“I,”

“I BELIEVE,”

“I BELIEVE THAT,”

“I BELIEVE THAT WE,”

“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN! I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!”

I got a surge of adrenaline as I cheered along with the rest of the band. We had just filed back into the stands and were exhausted from performing, but our football team was excruciatingly close to scoring. Since I am a member of the Colorguard, I sat in the front row, and as I looked behind me I saw tons of instruments piercing the sky as band members jumped up and down, screaming and cheering. This was something new. Usually, everyone in the band is too tired from performing the halftime show to care if the football team is losing again.

But this time, we weren’t losing. Our team kept the score close to the Keller Indians. The band played their stand tunes with new energy. The stand dancing that we do is a little, well, freer, than other groups like the Rosettes or cheerleaders. And when the drumline started playing some new songs we hadn’t heard before, it got a little out of control.

Everybody loves the drumline, and the band is no different. It was crazy- various sections quickly making up new dances for each song, some people coming up with chants, others yelling for our football team, or doing the chants with the cheerleaders. We had so much energy as a group that the Rosette escorts began shushing us and telling us to calm down.

Then the fourth quarter arrived. The band played “The Final Countdown” multiple times, which is always fun for those of us in Colorguard because we don’t have an official stand dance, so we get to improvise. I started losing my voice from all the screaming we were doing. We all started chanting again. “I. I BELIEVE. I BELIEVE THAT,” and so on. Our football team pulled ahead by a few points in the last five minutes. The band was frenetic. All we had to do was keep this, and we would actually win. More songs were played. More jumping, more screaming, more dancing. Then, to the band’s dismay, the Indians kicked a field goal.

The tension was high, and the instruments were higher. As the band members raised their clarinets or flutes or trumpets or whatever instrument they played, the Colorguard raised their hands. We all stood there, shocked, yet still expecting it. There was no way we could actually win this football game. There was only a minute left.

The band continued to play stand tunes, and in between we shouted encouragement for the football team. As they got closer and closer to the end zone our energy came back. Maybe we could win. There were thirty seconds left and the band started chanting again.

“I.”

“I BELIEVE.”

“I BELIEVE THAT.”

The clock kept counting down. Fifteen seconds and we were frustratingly close to the end zone.

“I BELIEVE THAT WE.”

The clock stopped at two seconds. I don’t remember how close to the end zone we were or what was happening on the field, but I do remember everyone in the band stomping their feet in the stands while we continued to scream,

“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!”

The clock started again, and FMHS junior Richard Kelly kicked the ball through the goal posts. We all watched it go in with bated breath. Then we saw that we really did score, the scoreboard confirming it, 19-17, and the band went wild. People were cheering and hugging each other. My voice was entirely gone. Some band students started packing up their instruments, totally wiped out. It took a while to get everyone on the buses to get back home (we need twelve buses to transport the entire band). Once on the bus, some people were still super excited, but I was drained. I fell asleep. It had been a long day and an outrageously exciting football game.