MVs on the Road – VT vs. Duke

“Wakey, wakey! IT’S GAME DAY!!!!!” at 5:02 a.m.: This is the text that 330 sleepy Marching Virginians received on Saturday morning, November 12th. The Marching Virginians Center is filled with activity as we loaded up and prepared to board our buses to join our team in Durham, North Carolina for our game against Duke!

ON THE ROAD!

The Duke University Marching Band (Source: Andrew Stewart)

Mostly asleep, the MVs piled pillows, blankets, and boxed breakfasts onto 8 charter buses and departed for North Carolina. After an easy 3 hour ride, with one stop to distribute lunches, we arrived on Duke’s campus a little after 10 a.m. As we got settled and prepared for the game to begin, we got to watch the Duke University Marching Band, fondly known as DUMB (yes, seriously), perform their pregame show. Then, it was football time!

Playing Tech Triumph as a part of Duke’s pregame show! (Source: Macey Early)

Interesting to note: this was the first game since 2020 that the MVs have attended wearing anything other than the classic Marching Virginians uniform. We opted instead for our standard issue maroon sweatpants and gray t-shirts/sweatshirts. The game at Duke was also the first away game, excluding UVA and bowl games, that the MVs have attended in the last four years!

1st HALF

QB #6 Grant Wells running the ball (Source: HokieSports)

The first quarter was a pleasant surprise for Hokie fans. The Hokies scored a touchdown on the second play of the game and held off Duke for the entire first quarter, allowing only a field goal. The second quarter started to look a little less promising, as Duke scored their first touchdown and VT gained no points.

Halftime

Then it was halftime! Duke’s marching band took the field once again to perform some popular songs, such as Take My Breath by The Weeknd and That That by PSY and SUGA of BTS. In addition to the DUMB, we were also entertained by skydivers! There were three, and they descended from the sky to land on the field, flying flags and blue smoke along the way!

2ND HALF

While the MVs did our best to keep Hokie spirits up in Wallace-Wade Stadium, it proved to be difficult as the game progressed. With each quarter, Duke scored another touchdown, and the ending score was 24-7, with Duke taking the win.

Bringing the Spirit of Tech to Duke! (Source: Macey Early)

After the game, the MVs could only be consoled with pizza, which we sat and enjoyed as the stadium cleared out. Once the buses arrived at the stadium, we loaded back up and rode back to Blacksburg in a caravan of charter buses.

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H4TH – VT vs. GT

This past week, the Marching Virginians participated in the 26th annual Hokies for the Hungry, a week-long canned food drive and donation competition that benefits the Montgomery County Christmas Store. The Montgomery County Christmas Store serves low income families in the New River Valley area, providing non-perishable food and other useful items during the holiday season.

HOKIES FOR THE HUNGRY

The different sections of the MVs compete in can collection, seeing who can bring in the most amount of items every single day. Bonus items are announced for each day, tripling points for certain items. Thousands of cans of food were counted every single day, to be loaded on a truck at the end of rehearsal. Many amazing members of this organization volunteered to count and load the cans, preparing for our big shipment on Sunday. This year, the winners of the can competition was our amazing horn section, bringing in the highest average amount of cans per person!

Two managers counting cans during the concert on Friday! (Source: Callie Ayala)

Hokies for the Hungry has its biggest day on Saturday, before game day. The band was split into seven smaller bands, designated to certain locations to play for tailgaters. Tailgaters can donate money to hear their favorite song, with some songs being worth up to $200! This is another opportunity to collect cans as well, adding to the final donation right before Sunday. 

Alongside the can donation war, monetary donations are collected throughout the week. Social media was plastered with photos and graphics, successfully raising thousands of additional dollars for the Montgomery County Christmas Store.

Halftime and Alumni Day

VTubas and Alumni doooo the Hokie Pokie! (Source: HokieSports)

Today was Alumni Day for the Marching Virginians! Alumni Band Day is an opportunity for alumni from the Marching Virginians to come back and perform with the band at halftime. People who have moved away and graduated a long time ago get to come back and have an amazing day with our current members. Hundreds of Alumni got to the MVC bright and early, and were able to relive their college days in rehearsal with their section. Active members of the MVs got to catch up with their older friends, reminiscing on the time spent with them years ago.

Alumni Band Day is an amazing opportunity to stay involved with the Marching Virginians after you finish your time at Virginia Tech. It truly is great to get to know the people who came before you in this wonderful organization.

The Game

WR #11 Tucker Holloway goes all the way with a 90 yd punt return! (Source: HokieSports)

Initially down after the first quarter, the Hokies effectively rallied with 20 points in the second quarter! Through the last two quarters, both the Hokies and the Yellow Jackets were neck and neck, until Georgia Tech was able to just squeak past Virginia Tech, and take home a win with a one-point lead. While this season has been rough on the Hokies and their fans, every week we see the team develop a little bit more, and for now, that’s all we can ask for. The Marching Virginians will always root for our team, no matter what!

Check back next week for the Marching Virginians taking on Duke on the road in Durham, NC!

ValianT

As the rest of marching band season rolls on, we wanted to take a moment to highlight another amazing organization that a lot of our members participate in: Valiant.

Valiant is the Winter Guard team here at Virginia Tech; it is a student-run organization that travels to compete against other Winter Guards during the winter and spring seasons. 

Valiant is run by a student director, picked by the members at the end of each season. This year, the group is run by returning director Catherine Miller, a senior in our own MV Color Guard. This will be her second year as director for Valiant. The director’s role, with the help of an assistant director, is to create the choreography for the show of the season. They decide the music, uniforms, and coordinate everything needed to be done for the organization to compete. Alongside the directors, Valiant also uses managers, who are volunteers to help on competition days with the behind the scenes work of the organization.

Competition Photo from 2021-2022 Season! Source: Bethany Hillmann

The spinners in the organization have many wonderful things to say about this organization. Returning member Bethany Hillmann spoke about her experience as a spinner in Valiant. When asked about her experience in Valiant, she said that it involves a lot of hard work and dedication, but is all worth it seeing the product at the end. One of her favorite memories from last season was getting ready with the team before all of their competitions.

Similar to the Marching Virginians, Valiant is an audition based ensemble. The audition involves an interview with the director, as well as spinning and choreography. The auditionees have to learn two routines in a short time span, performing them for not only the director, but judges who observe and make comments as well. Auditionees also have the option to audition on the rifle, which adds another layer to the process. After a long day of auditions, decisions are made, and the new team gets hard at work on creating a wonderful show for competitions.

This organization takes a lot of time and dedication, but the end product is a marvel to witness. We are so excited to see the show that the team will create for us this season!

Check back next week for our game day recap against Georgia Tech!