts “burned brighter than the sun” in what would be our final competitive marching performance of the year. When the results came out, the band collectively held their breath as the announcer started at 12th place, and went up. When he got to 7th place, and announced a different band…the exhilaration was almost uncontrollable as we knew we had moved up in the rankings…until he announced a different band for 6th place. (Now it should be known that at this point, remaining calm was difficult; because had this been a year where 3A bands could advance to the State Marching Competition, the top 6 bands would have advanced to State!) When the announcer announced “in 5th place, Congratulations to the Lytle High School Band” we were all overcome with emotion knowing that we would have qualified for State Marching Competition had this been an advancing year! The results of our competitive season have given proof to our motto “Little things turn into BIG THINGS”, and we thank you ALL for your continued love and support of this amazing group of kids. We could not have been so successful this year without your help and support, as well as all the hard work from “The Dream Team”, which is MJ Robles, Javier Lopez, and Bertie Salazar. If you see a band kid, or one of The Dream Team, please help me congratulate them on all their hard work!
Ladies and Gentlemen, this Friday is your last chance of the year to see the award-winning, Area Finalist, Lytle Pirate Band perform on Walter Joyce field. I encourage you all to come support the Pirate Band and our football team as we take on the Jourdanton Indians!