Southlake v. Miami Northwestern: “Night and Day”

I’ve read some of the coverage of the “Battle of Champions” Saturday at Ford Stadium. By now you surely know that the Bulls of Miami Northwestern beat the Dragons of Southlake Carroll 29-21 in front of 32,000 fans at Ford Stadium. What I haven’t seen mentioned is that the Northwestern band also handed Southlake a defeat (though the score in that contest isn’t so easily expressed with numerals).

By the time we got to the game, 20 minutes before kickoff, the Southlake side of the stadium was full. Without any real rooting interest, it wasn’t so much that I wanted to sit with those cheering on the Dragons; it was that the Southlake side was in the shade. Anyway, we had to sit on the Northwestern side, in the sun. Our consolation was that we got seats right next to the Bull band (pictured). Let me tell you, those kids rocked.

At halftime, the Northwestern band performed first. Not a rump was left unshaken. Then came Southlake, whose troops numbered some 400, what with the flag wavers and the baton twirlers, et cetera. Their presentation was — how to put this? — a bit more formal. Not so much rump shaking. Which led a guy in the stands behind me to remark: “Man, this is like night and day.” As the Emerald Belles were doing their thing, the same guy asked, “What? Is this River Dance?” It was a rhetorical question.