Highlight: Varsity Football (09/19/2024)

Courtesy of @exeterathletics

By SAM ALTMAN and LOGAN BECKERLE

On Friday, Sept. 13, Big Red’s football team took home a sweeping 35-14 victory against Suffield Academy. After the first half, the score was a one-sided 28-0. The win, accompanied by ample student encouragement on the sidelines, marked Exeter’s first varsity football game this year and set the stage for a great season to come. 

During the game, lower Aryan Agarwal remarked on how the game was going from the sidelines. “Obviously, it’s an amazing display of the dominance of the Phillips Exeter football team. This is another example of how we’re one of the best in our league. Honestly, as a fan, it’s great to see your team commanding the game.”

Upper and defensive end Joe Kim discussed the success of the team. “Out of four offensive drives, we scored on all of them. And our kicker Clavel, who’s been practicing all week, scored all four extra points. So it was really everything coming together.”

Kim continued, “It was important for us to lock down the run game because they’ve got a junior running back who did well for them last year. Our goal was to just shut them down and we did that for the first half so that they weren’t able to get the chains moving.”

“We blew them out in the first half and then in the second half we scored another touchdown while they got two touchdowns on us,” upper offensive and defensive lineman Shaib Abubakar said. 

“The game went very well,” senior kicker Charles Clavel said. “I think as a team we put everything we’ve been doing into practice.”

Senior Caspar Bailey, also a member of varsity football, noted the diversity of success of the team. “Seeing everyone from our PGs to freshmen making plays was definitely a highlight.”

“I think #5 has put on a great display, incredibly entertaining. The way he moves the ball, the composure he keeps on the field, the way he uses his opponents’ momentum against them to move them in the opposite direction — it’s just a beautiful display of athleticism,” Agarwal said.

“On the defensive side of things, I thought we were especially good with our blitz packages; our linebackers were really strong this game,” Kim reflected.

“We were a bit worried about them from the start. They do have D1 commits all across the line and they had a lot of people being looked at. The Dartmouth head coach was also there, so there was a lot of pressure on our players, but ultimately we just did what we were supposed to do,” Kim said. 

“Even in the summer, we were watching a lot of their films and reviewing their plays. We’ve been preparing a long time for this season and game,” Abubakar commented.

Bailey agreed. “We’ve been preparing for Suffield since our first Zoom meeting in July, so we’ve been building up to this game for months.”

However, there were some surprises. Bailey continued, “Suffield actually came out in a completely different defensive front than expected. Having game-planned for a 4-2 front, we were surprised when Suffield came out in a 3-3 that caused us to have to make some in-game adjustments.”

On the sidelines, the student section gradually grew throughout the game, peaking somewhere around halftime. A number of students, including the coheads of Big Red Zone, led the crowd in cheering for Exeter. Additionally, lots of faculty and parents showed up to support the players. Thanks to the organized theme of “White-Out,” by Big Red Zone, Exonians were all wearing white clothing, many in face paint too. 

“The vibes have been really fun because Big Red Zone has really been coming through this year. I really hope they make this a tradition in the future. The atmosphere of school spirit is important also. If Big Red Zone comes back, with the DJ and everything, I’ll definitely go to more games,” lower Marco Rodriguez commented.  

“At halftime, when it was 28-0 Exeter, the front of the student section was especially very energetic,” upper Martin Yau remarked. “ Whenever someone caught a ball a long way down the field, everyone erupted in applause and cheered, even blowing trumpets.”

“The crowd was in the game. The vibes were immaculate. Most everyone showed up in white to support the team,” agreed upper Christian Salaun. 

Varsity football is looking forward to the upcoming games with high spirits. “I think we have high morale after that first win, and I think we’re going into the second game strong,” Abubakar concluded. 

Kim agreed. “Go Big Red.”