Nov. 5 was a glorious day for Valley’s marching band after their second competition of the 24-25 school year at Charlottesville High School.

The 45-member troop took home a first place trophy in the group cavalcade category against two other highschools: Fort Defiance High School and Louisa County High School. 

According to the members, this was marching band’s first first place win in years. Most, if not all, of the current members cannot recall the last time they experienced a first place band win throughout their high school careers. 

A more detailed score breakdown is below:

Competing against Fort Defiance and Louisa County, Valley placed first in the Percussion and Ensemble Music sections, third in Visual and the Individual Music section, and second in all other categories: General Effects (which is broken down into Music and Visual sub sections) as well as Color Guard.

Valley finished with a total score of 85.925 out of 100, the highest score in Marching Band history at Valley. Additionally, they won by a difference of 0.7 points.

According to Color Guard Captain, Ash Woerner, as well as other members in marching band, placing so well in the percussion and music sections was a delightful surprise, a testament to the improvements being made during practice. 

Much of the credit for their win is allotted to the ample practice time done on the football field of Charlottesville High School prior to their performance, which began at 7:30 PM. This in and of itself was an added advantage, given that band usually practices for competitions in parking lots. 

Getting used to the choreography and the actual marching on the football turf was a real confidence booster for band members throughout, allowing for consistent terrain throughout the final practice, and the actual competing hours later. 

This competition was not without its trials and tribulations, as one of the soloists in the Music section suffered a broken violin just hours before competing.