Disappointed but proud nonetheless, the Poteet High School Pirate Band returned to Mesquite on Wednesday afternoon.

Members of the marching band had hoped to win their third consecutive state championship, but instead finished third in the contest Tuesday in San Antonio.

"This was our best performance of the year. We're pretty happy with that," director Scott Coulson said on his way home. "Sometimes it turns out you're first. Sometimes you're not."

In Class 4A, the division in which Poteet competed, Dripping Springs High School, near Austin, took first place. Friendswood High School, south of Houston, took second.

"They are a little bummed, but I think they see the other side of it – we placed," Coulson said. "They couldn't have called our name at all."

While Coulson encouraged the musicians to "see" themselves winning during a practice last week, he also told them then that what he really wanted was their best performance, win or lose.

The band practiced "marching proud" off the field during the rehearsal.

Other local high school bands also marched in the finals.

In Class 4A, Frisco's Wakeland High School placed fourth. Newman Smith from the Carrollton-Farmers Branch district was sixth. Mansfield Legacy took seventh place, Waxahachie was eighth and Forney placed ninth.

Two other Central Texas schools placed: Pflugerville Hendrickson High School placed fifth, while Hays High School from Buda was 10th.