Coach Pogue Cried, Seriously- Meridian Game- September 1997

Ok this game stands out for a ton of reasons. Besides being one of the marquee matchups in 5A that week, I remember the following things about this game:

• The stadium was very old, but is a very historic stadium. Meridian has been playing there since the 1920's and were 1933 National Champions.
  
• We fumbled twice inside the 5.
  
• We ate dinner at Quincy's before the game along with cheerleaders. While we were leaving, Justice saw The Meridian Star in a newspaper machine outside Quincy's and bought it after he saw the headline.....more on that in a second.
• For some reason, the coaches were mad at DeLoach. He didn't play but 3 snaps at tight end in this game, but he still long snapped. Derrick Garner started on both sides of the ball and played the whole game. I remember he could barely stand up towards the end of the game. Then, they moved him to tackle the next year- go figure.
• Cedric Thompson also didn't start at fullback in this game. I thought this was weird because Cedric was our leading rusher against Louisville. Derrick Douglas, after starting at right defensive end against Louisville, got moved BACK to offense. He then, like I said, fumbled once and then cause a fumble on a missed block inside the 5.
• Delvin Fleming busted his ass on the track after he slipped because of the cleats we all wore.
• Scott Perkins tried to steal all the pizza after the game. Damn that's the most happy Justice ever got with the food ya know?
  
• We ran into a train on the bus on the way home (we had to ride yellow dogs) and abunch of cars pulled next to us talking shit from their car.
  
• Jermaine McDonald had 3 INTS, including the game icer. Jermaine had 0 career INTS going into the game, but then had 3. As soon as he picked off the 3rd one, Pogue grabbed Taylor AND Nowell by the neck and hugged them like a little kid. He then started clapping and tears flowing from his eyes. He kept pacing the sidelines just shedding tears after a great win in which we won 17-6. One of my all time favorite moments.
• This is one of the only times I ever remember wearing the all white on the road. I think we wore the next week again against Grenada, but I don't remember it ever being worn after that.
  

Ok, back to the newspaper article. The cover of The Meridian Star that day said "Wildcats should get in win column tonight." The article went on to talk about how Madison Central was overrated and how we always lost to battle tested teams in the playoffs after playing a cupcake non conference schedule. Justice got everyone ready to fight someone in that locker room when he goes:

"This is the Meridian Damn Star- I mean read this shit! This is what people think about us! Well let me tell you something, jack. By god we're gonna play some battle tested teams this year! The days of playing Pelahatchie, Puckett, and school for the deaf are over. Now let's go out and jump in their shit!".

For those of you who don't remember our non-conference schedule that year was Louisville, at Meridian, at Grenada, and South Panola.....stay tuned for columns about all of those games.