A Family Affair

— By Bob Reinert

Thousands of fans turned out on November 10 to cheer on Exeter teams in their fall match-up with Andover: (clockwise from left) running back James Trummer '02 moves the ball down the field; Red Bandits Lila Ontiveros '02 and Kwabena Safo-Agyekum '02 rally the crowd; and Caroline Bailey '03, Kathleen Sheehan '03 and Jane Kim '03 study their commemorative programs.

It all began in 1878 with a baseball game. Then it became famous for its annual football clashes. But today the Phillips Exeter-Phillips Andover athletic rivalry can be as much about relationships as it is about what happens between the lines of the playing fields. Just ask the McClain and Austin families, who can claim six Exeter alumni/ae between them.

"Any rivalry like that becomes important, especially when you go on," says Mark McClain '74, now an attorney in Cleveland, OH. "A lot of kids you play against you run into elsewhere, and you end up becoming friends."

McClain knows just how important the rivalry can be. Not only did he play in two football games between the schools-both Exeter losses-a former Andover player became his daughter's godfather. And this year his son, Idris McClain '03, appeared in his second straight Exeter-Andover football game. Still, Mark didn't overstate the rivalry to Idris before the younger McClain faced Andover for the first time.

"He told me how Andover was our biggest rival," says Idris, who learned for himself a year ago, when the game was played at Andover. "At first, I was nervous on the ride there. When I saw all of our fans on that side of the field, I was pumped. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime. The week before is a whole season itself. You're always thinking, 'Will we beat Andover this year?' "

The answer this year was no: on November 10, Andover topped Exeter by a score of 48-15. But Idris also knows what it's like to come out on top: last year he helped Exeter clinch a 13-6 victory over Andover. The series record now stands at 62-47-9, in favor of Andover.

A Soccer Dynasty

For Henry (left) and Margaret Austin (right), the Exeter-Andover rivalry is literally a family affair: four of their five children played soccer at Exeter-including daughters Megan '97 (second from left) and Ashley '00 (second from right)-while daughter Natasha (front) opted for Andover. "We've got a lot of blue and red in our house," says Henry. "More red."

Megan Austin '97 and Ashley Austin '00 also know what it's like to win the big game. Each sister scored a game-winning goal in soccer in separate seasons against Andover. During her final year at Exeter, Megan drove home the deciding goal at Andover on a direct kick with five minutes remaining. "The whole game was amazing and very intense," Megan says. "Everyone in the family was there. I still have all the pictures from the end of the game."

As an upper, Megan was captain of a girls' soccer team that also included her older sister, Nicole Austin '96. Although she had already been accepted to Princeton, Nicole had come to Exeter as a postgraduate. "It was really fun," Nicole says. "We had never played together before. It was a great experience playing with her."

Megan and Nicole, both now in investment banking, also played varsity ice hockey and lacrosse together that year and paved the way for Ashley, the last of four Austin siblings at Exeter over a 12-year period (older brother Emmet graduated in 1990). "I think we have a lot of similar strengths and weaknesses," says Megan of the three sisters' athletic gifts. "I had such a good time at Exeter. I kind of encouraged Ashley to go."

Ashley arrived on campus the year after Megan graduated, and played the same three sports as her sisters and matched Megan's game-winning goal against Andover in soccer. "We won and I scored," Ashley says. "All of my sisters were there."

Emmet started his family's era at Exeter as a soccer and squash player, but the eldest sister, Natasha, briefly severed the connection by attending Andover. "She used to come to our games cheering for Exeter and wearing her Andover hat," Megan says.

"We've got a lot of blue and red in our house," adds Henry Austin, their father. "More red." In the driveway of the Austins' Laurel Hollow, NY, home is a 1983 Mercedes that, as of midfall, had close to 300,000 miles on it. The car had, on many occasions, carried Henry and his wife, Margaret, on the 600-mile roundtrip to Exeter. "We did that many times in one day," Henry says.

Girls' soccer coach Hilary Coder can testify to that. "The whole family would always end up coming back for Exeter-Andover," Coder says, "to watch whoever was playing. And they'd have a big tailgate party afterwards and feed the team."

Ashley learned all about the rivalry by watching her older brother and sisters play in the games. "I started going to Andover-Exeter games when I was 6," says Ashley, now a 20-year-old sophomore lacrosse player at Harvard. "I have great memories of my sisters putting face paint on me. The Exeter-Andover experience-I think you can compare that maybe to an NCAA championship game."

Exeter football coach Bill Glennon has a special reason to savor his team's meetings with Andover. The opposing coach is Leon Modeste, Glennon's former teammate at Springfield College. The two men have remained good friends over the years despite the intense rivalry.

"Every Exeter-Andover day, there's always a new highlight," Glennon says. "Faces change, the atmosphere's the same. It's as good as Harvard-Yale. It's as good as Notre Dame-Southern Cal. It's as good as Army-Navy."

To the Austins and McClains, Exeter-Andover is as good as it gets.

For more photos from this year's Homecoming, go to http://phillips.exeter.edu.

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