The Raiders football season came to an end at Two Rivers high school on Tuesday night, Oct 24. The weather did not help Hastings in the 14-0 loss. Not only did it rain the majority of the game, but it was also heavy rain as can been seen in the photos of the game. Heavy rain does not help a pass reliant high school offense.

The game started with Two Rivers marching down the field using their big linemen to push the Raiders around at will. The Warriors made it to the Raider 21-yard line where several Raiders took down the Warrior runner. Hastings came up with the ball and the officials called it a fumble. Things looked to be going Hastings’ way from the start. Unfortunately, the Raiders punted a few plays later and only made it past the 50 yard line once later in the game.

The Raiders offense at times this season and they faced a tough challenge in the Section 3AAAAA playoff game at Two Rivers with Hastings putting up a total of 77 yards of offense on 39 plays to Two Rivers 241 yards over 51 plays. Both teams had one offensive turnover, the fumble described above for Two Rivers and an interception on the third Raider drive.

Cole Zeien led the Raiders on the ground with 15 carries for 59 yards of the 57 total rushing yards gained. Ryan Clemens had seven yards on three carries.

Through the air, Cloutier and Kyan Esterby each had one reception for two yards, Creed Peterson and Brady Nickel each had one reception for four yards and Matt Foss led the Raiders with one catch for eight yards. Lucas Foss threw 16 times, completing five for a total of 20 yards.

Defensively, Hastings saw 51 plays and allowed 241 yards, plus two touchdowns. The defense did get one fumble recovery.

For the season, Hastings finished with a record of 2-7 overall and 1-3 in the conference.

Season stats:

Offensively, the Raiders scored 87 total points on the season over nine games for a 9.667 points per game average. The defense gave up 223 points total for a 24.778 points per game average. Here are the rest of the end of the season stats courtesy of Raider Statistician Dick Cragg.

With the season over, the Journal would like to thank the players, the coaching staff especially head coach Dana Strain, Dick Cragg, Sarah Wasvick, Sara Knoll and countless others who helped make the coverage of the Raider football team possible. To the kids that will graduate this year, this is not your last chance to go make something good happen, keep that drive to succeed alive and go change the world. Thanks for allowing me to be part of the last few seasons of Raider football.