The Cypress Ranch marching band earned top scores, achieving straight 1s at the UIL Region on Oct. 26. Afterward, they joined the crowd to cheer on the football team in an intense overtime game that ended Cy-Woods’ undefeated streak. Now, Cypress Ranch is set to advance to the UIL Area competition.
Many students believed this achievement was mainly because of the efforts of the whole band working together.
“It’s an effort from the people who you don’t see who are behind the props, making the color changes, and moving them to do all the cool things,” senior Daniel Kirkley said. “It’s the people who are conducting for us. It’s the people who are marching and playing instruments, and it’s the people in the stands to help support us all away. It’s the group effort of everybody who shows that they care about the event and that whenever they put that effort in, we get the results that we want. I think that is probably the biggest contribution, and that is really the only reason why we could get ones in our region.”
Many students also expressed their love and enjoyment for this year’s theme of “Alice in the Wonderland”.
“I like Alice in Wonderland. I think it’s a good concept,” junior Zachary Ballew said. “There’s a lot of stuff you can do with it compared to the themes of past years. I feel like it’s more defined than last year’s, and while it may not be the most unique show, it’s definitely a Cy Ranch special.”
The Cy Ranch band has also taken a more unique approach with their performance this year, which is integrating the color guard into the show.
“In comparison to last year where the show was mostly focusing on the band, this year with Alice in Wonderland, color guard is more integrated into the performance,” sophomore Olivia Santos said. “The band and color guard mixed together to create this really cool show that definitely helped us stand out.”
Right after victory at UIL regionals, Cy Ranch band immediately headed to the Berry Center to cheer on the Mustang football team that ended up winning the overtime game against the then-undefeated Cy Woods football team.
“It was so tiring, but at the same time, it is probably one of the best experiences you could have because you wake up, you get to school early, and you have to do a rehearsal, and you go to the competition, you play, and then you’re waiting in the bus, dancing because you got your score, and then immediately leaving for the game,” Kirkley said. “It’s pretty tiring, but the atmosphere that is at the game that we created because we are responsible for bringing out the school spirit – that’s such empowering and such an enveloping atmosphere to be in that just makes it so much more worth it. That football game where we went OT against Woods and won just makes the feeling of being tired go away completely until you get back in your car, and you immediately crash.”
Cypress Ranch’s marching band road to state is still a long and hard journey, but even then many students are still very determined to make that dream into a reality.
“I love my band, and I think we’re pretty good, but I don’t think we’ll make it to state this year,” Kirkley said. “We still have a lot of room to grow, and even though I won’t be here for the next coming years, I really hope with the younger members, the technical juniors who are going to be seniors next year, that they can really step up and we can see continuing progress. We made area finals this year. Then if we continue cleaning ourselves up, refining our performances, and we continue to get better, then maybe then we can make it to state.”
