Week 2: The Paranoia Grows
May 2, 2019
Another week of matchups. Another week of winners and losers. This week saw even tighter competition, close calls, and heated arguments. Stories are getting crazier, and stakes are getting higher. Beyond this point, only the most devoted and competitive teams will be moving forward.
Seniors Dante Mancini and Porter Weisberg proved their devotion almost immediately, bagging the first elimination just under an hour after the start of Week 2. This first point set the tone for many teams, as the duo tracked Senior Margaux Miller far further than she expected anyone would be willing to.
“I was walking around the mall and I was running errands for my parents and my sister… It was only an hour into the week, and I didn’t expect anyone to drive and come get me,” Miller explained.
Miller admits that she was probably underestimating her competition. “I was kinda being stupid and going on Snapchat. I was at Sephora, and I see Dante and Porter walk in. I was so shocked. I saw the Nerf gun and I started running.”
From Mancini’s point of view, the “kill” practically fell into his lap. “The first store we went into happened to be Sephora, and she was in the back,” described Mancini. “We ended up getting yelled at by the people there.”
Their victim ended up receiving the majority of criticism from the mall’s employees.
“My bag broke and the Sephora lady threatened to call the mall cop,” Miller said. “I was asked not to come back to the store.”
Of course, Miller wishes it went differently. Sephora was her last stop for the shopping trip, and she laments the poor timing. After all, Miller realizes it’s all part of the game. Having a good perspective on the matter, Miller utilizes a common phrase of her father’s to cope: “All is fair in love and war.”
Judging from the actions of her competitors, there seems to be a lot more of the latter going around.
Not everyone was as lucky with their early attempts. Senior Priscilla Levy had a brief run-in with the law while pursuing a potential kill, senior George Schoettle.
“So basically, it was Friday, it started at 3:20, and we knew that George, Bobby, and Tommy were coming back from lacrosse. We thought George would take Westleigh back from west campus. But he came up Old Elm and we were hiding on that side of the house,” Levy said.
Levy notes this as the moment the odds shifted out of their favor. In the heat of the moment, most of us can admit that getting a point or two can be more important than anything. In Levy’s case, this included her ‘road etiquette,’ to put it nicely.
Loading ...“We ran to the car, and we started chasing him. He started doing loops in town, but eventually we lost him,” Levy continued. “We went back over to his neighborhood, but when we turned onto his street, there was a stop sign and I didn’t use my turn signal; I got pulled over.”
Luckily, Levy got off with a warning. She says the officer didn’t manage to mark her speed but recommended slower driving on residential roads.
The pace didn’t seem to slow at any point in the week. Just a day after the Sephora execution and botched surprise attack, Senior Luca Pasinato was at work while his teammates went in for the kill.
“Will Davis and Carter Horan go to Maddie Marshall’s House. They parked their car and were trying to sneak to the window, but while they were sneaking up, Maddie’s mom sees them,” Pasinato recounted.
Just before the two could abort the mission, Mrs. Marshall screamed out the door repeating, “SHOOTER! SHOOTER!”
Thankfully, the two were able to escape in pure panic before Mrs. Marshall could bring in backup.
As Horan and Davis made their break away into the car and around the cul de sac, Mrs. Marshall stood, middle of the road, with her dog by her side. Although completely harmless to the game, the Lake Forest mom made hand guns at them in an attempt to scare them off.
Thankfully, the two were able to escape in pure panic before Mrs. Marshall could bring in backup.
This week has taught us that any mistake or misstep can make a huge difference. When you feel the safest or have the greatest confidence, that’s when things can start to go south. Senior Henry Feingold has managed to keep his head above water with this same philosophy.
“You gotta be ruthless, nowhere’s safe,” Feingold recommended. “If you’re sleepin’ you know you’ll get bopped.”
Matchups (Winners Bold)
Parker Kelly’s Team vs. Clare Bradley’s Team
Lauren Tustison’s Team vs. Kyle Mendelson’s Team
Aidan Block’s Team vs. Margaux Miller’s Team
Michael Park’s Team vs. Renee Huang’s Team
Sarah Considine’s Team vs. Max Scholz’s Team
Berkeley Disch’s Team vs. Eleanor Colligan’s Team
Katie Stovold’s Team vs. Tate Dahlgren’s Team
Jake Fisher’s Team vs. Aubrey Moehlenpah’s Team
Ethan Kurian’s Team vs. Sammy O’Connell’s Team*
Nick Wnuk’s Team vs. Nolan Petzer’s Team
Evan Devine’s Team vs. Hannah Atchley’s Team
Zeyad Alam’s Team vs. Cristina Machado’s Team
Alyvia Rohrs’ Team vs. Justin McCartney’s Team
Andrew Fluri’s Team vs. Anna Aquino’s Team
JD O’Keane’s Team vs. Andrew St. Amand’s Team
*Ethan Kurian’s Team won off of the first Mexican Standoff of the competition.
If anyone has any stories they want to share in the upcoming weeks, bring them to Aidan Block or Tatum Litzsinger. They might end up in the next week’s recap!
