Chesterton senior wide receiver Louis Raffin, who is a part of a large, prominent family, knows what’s possible even in difficult circumstances.
Raffin missed the first eight games of last season with a broken collarbone. After he played in the regular-season finale, his grandfather Richard Raffin died a day before the Trojans played Michigan City in the Class 5A sectional semifinals. The funeral was the same day of the sectional championship game against Valparaiso.
Overcoming the odds, or perhaps turning them in his favor, Louis Raffin had four catches for a career-best 105 yards and a touchdown against Michigan City and had four catches for 81 yards and a TD against Valparaiso.
“There was a lot going on with those three games,” he recalled. “My grandpa, my nonno, had just passed away. Using that as motivation, I felt like I was on another level. I felt like mentally I needed to have a good game for him. With his funeral being on the same day as the Valpo game in sectionals, like my whole family was there. I have like 70 cousins, and talking to them now, I find out every day that somebody else was there that I didn’t even know about at first.
“So it was really cool to have the family support, to have the motivation. Knowing my grandpa was looking over me, I wanted to have a good game for him. There were so many motivating factors that made me play so well in those three games. That’s a big thing I’m trying to get right now mentally. I need to be more motivated, if I’m being completely honest with myself.”
Still, the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Raffin has team highs of 15 catches for 154 yards and two TDs for the Trojans (2-2), who will play Valparaiso in a Duneland Athletic Conference game on Friday, and he has also carried the ball seven times for 38 yards.
“Louis does a great job,” Chesterton coach Mark Peterson said. “We really missed him being on the field last year. He would’ve been a definite help and a guy we could’ve gotten the ball to. We did a nice job with the receiver position last year, but we needed another threat that was going to be a little more of a vertical threat and jet-sweep threat, and he’s able to do that for us this year.”
Indeed, Raffin hoped to provide that kind of threat last year after becoming a starter in the middle of his sophomore season. But he suffered the broken collarbone during a practice just days before the Trojans’ opener against Hobart.
“Junior year, I was the only receiver coming back with varsity experience,” he said. “I felt like it was going to be my year. I was excited. I had a really good summer. Then I got injured. Ultimately, I truly believe God has a plan. That’s what my parents repeated to me when maybe I got down a little. It was hard not to get negative and not think about what could have been. But it didn’t happen, and I needed to approach it with what I had.
“I genuinely believe those three games — having as much fun as I had playing football, learning not to take it for granted — really fed into my approach for this year. I feel like I’m more hungry this year, just trying to prove myself because I’m still pretty under the radar. I’m just trying to help the team. That honestly was the hardest part. This year, I’m trying to be a contributing factor all throughout the season.”
Raffin began preparing for his return during Week 7 last season and was medically cleared to play against Crown Point in Week 8. But the decision was made to err on the side of caution and hold him out until Week 9.
Raffin said he had “a little mental block” in his first game back but recalled taking a hit “directly on my collarbone” in the early going. He realized it didn’t hurt and that he’d be OK.
“When I came back, I wasn’t necessarily the strongest,” he said. “With my collarbone, I couldn’t do much in the weight room. The strength really wasn’t there. I still felt a little fragile. I still felt a little hesitant when it came to physicality, just knowing I had that injury.”
But Raffin was impressive all the same. In three games, he totaled nine catches for 205 yards and two TDs plus four carries for 24 yards and a TD.
“It’s by far the most fun I’ve had playing football, and it happens to be the three best games I’ve ever played too,” he said. “It was the most exciting football I’ve ever played in my life just because I was just happy to be out there. After staying on the sideline for that long and seeing my teammates play without me, it’s not easy. I just remember the energy at those games. I just came out as sort of an unknown. Everybody on our team knew what I was capable of from the summer, but I wasn’t able to show that, which was mentally hard for me, to be honest.
“When I was coming back, it was all about just going out there and playing to what I believe was my potential. Just because of all of those games I missed, I knew not to take it for granted. By the end of the season, practices can get a little hard, you start to feel a little worn down, it gets a little repetitive. But I didn’t really have that at all. Every day, I was just super happy to be out there.”
So when the Trojans lost 28-21 to Valparaiso, falling short of a first-ever sectional title for the program, Raffin was left wanting.
“When we lost my third game, I felt I had a whole season to play,” he said. “I had so much energy. Part of that was my teammates. They were always encouraging. They always believed in me, even when I felt a little pressure, like, ‘Will I be able to go out there and do what I was doing before?’ But they were always confident in me, always encouraging me. When I came back and did well, they celebrated that, and when I made mistakes, they lifted me up.”
Teammates like senior linebacker Roberto Stabolito understood Raffin was doing everything he could.
“On the field, he puts in as much effort as any of us,” Stabolito said. “At the end of the day, he’s never one to slack in the weight room. Out here, he’s always trying to take his reps. He always does what he needs to do.
“We know he’s an athlete. You can tell just by looking at him.”
Raffin also showed that during track season in the spring. He was one of three juniors on the Trojans’ 1,600 relay team that placed seventh at the state meet after winning sectional and regional titles. That group had qualified for state in 2024 as well.
Raffin, who also qualified for state in the 400 and competes in the long jump, said he doesn’t believe the relay team has hit its peak.
“Just getting that experience of being on the podium, we really didn’t know what to expect,” Raffin said. “Now we want to go for that top spot, at least top three, I’m thinking.”
Raffin also wouldn’t mind setting program records in the process.
“More selfishly, I want to get the name ‘Raffin’ back on that record board,” he said. “I remember as a kid seeing all my siblings’ names up there, and it’s been a while since a Raffin has broken one.”
Raffin, the 12th of 13 children, also noted it had been some time since someone in his immediate family had played football for the Trojans.
“I have seven sisters between my last brother and me, so it’s been a while since my family has been involved in football,” he said.
Raffin’s father, Rich, a 1979 Chesterton graduate, is a member of the Indiana Football Hall of Fame. He was an all-state player and North/South All-Star and later became a captain and team MVP at Northwestern.
“He’s had a ton of family come through the program,” Peterson said of Louis Raffin. “There was a period between his siblings and his cousins, we had Raffins in the program for about 25 years. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but probably not far off.”
Raffin is trying to figure out his college plans. He’s considering studying engineering at Purdue, where his family has extensive ties academically and athletically, or pursuing a pre-med track, likely elsewhere.
“My main focus is academics,” Raffin said. “I’m going to look for a school for academics, then see what my options are for track and football. I just might want to enjoy college.
“Any decision is going to be hard. Whether I let go of football and track, that’s not going to be easy. I’ve basically been playing sports my whole life. It’s been my whole life, it seems like. But obviously it’s a huge commitment. I just have to weigh my options.”
Raffin sees no other option than to give 100% in his final season with the Trojans.
“I’m starting to make a couple of plays,” he said. “I’m just trying to help my team in any way I can. I’ve been blocking a lot better this year as opposed to last year, noticeably. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot stronger, and that’s helped a lot. I’m just approaching it as unselfish football. If we’re going to run the ball a lot, I know I have to block my butt off to make that work. As long as we’re moving the ball, I’m happy.
“Our main focus is winning that sectional. Obviously, we haven’t gotten it yet. That’s really the focus every year.”