By Bruce Karnick and Mark Erickson

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Last week, the message was clear, ‘we’ve got to finish’. The Raiders jumped out to a huge half time lead over Two Rivers but let them back in the game by not finishing plays. The game at Bloomington Jefferson was the Raider team we expected to see all season.

The game started with Hastings receiving the opening kick and a solid return by Rico Cooper put the Raiders in good starting field position. A penalty on the return brought Hastings back to their 13. Hastings looked like they were going to march right down the field and score, but a few key missed opportunities forced the first drive punt.

Jefferson took over on their own 29 and marched 71 yards on seven plays in 3:22 to take the early 7-0 lead. The 4-2 Raiders had just been stunned by the 1-5 Jaguars. Hastings got punched in the mouth, how would they respond?

They responded by shutting down the Jaguars the remainder of the game. Hastings responded by scoring on six consecutive drives and missing scoring on the seventh by just a few feet, and it all started on the offensive line.

The offensive line, Jake Landoll-Bleed, Pacer Ruble, Stephen Reinardy, Owan Glade, Carson Thuet, Cody Vinge and Ben Witt are names you never hear as heroes on the football field. You rarely see their names in the headlines, but they have been the difference this year.

This group of linemen have been controlling the run game and giving the Quarterback time in the pocket to find receivers down field for long gains all season long. Offensive line is often overlooked due to the fact there is no glory in three yards and a cloud of dust. But just remember three times four is twelve, and you can march the ball down the field with three yards on every play. It just so happens that this year the Raiders have had a quite a few long drives. More long drives than recent memory recalls inn Hastings football, full field drives at that.

And now there is always a chance with every cloud of dust with this offensive line, you may see number one coming out of that cloud with a full head of steam that no one can catch. A key thing to remember is, it may have started with Thuet pulling making a big block, Vinge driving his man into the second level or Glade chipping and going and getting the linebacker to spring Freiermuth for a big sixty yarder.

This offensive line has also given the Raiders quarterback time in the pocket this year, to make some big throws. Like Landoll-Bleed, Reinardy, or Rubel picking up the blitzing linebacker or trading a stunt that gives the quarterback a couple of extra seconds to see the receiver uncovered down field. Witt has had a real good year snapping the ball in the pistol then leading the push when the Raiders go heavy with two half-backs and run right behind him. We have seen that play get as much as 15 to 20 yards this year. You can attribute that to the offensive line and their two want-to-be-linemen halfbacks. It’s always exciting to see that formation because you know they are always going to get good yards; you just don’t know how good of yardage.

The offensive line was responsible for 20 total first downs, 38 points in the middle two quarters and 381 total yards of offense including a 67-yard run by Brendan Freiermuth with 4:15 left in the third quarter.

“I just saw the hole my o-line gave me, I broke one tackle and it was off to the races. The moment I got through that hole, I knew I had it, I knew no one was touching me. I just had the mentality of ‘I’m housing this’,” Freiermuth said after the game.

Freiermuth plays a key role on defense too along with teammate John Chorlton, they may be one of the hardest working duos the Raiders have witnessed in a long time. The two seem to always be on the field both on offense and defense. Defensively, they control the linebacking core and according to coaches, may be the best pair of linebackers the Raiders have had in 20 years. The pair have played together since seventh grade and are the kinds of kids that try to help make everyone better.

Growing up, they shared the ball in the backfield and shared the tackles as linebackers.

“I wouldn’t want to tackle him,” explained Chorlton. “He puts the hurt on the tackler when he finishes his run, that’s for sure.”

Freiermuth did just that against Jefferson, finishing the day with 155 yards on 19 rushes and a pair of touchdowns. Chorlton did not see the ball on the offensive side during the Jefferson game.

Defensively, the Raiders had a field day. The second Jaguars possession, Hastings forced a punt, that resulted in the snap going over the punters head and Hastings gaining control at the Jefferson 11. A key pass to John Bezdicek should have been a touchdown but he was ruled down at the one, so Raider QB Axel Arnold punched it in on the next play.

The next series, the Raiders defense held and forced the punt. The offense followed that up with a 47 yard touchdown drive capped off by a 32 yard run from Bezdicek.

Jefferson found some success moving the ball just before the half when Bezdicek jumped in front of an awaiting receiver in the endzone to snag an interception. Hastings then went down the field to score on a Rhys Fillion 28-yard field goal.

At the start of the second half, Jefferson was forced to punt, Freiermuth broke through the line to block it and Tom Kennedy recovered the ball at the Jaguar three. This set up a three-play drive that ended with Freiermuth running it in from the one. Hastings was now up 31-7 with the majority of the second half to go.

Hastings once again stopped the Jaguars giving the Raiders the ball on their own 14. That is where Freiermuth broke through the line for his 67-yard touchdown scamper.

The Raiders held Jefferson two more times before the end of the game. With the lead 38-7, Coach Dana Strain let his kicker, Fillion, have a little fun to see if he could make a 45 yard attempt on their second to last possession. The spot was down, the kick went up and… aaaaannnnnddd……. No good, by about two feet. The kick was dead center, but just short.

Hastings was able to get some looks at younger players toward the end of this game, with Cody Ellworth replacing Arnold at quarterback.

Hastings won the match up 38-7 over a team that never gave up, after the game Coach Strain reflected on their opponent. “They’ve had a tough schedule and when we watch them they’ve played well and we scrimmage them and it was all competitive scrimmage and so you know I’m very happy with the way we played against them they came out ready to play and got a few things on us early there so we had to settle in. We gave up the one score offense came back and evened up scoring. I think that was huge for us to kind of settle us down on the road here and then our kids played really well from there.”

Kennedy had another big game defensively for Hastings, something he credits his coaches for. “Coach Fritze scoured the vault and set us up to do well. We mostly stayed in our base defense, and it worked as you can tell.’ The defense also had a number of huge sacks with Kennedy logging a few of them. “Defensive coverage man, they gave me the time to get to the quarterback by making him wait too long to throw.”

Freiermuth was pleased with the way the team played too, “We really showed up tonight, this was a good football team, their record just doesn’t show it. Honestly, they were one of the better teams we have played, they are physical, they didn’t give up at all. The points were hard points to earn, a really gritty team.”

Offensively, the Raiders were 7/12 passing for 74 yards, a 10.57 average, 307 yards on 40 rushes which was good for 7.675 average and 20 first downs.

Defensively, Hastings allowed 216 yards total, 78 on the ground on 32 attempts which is good for a 2.44-yard average and 138 in the air on 16 attempts for an 8.625 average.

Hastings plays Cretin-Derham Hall on Wednesday night at Todd Field then should have a bye heading into the sectional playoffs. Go Raiders!

Parents, it was requested by another parent that you were told where to find the extra pictures I take during games. The plan is to have the best of the best that do not make the print edition to be part of the online story once the revamp of www. hastingsjournal.news is complete. That will likely not be done until sometime after the snow flies. Once complete, anywhere from 10-30 pics may be added to the digital version of the story. The entire album of pictures, usually over 100 pictures, will always be uploaded to mavericphotography.zenfolio. com. You can go there now and see the series of pictures that are edited and currently uploaded with many more to come.