The Exonian Looks Back at E/a History
Under noon sun on May 22, 1878, Big Red and Big Blue met, not on the one-hundred yard stretch of green turf, but on the baseball diamond. Exeter emerged victorious, with a 12-1 score.
Six months later, on Nov. 2, 1878, both schools gathered once again: the fateful day of the first Exeter/Andover (E/a) football match. “We are looking forward with interest to the game of football with Andover,” The Exonian wrote in the Oct. 26, 1878 edition. “We trust that the game will be a friendly one, and that the beaten party will accept their defeat as a fair and an honorable one.”
The Lion Rampant, clad in “knee-breeches, sweat-shirt, square cut blouse, of white flannel trimmed with cardinal red, cardinal red stockings and a white flannel cap,” as The Exonian described, took the field in bright red, a brilliant contrast against the deep blue of Andover.
That night in New England, the boys in the stands and the field were not aware that this was the beginning of a legendary rivalry, sharing its life with The Exonian itself.
Unfortunately, Exeter went home defeated, zero to 22. With painfully relatable sentiment, The Exonian wrote in the issue the week following: “Nearly everyone expected to see the eleven [football players] suffer a defeat.” Back then, Exeter did not have a formal football team, just a ragtag group of 11 “green men” with no prior experience, while Andover boasted a seasoned interscholastic team.
The eleven boys were received back on home with dull optimism: acknowledgement that the odds were stacked against them, and a budding hope that next year they would do better. There was nothing else they could do but hope.
Come next autumn, at 2:20 p.m. the Philippians arrived on campus and set out towards the football field. This time again, gloomy expectations preceded the kick-off: star players Ferguson, Bright and J. Byron were injured, and Smith had been so sick he was barely able to take the field.
But as Philippian Barker stretched within mere meters of the Exeter end zone, marking what was sure to be the beginning of yet another loss, Smith “threw him down, and destroyed the only chance of making a touch-down which the Andovers had during the game.” The game closed with the captain of Big Red, Hooker, who had been one of the eleven beaten down last year, hurtling towards the end zone, “breaking past his antagonists with great violence.” Exeter won 18 to zero.
Since then, sports across all three trimesters have been integrated into the competition. The first hockey game in 1914 was a 4-1 win for Exeter at Boston Stadium. Andover took the first basketball win in 1920 (31-27), as well as the first lacrosse win (11-2) in 1970.
Each autumn, the two schools clash again in football. It was only in 1889, 1894 and 1895 that the games were canceled for harsh weather. Exeter now claims a record of 54-78-10; Andover 78-54-10. Over the past 142 games, Andover leads Exeter by 161 cumulative points: 1958 to our 1797. They also lead Exeter in the longest win-streak: eight games, from 1905-1913. This week’s past victory for Andover marks seven losses for Exeter in a row—one more loss next year will place Exeter in the historically worst losing streak it has ever been in again.
But in 1913, with 8,000 students and faculty alike gathered on home field, a stunning victory of 59-0 for Exeter interrupted Andover’s streak. The next year, Exeter exceeded all expectations again: The Exonian reported, “The place was Brother’s Field; the clay was fair; the teams were in perfect condition; and the score was 78 to 7. Such a victory with such a score may never take place again in the rivalry of the two schools.”
Come next autumn, PEA will again be rooting for the football team to keep Exeter from reaching yet another historic low. Like the Big Red of 1913, hundreds of Exonians will flood Phelps Stadium of Andover in a sea of red.