Aiming for the top

Multi-year streaks...

Both Hondo’s Mighty Owl Band (above) and the D’Hanis Pride Band (left) have qualified for the UIL State Marching Contest multiple years in a row. D’Hanis will perform in the Alamodome Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 9 a.m., Hondo will step off Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 9:15 a.m.

State contest Nov. 3-4 for Hondo, D’Hanis bands

Alice -- It’s now six consecutive trips to state for Hondo’s Mighty Owl Band.

Saturday at the 3A Area E Marching Contest at Alice High School, the MOB placed fourth, one of the five bands to advance to the UIL State Marching Contest this coming Wednesday, Nov. 4, at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

After performing at the end of all of its UIL competitions up to now, the MOB will now perform second out of the 25 bands at the 3A State Contest, taking the field at the Alamodome at 9:15 on Wednesday.

Prelims will run from 9 a.m. until the final band takes the field at 4 p.m. The 10 bands named as finalists will begin their performances at 7:15 p.m.

Performing their 2026 contest show “Dream State,” and marching in the next-to-last time slot of the 29 bands at area, the MOB placed fifth in the prelims at Alice. 

Hondo was the last of the 10 finalist bands to take the field, stepping off at 10:15 p.m. They earned a fourth place finish from the judges after their finals performance.

The five bands from Area E advancing to San Antonio are, in order, Raymondville, Orange Grove, Santa Gertrudis, Hondo and Rio Hondo.

Also reaching the finals on Saturday were Jourdanton, Devine, Carrizo Springs, Cole and Natalia.

The D’Hanis Pride Band, which earned a first division rating at the Region XI contest in Hondo on Oct. 17, has also qualified for state (there is no area competition at the 1A level). D’Hanis will be the first of the 14 Conference 1A bands to perform at state, stepping off at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The final 1A band performs at 12:30, with the top seven to return for the finals, beginning at 7:45 p.m.

Both the Lytle HS Band (3A) and Medina Valley Band (5A) finished 11th in the prelims at their  respective area contests on Saturday, one spot away from advancing to the finals.

2026 UIL State Marching Contest,

Alamodome, San Antonio

Tuesday, Nov. 3

Conference 1A Prelims

9:00 D’Hanis

9:15 Leakey

9:30 Knox City

9:45 Claude

10:00 Baird

10:15 Nueces Canyon

10:30 White Deer

-- Break --

11:00 Menard

11:15 Irion County

11:30 Water Valley

11:45 Whiteface

noon O’Donnell

12:15 Ralls

12:30 Booker

12:45 Exhibition:

  Texas State Univ.

1:00 -- Results -- 

- - - - -

Conference 1A Finals

7:45 - 9:15 pm (7 bands)

9:45 -- Results --

Wednesday, Nov. 4

Conference 3A Prelims

9:00 Troy

9:15 Hondo

9:30 Orangefield

9:45 Wall

10:00 Raymondville

10:15 Howe

10:30 Winnsboro

10:45 Little River-Academy

11:00 Whitesboro

-- Break --

noon Crane

12:15 Orange Grove

12:30 Cameron Yoe

12:45 Atlanta

1:00 Rio Hondo

1:15 Franklin

1:30 Mineola

1:45 Pottsboro

-- Break --

2:15 Vanderbilt Industrial

2:30 Redwater

2:45 San Angelo TLCA

3:00 Santa Gertrudis

3:15 Llano

3:30 Quitman

3:45 Clyde

4:00 Holliday

4:15 Exhibition: SMU

4:30 -- Results -- 

- - - - -

Conference 3A Finals

7:15 - 9:30 pm (10 bands)

10:00 -- Results --