Exeter Faces Rival Andover In Annual E/a

Exeter students flooded the campus of their famed and longtime rival, Phillips Academy Andover, ready for a day of cheering on the competing teams at the annual Exeter/Andover (E/a) games held Saturday morning and afternoon. The location of fall E/a swaps each year, and this year, Andover took their turn hosting the games.

Senior Emily Robb, one of Exeter’s red bandits, seniors selected to encourage school spirit during E/a weekend, applauded the school spirit Exonians demonstrated when they made the trek to Andover. “I think there’s something really special about having E/a at Andover,” she said. “It’s not the most convenient location, but I think the fact that a majority of the school takes a bus to Massachusetts to support our athletes shows an incredible amount of school spirit.”

Fellow red bandit and senior Abhijay Saran agreed, observing that the unfamiliarity of the Andover campus served to bring Exonians closer together on Saturday. “It’s fun having it [E/a] at Andover because it’s a novel experience,” he said. “And by not being on our home turf or having our dorm refuge. We stick together a little tighter as Exonians.”

“It’s one of the few moments our school gets to take a break from the usual school stress and come together for some healthy school spirit.”

Many students also enjoyed the opportunity to get away from the “Exeter bubble” for a day. “It was really nice to get off campus, especially driving through the town of Andover,” upper Meg Bolan said. “I’ve never really seen Phillips Andover either, and their campus is huge, with lots to see.”

E/a has been a full-day event for many years, starting in the morning and ending with an evening football game under the lights, but this year the games overlapped each other more than usual and the football game was well underway by early afternoon, finishing up by around 3 p.m. so that Exeter students returned to campus by dinnertime. Though many were glad to get back to campus earlier, the change represented an unwelcome break from tradition for several students.

Saran found the daytime football game less memorable than years past. “I missed having the football game past sunset because having the game under the stadium lights created a more memorable finale to the night,” he said.

Upper Tricia Moriarty agreed, explaining that she found this year’s games less exciting than usual. “While it was nice that we were back on campus early, last year’s night game was a lot of fun and I think it may have been a different, possibly more fun, experience if the football game were in the evening.”

She described the difficulties that conflicting game times brought up for her. “The overlapping of games made me feel as though I missed out on supporting my friends,” she said.

Red bandit and senior Emily Robb agreed, explaining that she found it hard to split her time between the different games going on at the same time. “It was a bit frustrating to have to divvy up my time at the different games,” she said. Saran acknowledged the benefit of getting back to campus early and having a free Saturday night. “It was a little cold that early in the morning and I think the crowds were a little asleep for the morning games, but it does leave the rest of the day to be utilized back on Exeter’s campus,” he said.

Despite these small complaints, the student body described another successful E/a weekend and applauded the school’s athletes for their hard work and dedication to their sports. “I have so much respect for our athletes in particular,” Robb said. For many, the girls’ volleyball game, the only game Exeter won, marked a highlight of the weekend. “It was super energetic and our girls are so talented,” Robb said.

Upper Pedro Sanson agreed, and described his enjoyable day as a spectator. “It was a tense five-set game and it was great to cheer for Exeter because we were all super excited,” he said. “At the end, we stormed the court and it feel great to be an Exonian.”

Saran agreed, saying “the volleyball game was exceptionally exciting because the community was packed tightly together in their gym and the girls played fantastically and pulled off the win.” Many also commended the hard work of the red bandits, who ran up and down the sidelines at every game, cheering madly and holding up homemade signs emblazoned with gentle quips at Exeter such as “Andover eats pizza with a fork.” “I also thought red bandits did a great job with their posters,” Sanson said. “And they also made sure the crowd was pushing the athletes.”

In past years, the student body has kicked off the pep rally with a bonfire held in the field by the track. However, the Exeter Fire Department canceled the bonfire on Friday afternoon, due to excessive winds and Exeter’s drought. Senior and red bandit Abhijay Saran expressed disappointment at the termination of the tradition. “I’ve almost felt like the bonfire [is] one of the single most important rites of passage for both new students entering Exeter and returning students entering the end of the fall term and the beast that is winter term in New England,” he said.

Despite this disappointment, most students still managed to enjoy excitement of the pep rally. Seniors Graham Rutledge, Matthew McShea and Charlotte Sununu emceed the event, cracking jokes and introducing the fall varsity sports teams, many of whom had prepared skits to entertain the audience. A number of dance teams, including Poms, Beat of Asia, Abs and Lionettes also performed.

Robb deemed the rally a success and said she was glad to see alumni return to campus to visit old friends and see the games. “I think the pep rally went really well and all the dance groups and teams had hilarious performances,” she said. “The emcees were great and it was nice having some alumni back in the crowd to cheer with us.”

Bolan echoed Robb’s sentiments, but said that she wished that she had been able to hear better. “The only thing was that it was really hard to hear the emcees, and they definitely had some unique jokes,” she said. Sanson also found the pep rally fun. “I thought the pep rally was good because the dance group performances and the skits the teams made were great,” he said.

After the pep rally, the Exeter Association of Rock, or E.A.R, hosted a concert in Assembly Hall. When students returned from Andover on Saturday evening, they got back to a Karaoke party in full swing at Elm Street Dining Hall—a festive end to a festive week.

Saran expressed love for the tradition of E/a weekend as a whole at Exeter, saying “It’s one of the few moments our school gets to take a break from the usual school stress and come together for some healthy school spirit.”