11/14/24 Highlight: Junior Varsity Games
By MICHELLE CHOO, AARYAN PATEL, JAYDEN OH, and KEVIN THANT
As Fall term wraps up, Exeter customs commence with the Fall Formal dance, the bonfire, and school spirit week as sports teams prepare for their clash with Andover. But before the 143rd E/a at Andover, Andover teams descended upon Exeter on Wednesday, Nov. 6th, for junior varsity’s very own E/a.
JV boys and girls soccer lost 0-3 and 1-5, respectively. JV field hockey fell to Andover 1-2, while JV girls volleyball defeated Andover 3-0. JV football capped off the Wednesday games with a tight 7-14 loss. Despite the losses, the games were a great way to excite the crowd at home before traveling to Andover on the following Saturday.
Despite being a JV team, lower Oscar Zhu, a JV football player, said, “It has a sense of honor that we keep in mind during home E/a game… everyone is more focused and more excited, we are more united as a team.”
Lower Osbert Chang, a member of the JV soccer team, agreed, “It means a lot more because our friends out there support us. It also means we have a crowd, which we normally don’t have at our JV games. It definitely gives us more motivation to show out in the game.”
“The JV E/a games are a good preparation before the actual E/a weekend in terms of energy and hype,” Zhu added. Exeter-Andover games attract more people in the crowds than the usual JV games. The energy at each one is filled with school spirit.
Playing at home definitely makes E/a more memorable,” said lower Sophia Xue, a player on JV girls’ volleyball.
However, with the memorability and crowd, there is much more pressure to perform than a regular game. “There is a lot of pressure to perform well,” said lower David Liu, a player on JV boys’ soccer. “Andover are our rivals, so the competitive person in me just really wants to win.”
Liu reflected, “Everyone is very locked in and trying to end the season on a high note.” For many, the Andover games at the end of the season may be the last games they play on a JV field. Chang agreed, “There was a huge shift in energy; the practices leading up to the game were very serious, and everyone was putting their full effort in.”
With the shift in energy on the student side, one wonders what the coaches thought about the E/a games and whether or not there were special preparations on their side. “Our team was so strong this year that we knew it wasn’t going to be tough competition. If the team was nervous about the match because it was E/a, they certainly didn’t show it!” said Jack Gronau, assistant coach for Girls JV volleyball. The JV volleyball team bested the Blue twice this season without dropping a set.
However, for teams that have not played Andover before the games had less of a certainty. “Our coaches emphasized before the game and made sure we understood this was our last game and should be our best,” Liu said.
Even though many JV Exeter teams did not achieve their goals in defeating Andover, JV E/a was a huge success in preparing the academy for E/a weekend, later that week. Players, coaches, and spectators alike all saw Wednesday’s JV games as a great way to kick off the annual competition.
