Lost in the shuffle of Friday night lights are the other members that make the games enjoyable. One of those is the band. who competed Saturday in the Region 2 UIL Marching Contest earning all 1’s to advance to next Saturday’s Area A UIL Marching Contest at Northwest High School.

            “The division 1 rating basically means that in the eyes of UIL judges, we are at a level that is considered superior,” director of bands Brian Wilson said. “There’s a rubric that we are competing against, and it had five different categories. We fit in the highest category of Division 1. I’m proud of the kids they worked really hard and deserved this.”

           Although it was big accomplishment for them, it wasn’t the first time they reached this specific goal.

           “For marching I think that this is the fifth or sixth year in or row for us,” Wilson said. “In the spring we have concert insight reading where we can also get Division 1 ratings in that as well.”

           Senior Brian Zellmer has felt the feeling of receiving division 1 rating since he has been enrolled at Denton High.

           “It feels pretty nice winning four years in a row because not every band is able to do that therefore it’s a pretty nice accomplishment,” Zellmer said. “We’re motivated because we know that we can achieve greatness, and if we were able to do that performance and get that level of achievement, then we can easily keep pushing forward.”

           Senior Holly Crye feels the same way as Zellmer. She acknowledges that their performance overall wasn’t as good as it could be, but she feels that they can still be the best.

           “It’s a really cool feeling because I know we didn’t do as well as we could,” Crye said. “If we’re a division 1 with that performance, we have so much more we can do so we can improve so much from there.”

           The band works extremely hard to prepare for these types of events. They stay at the school until the sun goes down, and are back at it before the sun rises. Wilson’s advice keeps his students motivated, and determined to work as hard as they can, because they love what they do.

           “The best advice I can give my students is to have fun,” Wilson said. “It’s not worth doing anything if you’re not having fun doing it. Yes, we want to win medals, ribbons, and trophies, but if you’re not having fun, then it’s not worth it.”