From rival to viral: Shaler Area, North Hills marching bands unite on shared song from halftime shows

Editor’s note: The following story was submitted for the Shaler Area Student Section, a collaboration between TribLive and The Oracle, the student newspaper of Shaler Area High School.

It was supposed to be a night of football rivalry: Shaler Area at North Hills on a Friday night. But after the game ended, something far more memorable happened: a spontaneous collaboration that brought two rival bands together that went viral on social media.

Both the Shaler Area Marching Band and the North Hills Marching Band just happened to have “Believer” by Imagine Dragons in their halftime shows this season. The rest of their programs were completely different but that one shared song set the stage for an unforgettable performance.

“A few weeks before, when we did the band festival, we realized both of us were playing the same song,” said George Tepshich, Shaler’s band director. “We’d joked about it at a director meeting, just kind of laughed and said, ‘What are the odds?’ ”

That joke turned into a reality during the rivalry game.

“It was around third quarter, and I was talking to both of the North Hills directors,” Tepshich said. “If I am not mistaken, the idea was mentioned by one of the North Hills staff members. Once the idea was brought to our attention, we kind of looked at each other and went, ‘Let’s do it.’ ”

With little time to prepare, the plan was simple: Both bands would meet on the 50-yard line after the game and play “Believer” together.

“So I got on my little speaker and told the band, ‘Put your jackets on. We’re meeting North Hills on the 50 after the game,’ ” Tepshich said. “Everybody screamed and cheered. They were so excited. You would’ve thought I just handed them a million dollars.”

When the game ended, both bands gathered at midfield, almost 360 band students in total, and quickly formed two large arcs facing the crowd.

“We made a quick plan of how to start the song,” Tepshich said. “The drummers were like, ‘We’ve got this.’ So we said, ‘Go for it guys.’ ”

No rehearsals. No detailed direction. Just trust in their musicianship.

The result was electric.

Loud, confident and completely unified, the combined sound of brass, percussion and woodwinds echoed through the stadium.

“It sounded pretty good for no rehearsal,” Tepshich said, smiling. “It was wild. It’s amazing what can happen when you just say, ‘Let’s do it!’ ”

After the last note faded, neither of the bands were in a hurry to rush off the field.

“Everybody just started talking and hanging out,” Tepshich said. “They all started playing stand tunes, bouncing around, exchanging information with each other. They were just having fun being musicians. It was really neat to watch.”

“It was such a cool experience to share the field with people that are there to do the same thing as us. We came together over something we all love and it’s nice to have that shared feeling within two different schools,” said Maddy Hannan, a member of Shaler Area’s color guard.

What started as a casual coincidence became a show of unity, proving that music can bridge even the strongest of rivalries.

“Even though North Hills and Shaler are huge rivals, everybody was just excited to make music together,” Tepshich said. “It’s really cool when those kinds of opportunities come up. We’re always trying to think outside the box for things to do for the students, and this one turned into a really special experience.”