For the second year in a row, the Tuscarora High Marching Band has taken home the state championship, demonstrating once again how their commitment and dedication made them achieve success. After months of preparation, long rehearsals and a shared passion for performance, the band impressed the judges and audiences with an amazing show at Towson University on Nov. 1, 2025; where nearly 30 bands around the region competed for the top place.
It is important to highlight that this win follows last years’ victory, making Tuscarora Marching Titans the first ever back-to-back state championship. The band won the judges’ hearts with their unique theme “Icarus,” inspired by Greek mythology and their incredible show based on a piece called, “Angels in the Architecture,” by Frank Tichelli. The piece is an orchestral music arrangement, typically played by a seated ensemble with multiple instruments. The name “Icarus” comes from the story of a young man who dared to fly with wings made of wax, symbolizing the courage to dream big and the danger of reaching too far. Tichelli’s music, known for its dramatic contrasts between light and shadow mirrored that rise and fall. The perfect mix that the band made of myth and music gave the performance emotional depth. With these characteristics, the performance was able to stand out among the competition.
The Tuscarora Marching Band has about 72 members, and it includes students from freshmen to seniors; these band members play a variety of instruments including, trumpets, trombones, saxophones and flute. For many of them, the announcement of their victory was a total surprise, “After we performed, I was proud, but I didn’t expect it. When they finally said our name, I couldn’t believe it,” said the band’s drum major, Kasidi Katana, who has the responsibility of directing the band during performances; his highlighted leadership and focus helped shape the team’s victory. Similarly, Jordan Anes, the assistant drum major, agreed by saying, “When they announced second place, we just looked at each other. We really didn’t think it was going to be us.” Jordan is an important part of the band, she has the responsibility of supporting the drum major and of stepping in when he is absent. While both played key roles through practices and performances, they were quick to credit the entire group saying,“Teamwork is everything. Everyone is accountable for our success.”
The season wasn’t without challenges. The band placed second in one of its final competitions before states, causing some uncertainty. “Our score barely went up, and we weren’t sure if we’d improved enough,” Kasidi recalled. “That pushed us to work even harder for the final show.” Therefore, the band showed their commitment every week, with practices after school that lasted around 3 hours and took place on Monday and Thursday. In addition to that, when they have a football game that week, they practice an extra 2 hours after school the day of. When competitions started, they also started practicing on Saturdays before the competition for about 3-6 hours. That means at most, if the band had a football game and a competition that week, they would practice: Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, totaling for about 14 hours of practice on those weeks. At the least they would be practicing 6 hours every week no matter what.
Additionally, we interviewed the Assistant Band Director, Mr. Hogan. When asked what was his reaction to the win he stated, “We won, yay!” Similarly he also explained that right as the band finished their last note he called out, “you earned that,” knowing before they even announced the winner, with the performance they had given, they had won. He feels that one of the main things that made The Tuscarora Marching Band stand out was, “the leadership,” he explained, “We have a lot of strong student leaders who are able to hold a high level of standards of themselves and hold the other members to that.” With how much work was put in by the band and even the directors it shows just how dedicated they were to this win. Just Mr. Hogan himself put at least 30 extra hours every week into the band, along with Mrs. Eddleman putting in even more.
In the end, The Tuscarora Marching Band has accomplished incredible things over the past two years, and their energy, passion, and progress shows no sign of slowing down. The directors are hoping in the next coming years to try some competitions at the national level. Their ultimate goal for this next year is to win, but it’s not that easy. They need to make sure they step back, and continue to meet the students where they are at every year. They start from the bottom up, working on the fundamentals before moving on to anything more. Let’s hope that in the years to come they remain the champions and their work ethic continues at this level.
