The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) does not allow full contact during the first week of preseason football practices, so the Blue Gold Scrimmage provided the Raiders a valuable opportunity to see how the players respond in a higher-pressure, full-contact, game-like situation on the second day of full contact.

Todd Field was divided into two sections: the ninth and tenth grade squads competed on the east end near Highway 61, while the JV and Varsity teams played on the west end near the parking lot. Coaches ran the teams through a variety of scenarios, primarily allowing the players to start from the 40-yard line and play the game.

On the Varsity end, the first-team offense faced the first-team defense, and then the second team took on the second team. After cycling through these matchups several times, coaches mixed up the player combinations and shifted players between offense and defense to evaluate different configurations.

Lukas Foss took most of the first-team snaps at quarterback, while Kyan Esterby handled most of the second-team snaps. Both quarterbacks performed well and maintained their composure. Junior Mark Svoboda also took third-team reps at quarterback and did well during his brief time on the field.

Offensively, Jack Cloutier, Cole Zeien and several other receivers made impressive catches, and the entire team seemed to enjoy the evening.

After the practice session, we caught up with Lukas Foss for a quick interview.

What was your focus during the scrimmage?

“I’m just getting down to my reads, making sure everyone’s having fun out there. That’s really what this is—just to get a taste of real contact before our first game and go out there and get a confidence boost and have fun,” he said.

How does your second season as the starting quarterback feel different?

“I feel a lot more confident in everything, like my reads and my guys. I am really excited for this year,” he added.

What has surprised you so far this season?

“Our sophomore linemen have stepped up immensely. They have been tremendous, hammering in the run game and protecting in the passing game just as we need them to,” said Foss.

Head Coach Dana Strain provided insight into the importance and process of the Blue Gold Scrimmage.

“Well, really, it is to give our kids some live action since we don’t get to go full contact until week two. It’s a way for us to go live, and the kids understand that it’s live. It’s also our first really good evaluation where you can see kids go live in a little bit of a game setting. It adds a little bit of nerves to it. You see a couple of dropped balls that you might not see in practice. So, it’s good for kids to get some of that stuff out of them, snapping under a little bit more pressure than they would in a typical practice. All of those types of things. For us, it’s a real good evaluation tool to start to look and see some differences that are hard to see sometimes in practice,” he said.

Strain noted that the coaching staff had only six days of practice leading up to the Blue Gold Scrimmage.

“You stand here on Tuesday of week two, and you think, ‘Oh my god, we’re way behind. We’ve got so much we haven’t gotten to yet.’ You have to remind yourself that you’re six days in. This is the first time we have really gone hard. The first official contact that we’ve had was yesterday, Monday. So, we’re just kind of getting started on it, but that’s why this is an important night for us. Then when we get to see it on film, it’ll help the kids learn,” Strain added.

Strain felt that the scrimmage revealed many positives.

“We had a few bad snaps, but once we got the flow of that, we were really good. I thought we made great efforts. We saw a few kids run the ball real hard. We saw some younger kids make some plays. We saw two quarterbacks throw a couple of dots, which was really cool to see. I thought there was a lot of good, and when we get it on film, there will be a lot of things we can clean up and work from there. We’re six days in, so there are going to be some mistakes. It’s good to get the stuff on film so you can show the kids and talk them through it and work on shaking out things,” explained Strain.

He also mentioned that Saturday’s multi-team scrimmage in Cottage Grove would be crucial for solidifying the starters, as the Raiders will have the opportunity to practice against Cretin-Derham Hall, Park and Anoka.

Hastings opens the season on Thursday, August 29, at 6:30 p.m. at home against Owatonna.