The long days in the heat, performances under the stadium lights, and all the turf in the shoes came to an end as the OHS marching tigers wrapped up their season on a high note.

At the sixth and final competition of the season, the band swept every award at the Seckman High School Jaguar Pride Invitational on Oct. 21. This was the band’s fourth time placing first at a competition this season.

“Out of my four years of being in marching band, this was the absolute best year yet,” said Drum Major Taylor Zapf (12). “I’ve never seen our band been this professional and this serious and this hardworking.”

On Oct. 20, the band returned to the Bands of America Super Regionals Championships after not competing there for four years. The band was one of the 65 bands from across the midwest who competed at this massive event at The Dome at America’s Center.

“BOA was quite overwhelming,” said Zapf, “We’ve never been in that type of environment, like this huge stadium with lots of bands there, it was different for us, but I’m glad I got to experience that…It truly was amazing.”

The band placed 34th out of the 65 bands who came to the competition and did not make finals. However, they were very proud of how they performed and got to experience the competition.

“It was a great experience, I was really happy to represent the school,” said saxophone musical section leader David O’Donnell (11), “I had a great run, I know everyone else had a great run…that’s all that matters.”

The Seckman High School Jaguar Pride Invitational took place the day after BOA, and the band was thrilled with the results from prelims. The band won first place as well as every caption award for their division at prelims, which included Outstanding Visual, Outstanding Color Guard, Outstanding Music, and Outstanding Percussion.

“I was really happy. Our scores were a lot higher than they were last year,” said color guard section leader Kaitlyn Boggs (11). “We made a great improvement.”

The band put all the effort they could into their final run “Up, Up, and Away” during finals, and won first place overall. It also was an emotional performance, especially for the seniors, who performed for the last time as an Oakville Marching Tiger.

“It was a pretty good run,” said mellophone section leader Lauren Zygmont (12), “I was really emotional about it cause it was my last marching band show ever. Throughout the show, it was like, this is it, this is the last solo, this is the last part three, “

In addition to Seckman and BOA, the band placed at every competition this season. They placed first at the Farmington Marching Invitational (Sept. 16), first at Fox High School’s Music on the Meramec (Sept. 30), first in prelims and third in finals at the Lafayette Contest of Champions (Sept. 23), and sixth in finals at the Champion of Champions Marching Festival at Mizzou (Oct. 14). After a long and intense marching season, the band hopes that this will bring more success for seasons to come.

“We kicked it up a notch this season,” said O’Donnell, “And I think in future seasons, I think we just are going to continue to refine the details. We’re gonna start off next year better.”