The Hawthorne High School Marching Band earned the first place prize by defeating Westwood High School in the Division B Midland Park Competition on Sunday, October 7, 2012.

Westwood’s band beat Hawthorne the last two years, but the Hawthorne Marching Band brought its A-game and showed the judges and spectators what they were made of. The band played its best show of the season with “Tribute to Funk” songs. The songs included the opening song “Give Up the Funk,” “Shake,” “After the Love Has Gone,” “Play That Funky Music,” and the closing song “In the Stone.” Hawthorne was awarded three different trophies for “Best Percussion,” “Best Music,” and then the 1st place trophy, with a score of 85 points, beating Westwood.

The Hawthorne colorguard lost to the Westwood colorguard by one point. The guard was a little upset about the one-point loss, but they still had fun showing how much time and effort they have put into their routine. Senior drum majors Matt Fenkart and Mackenzie Sanint, along with drum captain Eric Nickel and junior colorguard co-captains Allison Zuckerburg and Faith Martin, all accepted the awards from the Midland Park High School drum majors and captains.

“Every time I go to a competition, I get so excited—not for myself but for the band. Performing is an honor, but winning first is better sweet. I couldn’t be any more proud of the band,” said drum major Matt Fenkart.

Second drum major Mackenzie Sanint said, “The performance went really well! The band worked well with dynamics so that it wasn’t the same boring sound the whole time. We worked really hard to get first place. We had a mini-band camp the week before so that we could perfect our show. Also, I was amazed when I found out that we wer at the competition with bands that had over 100 members.”

Co-captain Allison Zuckerburg said, “I felt like everything we’d worked towards was being put on display for all to see. Those long hours manifested into something beautiful and worthy of winning.”

Second co-colorgaurd captain, Faith Martin said, “We worked very hard, and it paid off. We are a team and a family. It is a great accomplishment to win, and we did it. I couldn’t be happier and more proud of us!”

As for the drum line, “I felt good, and we needed it to raise our spirits after practicing so much. The whole drum line was happy and excited after getting the award,” said drum captain Eric Nickel.

The whole band was happy about receiving the awards; they will keep up the good work and hope to keep getting awards in future competitions.