South Students Support Marching Titans

South Students Support Marching Titans

The setting sun stretched long shadows across South’s football field as a star spangled Titan Terror filled the stands to cheer on their fellow classmates as they do every fall Friday evening. This would not be an unusual event except that it was approximately 30 minutes before kickoff. Nevertheless, the students, clad in their black and blue uniforms, marched onto the field and, at the call of their drum majors, began to play.

One week removed from a sudden leadership change, the CB South Marching Titans performed before an enthusiastic Titan Terror prior to CB South’s September 19 game against Bensalem High School.

The unprecedented support from the Terror had junior Drum Major Mike Raffle “almost in tears.”

“It made everything in the past week melt away” said Raffle.  Senior Drum Major Lauren Letherland said the expanded audience made the Titans “more motivated” for that evening’s performance.

 The early arrival of the passionate student section was a product of the “One South” campaign that was launched seemingly overnight by Mr. Bauer, Dr. Davidheiser, Mr. Pecic, and the senior class officers. Among the officers is Tyler French, leader of the Titan Terror, who described the campaign as “a way of showing that we are all one.”

“It’s a way of demonstrating as a school we are always there for each other,” French said, and “when [the school is] unified as one we are capable of a lot of awesome things.” 

Under Tyler’s direction the normally raucous student section experienced what might have been the longest stretch of silence they have or will ever allow themselves to endure. Out of respect for the band and the work their classmates had put into the performance, the Titan Terror sat and watched intently as the band played a set that Raffle would later call “memorable.” 

The junior certainly tried his best to make the evening memorable for his band and spectators. The show’s heartwarming high-point came when Raffle cried out to his bandmates that “[they’ll] never walk alone” prior to their next song titled “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” The sudden break in the stoicism that characterizes marching band performances was to “let the band know that one person does not define the hard work that has gone into perfecting this organization,” according to Raffle.

“I loved it,” said Letherland,  who added that the emotional outburst showed “how the people in my band are always there for each other, to love and support one another.” 

During “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” each person in Titan Terror held up one finger in a sign of solidarity for their fellow classmates on the field. Then-interim-director Matthew Urquhart called the gesture “a very special” moment” for the band, and Letherland said the support of her fellow students “help[ed] make sure [the band] felt safe and a part of the community.” 

Despite the lack preparation due to the tumultuous days before the game, the band felt “ready,” according to senior member Matt Moretti.

“This performance showed whether we had it in us [to remain competitive], and I think we showed that,” said Moretti of the Marching Titans’ set. Urquhart was “pleasantly surprised” when they “performed some tunes even better than before” and credited the success of that night’s program to “the students for their relentless hard work and the amazing staff.”

The performance was capped to thunderous applause from the newly invigorated crowd, and the bandmembers marched off the field with their normal brand of stoicism. As they made their way back and crossed in front of the student section, the Titan Terror let out enough cheers and chants of “MAR-CHING TI-TANS” to break the stony exterior and cause a few smiles from the band members. “We may look indifferent out there,” said Moretti, “but it felt really awesome.” 

For a band so rocked by recent events, their program must have looked eerily similar to the previous week’s plotline. The first song in the set, ”Medea,” is a “fast aggressive…conflict piece,” according to Urquhart. The program transitions into the ballad “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” the lyrics of which, said Letherland, “hold a very special meaning” to the band.

The final song the Marching Titans play is called “New Era Dance” in which the band members break out of their traditional highly orchestrated movements and dance on field, engaging in musical chanting of the phrase “new era” over and over.

By all appearances and accounts the Central Bucks South Marching Titans seem to be headed in that brightly lit direction.