The Starkville High School marching band has always received straight superior ratings during their marching seasons.

This year the band has been working just as hard to continue the tradition and have another award-winning season.

Tomorrow, the band will pack up their instruments and head to Aberdeen for the first competition of the season.

The theme is “Shuffle,” and it draws on pieces of numerous songs that include a fiddle solo by Andrew Rodgers and a guitar solo by Robert Dandass.

SHS Band director Shawn Sullivan doesn’t seem too worried about the competition.

“If we go out there and do our best, we’ll do fine,” Sullivan said. “The kids have been working hard, the playing and marching has been coming together, and if we go out there and do what we’ve been doing, we’ll be fine.”

Sullivan isn’t the only person who’s ready for the competition.

“I’m really excited about it,” freshman and flutist Chelsea Taylor said. “We’ve been practicing for weeks now, and we’ll finally be able to show it off.”

Upperclassmen also can’t wait to return to Aberdeen and have another crack at some rival bands such as those from West Point, Tupelo and South Panola.

“We’ve come to this contest before, and we’ve blown everyone away the last couple years,” junior and percussionist Nick Estrada said. “We want to go back and do that again this year.”