Usually people associate school spirit at a football game with the cheerleaders, but they are not the only ones keeping the energy going. At every home game, band director Mr. Brian Mangiavellano and Drum Majors senior Enrique Fonseca and junior Evan White lead the Marching Mounties in singing, shouting, and playing music in the endzone.

“It’s so much fun because we are playing [our instruments] and hanging out with our friends,” said freshman Gabriella Burman.

The marching band sings songs like “Eat ‘em Up”, “Oley”, “Power”, and “Dynamite” to keep the crowd’s energy up and encourage the football players on the field. The band members perform and shout to the crowds from the second they run on the field to the end of halftime.

The students are not only performing; they are forming relationships with each other and having a great time making the group stronger as a whole.

“It is the best feeling ever after we perform the halftime show and then get to go see our friends and family during third quarter,” said Burman.

Throughout the football season new friendships are formed and Mangiavellano gets to know his students. During fourth quarter they cheer the team to victory and then march back to the band room where they pack up and congratulate each other.

“Even though some of the members don’t know how the game of football works they all have a lot of fun and take cues from the drum majors and I,” said Mangiavellano.

Although it may seem that they are just singing and playing, more goes into marching than most people would presume. They have practice two days a week in addition to the in-class work every day. Mangiavillano has many hours invested in every football game. Some of the songs they play were learned at the yearly band camp in early August.

Mangiavellano is constantly watching the crowd and game to pick just the right song to match the play.

“If it is a shorter play like a field goal then we sing a song but if it’s a longer play like a run then we will play a song with the instruments,” said Mangiavellano. “Every game is a fun experience for the whole band.”

Mangiavellano’s main goal is to help the Marching Mounties have fun while they help the crowd to have fun as well. He hopes the rest of the season will continue to go smoothly.