Marching Eagles Set for ACC Title Defense

You feel the sound through your car's windows even before you pull in the parking lot: the growl of horns, the Richter rumble of bass drums.

From three hundred yards away, the aural picture becomes clearer: those drums are hammering out the pulse of a sprinter on his eighth gallon of coffee, and the winds sound the dawn.

Noon pours down from 104 lights to a football field devoid of refs or down-and-distance markers; tonight, there’s only the sheen of nickel and brass.

This is Wednesday night.

And this is where the Marching Eagles win their championship.

The Atlantic Coast Championships (ACCs) are just days away, a chance for the band to repeat their stellar performance from last year and claim a second straight Tournament of Bands (TOB) Group 3 Open title. There’s no sense of nerves or tension in the air as the band rolls through set after set, correcting minor errors.

“At this point in the season, it’s about the tiny details,” band director Thomas Kershaw says.

Whether that’s the arc of a form or how straight a marcher’s leg is through a transition, it’s about minimizing mistakes and polishing the edges of what’s nearly perfect.

If band members want to win a second title, it’s those minutiae that’ll make all the difference. Over the past decade, the band has scored 94 or higher six times, but only last year’s record score of 96.95 was good enough to capture the overall Group 3 Open title.

And this is potentially the final rehearsal, given the weather forecast. The band had even gone as far as renting Gateway’s turf field for a Saturday morning run-through, since Hersheypark Stadium has similar turf, but the likelihood of rain could scuttle those plans.

The band shouts their determination back at Kershaw when he announces the potential rainouts, and scatter to signals from staffers, who call out what could be trick football plays: “Scissor country!” “Parallelogram!”

Kershaw recognizes that determination and hard work, and knows it gives West Deptford an edge at ACCs.

“There’s no extra talent here–we just work hard,” he says.

Hard may be an understatement. Six hours of rehearsal is a light week; at this late point in the season, the band could potentially practice close to 15 hours in a single week–provided the weather cooperates.

Add in performances at every football game, and the workload is staggering.

AJ Fillari, the band’s brass captain, says it’s a completely different world on the field during a performance.

“It’s twice the effort,” he says. “If one person is off, everybody is off–everyone has to be in sync.”

Kershaw knows he’s fortunate to get the group of students he has, who have the drive to elevate themselves above their competition and come back, year after year, to hit a high level of performance.

“It doesn’t happen like this everywhere,” he says.

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Heading to ACCs? Here's what you need to know:

• Group 3 Open competition starts at 8 a.m. Sunday at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, PA.
• West Deptford is scheduled to take the field at 11:38 a.m., the fifth-to-last band to compete.
• Advance tickets, which can be purchased by contacting Kershaw, are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. The same tickets at the gate are $20 and $15.

West Deptford's scores from previous years' competition in Group 3 Open are below.