Foothill Band Wins Big

’s band has another trophy to put on its crowded band room shelves after winning a title at the Northern California Band Association Winter Guard/Percussion Championships, hosted by Del Oro High School in Loomis.

This time, it’s a trophy the band has been striving to win for quite some time.

Foothill’s Winter Percussion Unit was named the 2011 NCBA champions in the Open Class Percussion division. Winter Guard placed second in the Scholastic division.

Dozens of high schools competed at Del Oro High during the April 2 event, the finals of competitions in Northern California, according to Josh Butterfield, the high school’s director of bands.

“(Band Director Erik Nishimori and I) are really proud of the kids. They’ve worked really hard," Butterfield said. "They’ve put in a lot of hours. They’ve earned this.” 

Foothill competed against Del Oro, Vallejo, Benicia and J.F. Kennedy high schools in Fremont as well as Rodriguez and Fairfield high schools in Fairfield.

While Foothill has placed in the competition in years past, Butterfield said the band hasn’t “had a season this successful in years.”

“It’s a big deal for them,” he said. “They have a lot of talent. They felt confident going into the season that they were going to make a hard push to make it.”

Foothill’s success also comes as a result of the hard work of color guard instructors Ron Frost, Jolie Henricks and Michelle Leetch, as well as percussion instructors Tiffany Castellan, Mikey Krebbs, Andrew Odello and Phil Strangio, Butterfield said.

The Winter Percussion Unit is made up of 35 students and Winter Guard has 11 members.

The NCBA Championship Finals is sponsored by the band association, which was established in 1990 by Northern California directors.

The organization provides judges for marching competitions throughout Northern California and Nevada that are hosted by independent organizations.