On Friday January 16, 2015, the first ever Expository Bowl took place between The Roundup and the Varsity Football team. A classic matchup between a high power offense and a world class defense proved to be a great game.
Prior to the game, many teachers and students such as Mr. Kolker, Mr. Knight, Logan Skinner ’17, Luke Gomez ’16, and Luke Hoffman ’15 all predicted a The Roundup Victory. Headed into the match up, most of Jesuit would have predicted a Roundup Victory which is why the final outcome came as a shock to so many. John Wunderlick ’17 said, “I could not attend this year’s Expository Bowl so when I heard the news I was shocked. It must’ve not been their day because they were a well put together squad and had the necessary weapons for victory.”
The Varsity pulled out the 28-12 victory in a very tough battle that left many of the players shocked and upset. Michael “Prison Mike” Lanham ’15 had this to comment on the game: “Unfortunately, the team did not meet expectations. We played rather bad as compared to our practices.” He also said it was tough to watch UCF commit Bo Schneider ’15 “pretty much pick apart the defense.”
Lanham was able to capitalize for one of The Roundup’s touchdowns when quarterback Jack Durham ’16 hit him in the end zone. Lanham and Sean “The Hammer” Howard
’16 were the only Roundup players able to put points on the board. Quarterback Jack Durham ’16 in particular seemed down about the loss. After numerous attempts to question him about the game, Durham finally responded, “It was a tough battle by both sides but at the end of the day even a blind squirrel finds a nut.” Obviously Durham, like so many other members of the Roundup, was not excited with the outcome of the game.
All purpose player Ryan Brooks ’16 had this to comment on the game: “I thought both teams played hard but it was hard to put up points with that so called ‘officiating.’ You would have thought that Dr. Degen paid the refs a thousand dollars. When it’s all said and done, the football team played better THAT day but we, the rising seniors of The Roundup, are going to get after it next season and set the tone early.” With both refs having connections to The Varsity team, this theory could be a reasonable explanation as to why The Roundup lost. Nate Thompson ’16 also noticed something was odd about the officiating, saying, “They just gotta let the boys play.”
Dom “The Dominator” Ianelli ’15 chalked it up to the “few turnovers and the few touchdowns” that were let up early, and these caused the team to “[get] rattled and [lose] 
confidence.” However, Dom was also one of The Roundup players who was able to get a turnover of his own. He and Nate Thompson were able to snag key interceptions which allowed the Roundup to capitalize. These plays, however, were not enough to change the outcome of the game.
With a lot of key returning players, the Roundup looks strong heading into the second Expository Bowl. With speculations circulating that the junior captains of the Roundup would be playing on the Varsity team next year, I asked Nate Thompson to comment. The only thing he had to say was “I play for the Roundup.”
With a whole year to prepare, I would expect a completely different outcome in next year’s Expository Bowl.
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