Pigott is Honored as Sophomore of the Week- October 24, 1997

Right before our game with Lanier, (which was the second game of the aformentioned two game bad stretch), Scott Perkins came to me and offered me the opportunity of a lifetime. Carrying his XXL pants and his pads and belt, he simply said "stuff me Pigott". Extremely excited that I was presented with such a wonderful opportunity, I took my time just in amazement of the sheer size of not only the pads, but of the pants- how could a human being be this large and still be smaller than Mako? After a flawless stuffing job, I returned the pants to Perk, who was very impressed. The reason the stuffing was so perfectly done is because in my early days of varsity football, my goal was simply to look good on the sideline because I knew I'd spend the whole game there. So Perkins, for just one night, was blessed with not only the talent of a starting tackle in 5A, but of the look of a superstar on the sideline- which is a great combination.

Anyway, after a completely forgettable half, which saw Lanier lead us 14-7, Justice was so angry he couldn't argue. I mean seriously, he had a look of shock on his face, because he had just said the previous week that "we ain't a very good football team". *Sidenote- the most ironic thing here is that Lanier also scheduled us for homecoming, which explained the HUGE crowd that night- I think the paper said 10,000 (second week in a row), and the halftime program at Newell Field that night took forever! We always played one game a year there and this had to be the worst!* We pulled out a 27-14 unimpressive win against the doormat of the division that night- but a fire was lit the very next week.......

The Monday we returned to practice in SHOOOOOOOOOOOORTS and SHOULDER PAAAAAAAADS, Perk presented me with a certificate of "Sophmore of the week". Yep, that's right folks, he misspelled sophomore. However, I DO still have the certificate because Perk himself put on the certificate to keep it for future job applications. I haven't needed it yet, but it's there just in case. *Another sidenote- Perkins spelled my name right, which is rare, but misspelled sophomore- wow.* However, I think that moment in which I received that certificate lit a fire in our ass like no other. Not only did we dismantle Greenville that week, in a game where Pigott saw his first ever on field action, we got hot despite losing to Clinton in the season finale and made a run all the way to our first ever North Half Championship Game berth, in which Perkins made his famous "can't you just smell the gold on your finger" speech.

I'm a big believer in fate, and I like to think that my stuffing of Perkins's pants made us a new team. Pigott becoming sophomore of the week, is not only the turning point of that season, but it's the turning point of the PROGRAM.