The Hastings Raiders Football team made a quick trip north to Mendota Heights to take on Two Rivers Friday night. Despite a strong initial performance from the defense, the Raiders ultimately fell 35-14.
The first quarter had the game shaping up to be competitive. Two Rivers took the opening kickoff and marched methodically down the field on a 10 play, 80-yard touchdown drive to go up 7-0.
The Raiders responded with a monstrous kickoff return. Cole Zeien took the ball from the Raiders 8-yard line straight up the center of the field before he broke out wide ultimately being pushed out at the Two Rivers 30 yard line. The offense took over with a 30-yard, four play scoring drive that culminated with a 1-yard Zeien touchdown.
Two Rivers looked to be marching down the field for a second time, barely missing on a 40-yard pass to the endzone. Two plays later, the Raiders Kyan Esterby intercepted a pass returning it five yards giving the Raiders offense a chance. Unfortunately, Hastings was not able to move the ball, and they were forced to punt.
Two Rivers kept Hastings off the board the remainder of the first half, and Hastings did not help themselves with a streak of events that snowballed. A bad snap cost the Raiders 21 yards and that was followed up with a interception that the Warriors took back to the Hastings 29.
By the time the first half ended, Two Rivers was up 21-7. Hastings took the ensuing kickoff back to midfield giving the offense a great starting point at the Raiders 47. The offense went four and out giving the ball back to the Warriors at their own 44. A few plays later, Carter Herman-O’Brien made a leaping catch for an interception, a no doubt pick six with half the Raiders blocking for the return. Halfway through the third quarter, Hastings trailed 21-14.
The Raider defense made a great defensive stand forcing a Two Rivers punt that went into the endzone. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Raiders sideline put the Raiders on their own ten. A few plays later, a Raider fumble gave the Warriors another short field and they made Hastings pay quickly with a three-play touchdown drive to go up 28-14 which was aided by another Raider frustration penalty, a late hit out of bounds.
On the subsequent drive, Hastings started on their own one and they were quickly forced to punt giving the ball back to the Warriors at the Raider 42. Two plays later, the Warriors Drew Altavilla tossed his third touchdown, a 37-yard dime to Johnny Laugerman, to put the Warriors up 35-14.
Hastings was not able to do anything offensively with their final two drives of the game, which finished 35-14.
Defensively, Barret Boardman had a career day in the mix in most of the tackles throughout the night. The defense had 62 plays giving up 322 yards. The run defense was solid keeping Two Rivers to only 104 yards on the ground on 35 carries for 2.97 yards.
Offensively, the Raiders had 105 yards on the ground for a 4.38 average. Zeien led Hastings with 13 carries for 62 yards and a touchdown. Lukas Foss was 8-for-18 through the air, a 44 percent completion rate gaining 87 yards. Matt Foss led the Raiders with four catches for 54 yards.
At times, Hastings looked very undisciplined with a number of frustrations induced bad penalties; late hits out of bounds and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. The penalties plus the other mistakes, like bad snaps, added to the Raiders shooting themselves in the foot far too many times. It is early in the season yet, so there is plenty of time to work out these kinks and with the next game being against Mahtomedi, it will be a surprise to see similar issues.
Even with the self-induced setbacks the Raiders took some steps forward. The run defense was very good against an offensive line that was twice their size. There were several instances that there were Raiders in the backfield interrupting a run play. Offensively, the run game stepped up from last week earning yards in smaller, more consistent chunks versus that one big home run type chunk.
The Raiders schedule does not get any easier with a trip up to Mahtomedi scheduled for Friday the 13th at 7:00 p.m. then a return home on September 20th against Bloomington Jefferson at 6:30 p.m. for homecoming which will feature the homecoming court and the new MSHSL team, the Hastings Dance Team at halftime.