Allen High School's band and color guard won the Class 6A championship at the Don Hanna Memorial Marching Contest, the program's first advancement to marching contest finals since 2021.

The Eagle Escadrille finished eighth overall at Don Hanna and earned a finals berth alongside the championship, according to Allen ISD. At the Wylie Marching Contest, the 505-member band placed sixth in preliminary competition and qualified for finals but did not compete in the finals round because of Homecoming.

Both results mark the first time Allen High's band has reached marching contest finals since 2021.

The milestones arrive in the first competition season under Director of Bands James Rees, whom Allen ISD hired in May from Grapevine High School, where he had served as band director since 2019. Rees holds a master's degree from SMU in music education and two bachelor's degrees from Texas Tech in music performance and music education.

This fall's marching show, "Empire Rising," draws on Art Deco aesthetics, 1930s New York City visual themes and jazz influences including George Gershwin. The show opens with what the program describes as a wall of sound.

"We didn't want people to have to guess or wait for that moment of impact," Rees said in an August profile published by the district. "By the end of the season, when we're in the competitive environment … you're not just going to hear that initial impact. You're going to feel it."

Senior drum major Daniel Craig, a tenor saxophone player who rose through the ranks as a squad and section leader, leads the ensemble from a conductor's podium high above the field. When the full parade block forms for rehearsal, it stretches 200 yards. The annual shoe order fills 40 boxes. During full-ensemble play, the acoustic power is intense enough that directors wear earplugs.

Craig, who balances band leadership with engineering aspirations, reflected on leading the program in the district's August profile.

"Leading 505 people is not nothing," Craig said.

The band's fall schedule builds toward the UIL State Marching Contest.