His first day on the job, Philip Pigott had one major goal for Petal’s defense: Turn the unit into South Mississippi’s finest, AKA ’SoFi’. As subjective a title as that is, hard not to consider the Panthers, who have consistently rode solid defenses to long playoff runs in recent years.
How have they done it? Have they rode the coattails of four or five-star prospects? Or played weak competition? No and definitely no.
Pigott says it all starts with a certain mindset that goes beyond pure talent. Pretty simple, actually.
“It’s about being better than the guy across from you or working as a team when you need a stop on third down,” Pigott said. “Then are you gonna get the job done?”
With under the radar prospects like Tyrek Moody, Charlie Marlowe, Chris Monroe, Detric Carter and Joseph Peters, the Panthers have done that and more in recent years and especially in the playoffs.
The latter, Peters, is now a freshman at East Central Community College and is listed at 5-foot-9, 150 pounds at defensive back. He’s also coming off a 10 tackle performance against Pearl River. Really the perfect example of what you’re gonna get out of a Petal Panther, former or current.
“Joseph is one they wrote off, but size never mattered to him,” Pigott said. “It’s not about that. Then you look at the guys we’re playing with. Kobe Windham is one of our leading tacklers right now. I don’t know it exactly off the top of my head, but he’s about 145 pounds and maybe 5-foot-9. Doesn’t matter.”
“I knew I had the ability. I just needed the opportunity,” Windham, a junior defensive back, said. “I just waited and practiced hard every day.”
Now an integral part of ‘SoFi’, Windham is giving 110% to live up to those that came before him. The same can be said for senior linebacker Hunter Cripps, one of the Panthers’ few returning starters from last season.
“I would say we are living up to it,” Cripps said. “The first two years, we tried to be a defensive unit and get our identity. This year, we just found our identity, and I think we’re going to be something special.”
Led by players like Cripps, Windham, Marquise Bridges, Trey Clifton, Zy Magee, Charles Newsome, Nataurean Watts, Luther Woullard and a handful of others, Pigott’s defense is getting closer and closer to where it’s been in years past. Sure, there’s still some unknowns, but Pigott isn’t worried. Rosters change, expectations do not.
“We may bust a play or see someone run off on us, but you’re going to see 11 white hats chasing them as hard as they can,” Pigott concluded. “If we lose on a Friday night and play the best we can play, there’s a lesson to be learned there. We’re going to be the best Petal Panther defense we can be. We’ll leave the wins and losses to however it shakes out.”
Photo courtesy of Mark Magee, PetalSportsFan.com
