Doesn't remember a darn thing about it, though.
He was 2 months old.
Safe to say, he will remember a lot more about this title game.
Pfieffer is now a junior at Edmond Santa Fe and the starting quarterback for the Wolves, who will face Jenks for the Class 6A-I title Saturday afternoon. He is trying to soak up every moment. Every practice. Every meeting. Every conversation.
"I'm just trying to have as much fun as I can," he said.
Same goes for his dad.
Roger Pfieffer is the quarterback coach at Edmond Santa Fe — yes, he coaches his son — and while they have been around the program together for as long as Scott has been alive, this week is different. The Wolves are back in the state championship game for the first time since 2003, and the infant who Roger held back then is now his 17-year-old quarterback.
"We try not to talk about it too much," Roger said. "It's very emotional, and you can get yourself caught up in it too much."
But he knows how special this is. Getting to the finals is a hard thing to do; the biggest classification in the state has been dominated by east-side teams, this Edmond Santa Fe team being only the fourth squad from the west to make the finals since the Wolves went in 2003. But for the Pfieffers to make the title game together? Roger wants to soak up every moment just like Scott.
"You don't want to look back in 20 or 30 years from now and not remember," Roger said.
This might be hard to forget.
The Pfieffers, you see, are Edmond Santa Fe lifers. Or that's how it seems.
Even though Roger grew up in Yukon, played football at Oklahoma State in the mid-1990s, then coached at U.S. Grant and Northwest Classen, he has spent almost half of his life at Edmond Santa Fe. He's been on the coaching staff more than 20 years, and even though the head coaches have changed, he has remained.
Along the way, he mentored Brandon Weeden, Ty Hensley and Justice Hansen.
But none of those quarterbacks, as good as they were, were as important to him as Scott.
Roger and Shannon Pfieffer welcomed the first of their three children into the world on Oct. 10, 2003, smack in the middle of the football season. They were figuring out parenthood at the same time Edmond Santa Fe was charging toward the state finals. But even with middle-of-the-night diaper changes and all-hours-of-the-day feedings, Roger doesn't remember feeling overwhelmed when Scott was born.
"It was just a magical year," he said.
Shannon brought Scott to every game, even as a newborn. After going with his mom as an infant and toddler, Scott soon joined his dad on the sidelines.
"And I was always that kid who used to bother the players all the time," Scott said with a smile.
Roger, who is fairly sure Scott has never missed an Edmond Santa Fe football game in his life, said, "He was kind of the honorary get-back coach at a very, very young age."
When Scott started playing football in fourth grade, he wanted to be a receiver, but his dad and his coach thought he should try quarterback. Scott, after all, had probably already seen more football and been around the game than most of teammates combined.
Roger coached Scott a couple of years — fifth and sixth grade — but these past few years have taken the pair to a much higher level. Even though Scott wasn't the varsity starter the past two years, Roger still coached him.
"I honestly think, especially this year, it's actually brought us closer," Roger said as Scott nodded his agreement. "We've learned to agree to disagree when it comes to the football part, and I had to learn to kind of step away, let him make his own decisions."
Both give lots of credit to Shannon for keeping the peace. She told her husband and son early on that when they were on the football field, it should be all about football.
"But once we walk off the field and get in our car," Roger said, "it's family."
Shannon didn't want any football talk at home either.
The pandemic has changed that a bit — shutdowns didn't keep Roger and Scott from watching film at home, but having that separation has been important. It has made for a healthier relationship, and the results have been nothing short of spectacular.
Scott has thrown for 2,217 yards with 29 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. He's completed 68.6 percent of his passes, and even though he's not Edmond Santa Fe's biggest star — OSU linebacker commit Collin Oliver or OU receiver commit Talyn Shettron vie for that honor — Pfieffer has been instrumental to the team's success.
"This year might be the funnest year that I've ever played football," Scott said. "It's also better when I have my dad there on the sidelines, talking me through every play."
He's having a blast.
So is his dad.
Roger and Shannon were looking through photos of Scott the other day, and they marveled at pictures of Roger holding Scott during that 2003 season. Even bundled up against the cold, Scott wasn't much bigger than a football.
Now, he's throwing one around for Edmond Santa Fe.
"It's gone so fast," Roger said, "but to see him grow and then just mature over the years to become the young man that he is, it ... Click here to read full article
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