Habersham Central High junior running back Jackson Clouatre takes a moment to work through the loss of his team’s last game of the season. (Daniel Purcell/Now Habersham)
It wasn’t the way the Raiders wanted to go out, losing to the Apalachee Wildcats 56-49. As the final moments ticked off the clock in Barrow County on November 8, junior running back Jackson Clouatre tried to take it all in on the sidelines.
“In that moment I was asking myself ‘why?’ I’ve put in so much work and we still came up short,” he tells Now Habersham.
The Raiders had a good run of it early in the season. They won two straight non-conference games against neighboring county rivals, White County and Stephens then stretched their win streak to three with a win over the Franklin County Lions. They even won the High Five Sports Hand Trophy from Fox 5 News in Atlanta for their big win over Stephens County: It was the first Raider win over the Indians in 23 years.
But those early victories faded as the Raiders moved into region play. Five straight region games. Five straight losses.
“I was also just so down not only for me but for the seniors,” Clouatre says about this moment captured by the lens. “I’m a junior and it hurt bad enough, so, I can’t imagine their pain.”
Despite the disappointing season, Clouatre says he’s still determined and dedicated to his goal.
“I would love to be going to college to play football and I will work my butt off to get that dream to come true.”
