Every fall, Friday Night Lights takes West Ranch by storm, where halftime often features the marching band’s impressive performance.
The marching band began introducing new routines and songs in July in order to prepare for their fall performances. These Wildcats lead with passion and dedication to arrange their captivating shows. On Sept. 19, the marching band impressed the wildcat football crowd at Valencia High School with yet another halftime performance.
With the help of soloists, drum majors, and colorguard captains, the West Ranch Marching Band choreographs a new and unique show every year. This year’s theme loosely follows the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, embodying a wolf–hunter interpretation of the story. Junior flute soloist Sophia Buttitta elaborated on her thoughts concerning the show: “I think it’s a pretty interesting concept. The concept of a dark little red riding hood theme can have a lot of good implications to it, and I find it pretty interesting.”
The emergence of a new season and concept also presents numerous opportunities for both newcomers and returners. For the 2025 school year, there are three new drum majors: West Ranch Juniors Teegan Koch, Alexander Eitel and Jacob Manalastas; and three colorguard co-captains: Seniors Shibani Bansal and Angel De Leon and Junior Molly Rose. Each of these members incorporates their own methods of musical preparation and leadership.
Drum major Koch explained that, “It’s all about motivation and encouragement. A lot of people think of leadership as a negative thing where you always have to reprimand people, but you need to take a path of having encouragement towards people.” A role of leadership comes with many responsibilities, such as ensuring the band is on task and being a role model for fellow members.
Likewise, colorguard co-captain De Leon elaborated on her collaboration with the other Color Guard captains. “As a co-captain, I always try to bring positive energy into rehearsals in order to create an environment where everyone feels supported,” she explained. “Our goal is to be productive, while also maintaining an environment where everyone feels comfortable.”
That comfort on the field may not be transferred during a performance; the bright lights and buzzing audience often make members overwhelmed or nervous. This isn’t the case for Junior drum major Eitel, who enjoys the energy created by his fellow bandmates and the people in the stands. “I take a deep breath and just enjoy the moment. I get ready for the performance, and I take it all in,” Eitel explained. “I take in the crowd, I take in all the energy, it’s just wonderful. Every rehearsal is a performance. Whenever we take it on the field, it’s always a show.”
The marching band dedicates hours of practice to achieve perfection on the field, ensuring their success in any performance environment. The rehearsal process that builds up takes much out of each member’s day. Junior Manalastas summarized their journey to the field nicely: “That [process] could be from day one all the way to champs. The amount of [repetition] and rehearsal you have to do and the effort you have to put in is a lot, and in this band, we strive for perfection. There’s times when you have to accept defeat, and there’s times when you get to celebrate the victories.”
Band Director Dr. Schueller shared his thoughts on the marching band’s first league performance. “My favorite part is watching them perform,” Schueller explained. “I think watching them perform in uniform and bringing it to the public, all of our work that we have done has led to this point in time. I think the students had a really nice performance on Friday night.”
With practice comes progress and improvement, and that is a clear mark made by the West Ranch Marching Band. Cats, make sure to see the excellence created by our marching band at the next football game!
