They Had Us in the First Half Meme Template

This template comes from a viral 2014 post-game interview featuring Apollos Hester, a high school football player for the East View Patriots. His incredibly infectious, high-energy speech began with him acknowledging a difficult start to the game by saying, "They had us in the first half, I'm not gonna lie." In meme culture, it is the definitive visual for reacting to a massive plot twist, a bait-and-switch story, or a situation that started poorly but ended in an unexpected victory.

• Apollos Hester: Smiling broadly with intense positivity, representing The Victor, The Storyteller, or The Relieved Witness.
• The Microphone: Represents The Public Statement or The Reveal.
• The Subtitle: "They had us in the first half, not gonna lie," serves as the anchor for The Twist.