By Owen Pierotti, ’27

Staff Writer

As the Hanover High School marching band started the season, we were missing one thing: our home field. Harry Gerrish Memorial Field, the home stadium for football and other field sports, went under construction last spring. With the installation of the new turf expected to be completed in mid-October, HHS football was scheduled to play away games for the first half of its season, and the band’s practice and performance routine were upended.

Since summer, the band has practiced on a grass area behind the auditorium that was prepared by the town Department of Public Works. Band leader Mr. Harden said the creation of the practice field, and more storage to go with it, was a “blessing in disguise.”

“We missed the turf but are grateful for the athletics department and DPW,” he added.

Mr. Harden put hours of work into the practice field, with the help of others, to get the band ready for its unusual season. Performers worked to perfect their halftime show, called “Soar,” which features Mr. Blue Sky, Defying Gravity and How to Train Your Dragon Part 3.  The band managed a debut performance on Sept. 21 at a home game actually played in Scituate, thanks to donations from the Hanover Football boosters that paid for a bus. Percussion section leader Brian Tawa, a junior, said moving the large drums and other instruments for that performance was “definitely an adjustment.”

Construction on the turf finished early, opening for HHS girls’ soccer on Sept. 28. But, with the football schedule already set, the band will have to wait until the Hawks play Quincy on Oct. 13 to finally perform on our home field.

“It’s definitely been challenging, but we persevered and it ended up being a great experience,” said brass section leader Aidan O’Connor, a senior.

Dante Heffron, a junior who serves as drum major, noted there was probably never a  time that the construction wouldn’t interfere with something (In fact, the track was not redone along with the turf because of a rainy summer and will have to be closed in the spring). 

“But we’re going to get a couple of more games on the field, and it’ll be fun,” he said.

Alec Jewson, a senior who leads the woodwind section, noted that the band has shown its adaptability since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think we’re generally a very persevering group anyways, with all the stuff we had to deal with during and after COVID,” he said, “so I’m honestly not really surprised we’ve done so well this year, even without a field. All of the other leadership team had confidence in this new group, and we’re still seeing so much growth and improvement beyond what we had expected, so it’s pretty cool.”

Showing perseverance and adaptability as our home field was being redone, our band is ready for upcoming performances. We’re hoping Hawk nation packs the stands for the Oct. 13 return home. We’re also looking forward to next year, when hopefully there will be more home games!