Senior Zach Donegan (top row, third from right) poses with fellow senior teammates at Billy Henderson stadium on Nov. 16 2018 pose for picture after defeating East Paulding 24-7 in the second round of the playoffs. For Donegan, the team’s win in their last game against East Paulding High School was a rewarding way to end his high school football career. “This win meant a lot to all of us seniors, it feels really good for to come home to Death Valley one last time and come away with a win,” Donegan said. Photo courtesy of Sarah Clark
Sports staffer Zach Donegan reminisces on his ending football career.
No matter what sport I play, people always say, ”You look like a football player.”
On Nov. 23, at the snap of a finger — or more literally, at the buzz of the scoreboard — my football career was over. Just like that. After playing football for over 10 years of my life, it feels like a part of my identity has been taken away from me.
Clarke Central High School senior Zach Donegan smiles for a picture on the sideline of a Stonehenge Panthers youth football at a game in fall of 2011. Donegan felt his time playing for the Stonehenge Panthers was a beneficial later in his football career. “I felt at home playing with my friends on Stonehenge and I ended up playing with some of them again at CCHS,” Donegan said. Photo courtesy of Sarah Clark
As a little boy in the South, football surrounded me. I remember being in the first grade and rushing home to watch the NFL Network at 4 p.m. I was like a human encyclopedia of football knowledge before I was even allowed to play.
I remember when my mother finally told me I could join my first youth football team, the Stonehenge Panthers. My youth football career was amazing and I wouldn’t trade those days for anything. For me, there was nothing like the feeling of waking up early on Saturday mornings and playing the game I loved with my best friends.
Clarke Central High School seniors Zach Donegan and Edrin Summerour stand on opposing teams in 2012. Although they played on opposing teams for awhile, the two would later go on to play football together at Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School.“Me and Zach played at Mon Don together. We built a great relationship and had one good football season at Mon Don and built a bond that can’t be broken,” Edrin said. Photo courtesy of Sarah Clark
After my youth football days, I played for Malcom Bridge Middle School and the game became more serious. We had practice every day instead of just Tuesdays and Thursdays, and football began to take over my life. With the team at Stonehenge, I had been playing for the fun of it, not just to win.
I never lost a game in my middle school football career, but it wasn’t the same as my youth football days. With the middle school team, sometimes the work we had to put in to win overshadowed my childhood love of the game.
To begin my freshman year, I was given the opportunity to play for Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School, and the next three years of football were enjoyable, but plagued by one thing: losing. I had an amazing three years at MDCHS and I was very comfortable, but after MDCHS ended the football program my junior year, I knew I wanted to transfer to a school that valued football as much as I did.
My mother proposed Clarke Central High School, her alma mater. I had always heard about CCHS football and even went to some games growing up, but I had never dreamed I’d actually have the opportunity to play for them.
At CCHS, I was reunited with many of my Stonehenge youth football teammates. Playing for CCHS was more challenging than for MDCHS and I loved that.
Looking back, I had an amazing season. We had tons of adversity, winning and losing, but in the end, our team came together in the playoffs and gave everything we had. I can honestly say my senior year was my best football season I’ve had since Stonehenge.
Clarke Central High School football players Zach Donegan, Jontavis Elder, Jamorris Hart, Derrick Johnson and Jacob Dula (front) pose for a photo on the sideline during the CCHS game against Johnson High School on Oct. 25. “It was a pretty good season. I’ve been playing varsity all four years so just seeing a lot of change of leadership in those years, honestly this year was just a good year,” Hart said. Photo by Naomi Hendershot
Our coaches would always tell us the season would be over before we knew it, and I never knew what they meant until the season ended.
Some of my most cherished memories are from my years of playing the game with my brothers in pads, and although my football career is over, it will always be a part of me. I’ve made the choice to go to a larger school as a normal student, as opposed to being a student-athlete at a school I wouldn’t love.
I was always ready for the season to be over, but this season, it’s over forever.
