The buses carrying the Nation Ford High School Marching Band came home from the Capital City Classic on Saturday evening a little heavier than it left.

Six first place trophies tend to add a little heft.

The band swept the 4A categories at the Capital City Classic in Columbia, taking home first place awards for their drum major, percussion, horn line and color guard. The band also won first place in the 4A division and were named the competition's grand champion.

"We feel confident that we have a very good show. The music is good, the drill is well written, now we just have to clean our performance," Director Martin Dickey said. "Now we get to add some of the theatrical movements that people look for. That will make the show, which is called "Taking Flight," visually match up with the musical portion."

The band will take the next two weeks off from competition to make small changes to the show. Nation Ford returns to competition Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Old English Festival of Bands in Rock Hill.

The Fort Mill High School Marching Band traveled to Laurinburg for the Highland Band Festival at Scotland High School. The band, performing "The Illusionist," won awards for best color guard and best Esprit de Corps. They finished second in music, percussion, second in the 4A class and second in the overall competition.

The band debuted several illusions during the show, including a trick where a student enters a door on one end of the field and appears to exit a door on the other end.

"We have time to look at the theatrics of it, but as far as the students go they are right on track," Director John Pruitt said. "We go early to competitions like this so the students can get some experience and we can get some feedback from the judges. We aren't going to bring home trophies; it's more about the experience."

The Fort Mill Marching Band will also be back in action Oct. 4 at Providence High School in Charlotte.

The Indian Land High School Marching Band debuted its show, "Out of the Box," Saturday at the Lancaster County Exhibition at Andrew Jackson High School. No awards are given at an exhibition, but judges are present to critique each bands' performance.

Director Matt Willis said he spent the weekend listening to the judges' taped critiques and is working to implement some of the suggestions.

His focus in practices this week, he added, will be on the basics.

"Taking in the breath and doing what we should do it with it," Willis said. "More air through the horns, faster air through the horns. The good thing is that's something we can fix."

Indian Land's first competition will be this Saturday at Boiling Springs High School. Based on last week's performance at Andrew Jackson, Willis thinks the competition season will be very successful.

"It's just a matter of going out and taking what we're working on in class and making sure we do that on the field," Willis said. "If we do that, we'll have a very positive season and the sky is the limit."