Despite Valiant Effort, Football Drops First E/a Game Since '07

EXETER - To cap off E/a weekend, Exeter’s varsity football team took the field against archrival Andover. The stands were packed at Phelps Stadium, and while the players faced off, the fans hollered back at each other across the field. With each team backed by fans, both Exeter and Andover put all their might into the last regular game of the season. The game was tightly contested from start to finish, but Andover came out ahead in the end, securing an undefeated season for Andover. The final score of the game was 13-12. With the loss Exeter just missed qualifying for the championship game and ended their season with six wins and two losses.After kickoff, both Exeter and Andover’s defenses showed why they were two of the best defenses in the conference this season. On their first drives, neither team converted a first down. The game continued with each team trading punts, until senior co-captain Matt Greaves forced a fumble. Two plays later Post Graduate quarterback Vince Sansone threw to senior Joey Hebl on a slant for a large gain. Then after several rushes Exeter advanced to about a yard out of the end zone. On the next play, Sansone rushed to the end zone behind a wall of blockers, giving Exeter a lead in the game. On the extra point attempt, however, Andover broke through to block Exeter’s extra point, making the score 6-0. A few possessions later, Andover responded, scoring a TD and converting on the extra point, putting Andover up 7-6.Big Red looked to regain the momentum, and with a series of runs and a perfectly executed bubble screen to the halfback, Big Red orchestrated one of their longest drives of the game. But, Andover found a way to stay on top. With Exeter only a few yards away from the end zone, an Andover cornerback caught an interception on an underthrown ball. Andover, after narrowly avoiding a Big Red score, ended the half with a kneel. The halftime score remained 7-6.Coming out of the first half, Exeter, fueled by the massive crowd of Exonians cheering them on, looked more fired up than ever. “The crowd was definitely huge: probably the biggest Exeter crowd I've seen,” upper Shayne Holland said.Throughout the year, Big Red was always a second half team and Exeter again had a great start to the second half. Early in the half, Exeter scored their second touchdown on a run from postgraduate Auggy Roberts, but Big Red was not able to convert the two-point conversion following, which put Exeter up 12-7. Meanwhile on defense, Big Red completely halted Andover’s offensive progress in the third half. On one Andover possession, postgraduate Stone Hart astonishingly recorded two back-to-back sacks.With Exeter up 12-7, Andover began the longest drive of the game early in the fourth quarter. The drive, lasting eight minutes, wore Big Red’s defense down. Andover converted on numerous third down chances, and eventually scored on a run with little time left on the clock. “I thought we’d get a stop. All season long, our defense had been tremendous, especially in the second half, and I thought we would be able to keep that trend going,” lower Ben MacLean said.After receiving Andover’s squib kick, Exeter attempted to piece together a winning drive. Although they completed a nice pass to Sansone on a half back pass, Exeter’s boys could not move down the field, and the game ended with Andover catching a tipped pass from Sansone.It was a heartbreaking loss for Big Red. “After the game, we were disappointed. We worked so hard this year to win. We showed up earlier than anyone else, we practiced harder and longer than anyone, so it was disappointing to not meet our goal of a championship,” lower Ben MacLean said. Even with the disappointment, the players still look ahead. Holland believes “that we’ll have a strong team again.”