Band provides the soundtrack
By GAYLE WEBER
It's become an expectation that where Quinter High School teams go in the playoffs, the pep band will follow.
And lately, there's been a lot of going.
Between them, the football and boys' basketball teams have played in 11 playoff games this year, including today's third-place game at the 1A state basketball tournament in Hays.
"It's an opportunity that a lot of students don't get to have," band teacher Michael Karnes said.
Not all schools can field a pep band once team members and cheerleaders are taken out. But as one of the larger 1A schools in Kansas, Quinter's pep band is 44 members strong.
"Most of our kids are junior high. That's why it's possible," Karnes said.
The band has spent a lot of time in Hays recently, following the Bulldogs to the sub-state tournament at Felten Middle School last weekend and then again to the state tournament at Gross Memorial Coliseum this week.
"I think it helps that we get our crowd going," junior clarinet player Allison Leathers said. "It gets our boys going. It pumps them up because everybody's going and everybody's loud."
And the students keep it loud throughout the game. As soon as they're done playing in the band before the game and during halftime, they make a mad sprint to the student section just a few feet away for prime spots to settle in and watch the game.
"I'd like the pep band to stay and play during timeouts and between quarters, but I know they're also students and they just want to be fans," Karnes said. "They do make up the majority of the student section."
Donning as much red as possible including some Quinter wrestling singlets and older basketball jerseys, members of the pep band were ready to support their team this week.
"It's a lot crazier than regular (season) games because everybody's pumped," Leathers said.
"Our band members tend to get into the spirit of the game," Leathers added.
Karnes, who plays his trombone along with the pep band, said the community, teams and coaches have reiterated their appreciation for the band at nearly every stop along the way.
"The team ... it's part of their routine," Karnes said of the band's presence. "When it's not there, they miss it."
Until this week, Quinter usually had been the only band in the stands, but now, they have some competition, according to sophomore keyboardist Addie Johnson.
"That's they're own personal competition," Karnes said. "They don't want to sound bad."
And they must not, based on the compliments and opportunities they've gotten -- the band played the national anthem at the Eight-Man, Division One state championship game that Quinter won in November.
"I think it's a lot more fun that just listening to other music over the speakers," Johnson said.