On Saturday Oct. 26, FHN Knightpride marching band and color guard will be one of 20 schools performing at

Francis Howell High for their final competition of the season.

“I think we’ll do better than last week because we’ve had more practice and we improve each competition,” freshman Ethan Slaughter said. “We get better scores each week.”

Last week Knightpride performed at FHN, so they did not complete due to the unfair advantage of competing on home turf. The band and guard put on an exhibition performance, meaning they performed but weren’t judged in the competition. In the competition before that, Knightpride took the title of Grand Champion.

“We don’t win as many awards because we’re a smaller band this year,” sophomore Elizabeth Jansen said. “But we sound a bigger band despite our small size, and we have the best guard in the state.”

At competitions, the band is judged on music, visual, general effect, auxiliary, and percussion. Competitions typically last all day, starting with the band getting breakfast, then practicing and warming up and performing. After all the bands have competed, awards are given out.

“When you’re performing and the crowd yells for you, it’s awesome,” Jansen said. “I know this competition will be the best one.”