The De Soto High School band ended its marching season with a show after the last football game on Oct. 31.

After the game ended, there was a short delay before the stadium lights were shut off, and the band performed their final halftime show. The band members covered their instruments and bodies in glow sticks.

Some students decorated their costumes with the glow sticks so that they appeared to be stick figures playing their instruments. Others had put glow sticks only on their instrument making it look like the instrument was floating around the field.

“At first, I was super nervous because the lights weren’t turning off when they were supposed to and we looked super goofy,” said senior Drum Major  Mackenzie Lancaster.

Band director Mark Bradford had some minor issues to pull together just before the band was ready to perform.

“I was on the side of the track when the announcer asked if we were ready, and I said ‘No! No, we’re not ready!’” Bradford said.

Bradford liked and brought the tradition to DHS from his former school. He hopes to see it stick and continue here.

The band was given a week’s notice to gather their supplies.

“The day before, we posted on the Facebook page and that was about it,” Lancaster said. “They got ready during third quarter and then went out. No one really had any idea what it would be like.”

The band was both excited and nervous to see how the show turned out.

“I had this huge grin on my face. My knees were shaking and I was like, ‘this is so cool!’” junior Drum Major Kate Barger said. “When the lights finally turned off, [the audience] just went crazy!”

Both the audience and band enjoyed the originality put into the decorations.

“My favorite part of it was just seeing the creativity that everyone put into decorating their instruments,” senior Drum Major Erin Sullivan said. “When the lights went off, the crowd got so excited. Everyone was cheering and the feeling that gave me was just great.”

The applause in between each song was like nothing the band has heard before.

“The applause at the end was just so loud,” junior Gabbi Juarez said. “That never happens.”

The audience thought the show was original and well done.

“I thought it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen,” senior Maddie Torline said. “My favorite part was Cory Conley and his glow sticks. He put them all over his body. They were loose so when he marched they just dangled. It was sweet.”

After seeing how successful the show was in the end, the band wants to make a tradition of it.

“I loved the feeling of being with everybody that we loved for the last game,” Juarez said. “I really hope we do it again.”