The Melissa High School band came within one spot of the state marching contest Saturday, finishing fifth in the finals of the UIL Area B 5A Marching Band Contest at Coach Kenny Deel Stadium, according to results posted by the University Interscholastic League.
Only the top four finalists move on. Argyle High School took first, followed by Lone Star, Lebanon Trail and Reedy high schools. Those four bands will compete in the 5A state contest at the Alamodome in San Antonio, where UIL has scheduled 5A preliminaries for Monday, Nov. 2, and the 5A finals for the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov. 3.
How the scoring broke down
Twenty-three bands marched in the preliminary round, and Melissa ranked fifth there to earn one of 10 places in the finals. Five judges rank every band in finals, three for music and two for visual. Melissa's music judges placed the band fourth, fifth and third, and its visual judges placed it eighth and fifth, for an overall fifth.
Panther Creek finished sixth, McKinney North seventh, Centennial eighth, Independence ninth and Memorial 10th. Bands from Celina, The Colony, Anna, Denton, Sherman and Denison were among those that competed in the preliminary round but did not reach finals.
A step up from last year
The same contest was held on the same field on Nov. 1, 2025, and Melissa placed sixth in that year's finals, UIL's 2025 results show. Lone Star, Lebanon Trail and Argyle were among the four state qualifiers then as well.
