“This is great, it’s just amazing” senior Kristan Hallford said after arriving home to a celebration the likes of which Forsan hasn’t seen in some time, as school officials held up the afternoon buses so that the students and parents could welcome home the conquering heroes.

“We had faith in the band and Mr. Rhodes,” Hallford went on to say. “We knew we had to work to get what we wanted and we did that.”

After winning the area competition in Odessa, Forsan had to travel to Amarillo for its first go around with defending champion Sundown the day after a long away game to Bronte forced the band to get home, grab a couple hours of sleep and get on its way to Amarillo.

“The parents and the kids have just been great with all that has been going on,” said Rhodes. “It really is a team effort. It’s that one-band, one-sound theory. Everyone has just been great about it.”

Sundown won the regional competition by a mere three points. Forsan finished second in that contest, setting the stage for Monday’s final showdown.

After placing first on all of the judges’ scorecards, Sundown was second after the preliminary show. Rhodes found himself with the decision of whether to tell his band the standings or just leave them in the dark.

He quickly decided on the later. “We didn’t want them to relax too much,” Rhodes said of the choice. “So in the end, we just decided that they really didn’t need anything else to think about. I told the kids before the finals that they where all in this together. It wasn’t about who liked who, it was about the band. The kids stepped up and earned everything that they have gotten.

“We had to draw for marching spots in the finals. We drew the sixth spot and Sundown drew the seventh slot,” Rhodes said of the events leading up to the band’s final march. “It’s poetic justice, it coming out like that. We placed second to them in ’05, and for us to be the last two bands, and for us to be able to go out and put it there for them to beat was huge.”

Then it was time for the waiting and wondering.

“I wasn’t sure if we had pulled it off,” Rhodes said afterward. “I told the kids I didn’t think we had done what we needed to do. When they announced that Sundown took second, it was like our entire section sucked all the air out of the Alamodome.

“My first thought was. ‘Oh my, we have either won this or we are not going to place at all.’ And when they announced that we had won, I turned around and the entire band was going wild,” he added with a big grin.

“I thought that when we finished second two years ago that I felt good, but this is just amazing,” senior Tara Kuykendall said. “I was way nervous after the first game of the year. It was like we had nothing ready, but Mr. Rhodes led us through it and it paid off.”

Forsan also earned its place in the history books by becoming the first Class 1A band to ever earn the TEMA Honors Competition Honors Band designation and win the state marching title within the same calendar year.

“That is just another reason this is so special,” Rhodes said. “That just shows you how special these kids are.

“This really has been a journey,” he added. “I took over here 11 years ago and Bob Fishback, the former FHS band director, had started a good program. Then in 1999 we went to state for the first time and finished ninth. Then, in ’01, we came in 12th, that was the turning point. Then, in 2003, we came in fourth. In 2005 we thought we should have won but Sundown took it. So for us to get it this year and to have to beat them to do it, well that just makes it even better.”

According to Assistant Principal Madge Patterson, there are 199 students enrolled at Forsan High School and 110 of those where involved in the band’s efforts. It is numbers like those that show how much of an emphasis is put on things other than athletics at Forsan, she said.

 “Students are required to take band in the sixth grade. We provide the instruments since we do have them take it so there is no financial burden on the parents,” Rhodes said. “Most of them just end up staying in band all the way through school. It’s a way for everyone to be part of the school spirit.”

“It feels good to have won,” freshman Lindsey Mince said. “I am ready to do it again in two years.”

If past performance means anything. They just may do that.