By Derek Simon

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Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Minnesota High School Football League originally planned on a spring season. They later revisited the idea and instead decided to start the season later in the fall and they decided to shorten the regular season from eight games to six. The playoffs also would be shortened, there would only be section playoffs. The news was disappointing to many of us, but at least a season would be played.

The Raiders season started on October 9th at Henry Sibley. Hastings would shut out the Warriors 12-0, earning their 10th straight victory over Henry Sibley. The season then took a turn for the team as they dropped their final five games of the regular season. The Raiders then entered the section playoffs with a home game against the Bloomington Kennedy Eagles. The playoff’s stated out much like the regular season, as the defense dominated in a 12-3 victory over the Eagles.

On the following Wednesday, the Governor decided to pause youth and high school sports. The last day any teams would be able to play football this season would be on that Friday. On that Friday morning, Apple Valley announced they would be unable to participate in their semi-final against Henry Sibley due to the COVID virus. This left three teams that could play in Hastings, Henry Sibley, and St. Thomas. The decision was made to play a section final game between Henry Sibley and St. Thomas and that the Raiders season would end. The reasons given were that Hastings was the lowest seed, and that Hastings was able to play a section game previously where the other teams had not. The silver lining in this tough decision is that the Raiders seniors were sent out with a victory.

Those Eighteen seniors listed on the varsity roster are: Jacob Sandquist, Logan McGrath, X’Zavier Duetsch, Joey Millner, Michael Gruwell, John Garcia, Joey Roche, Simon Hedin, Lucas Knoll, Cameron Olsen, Jaxon Schiller, Ben Teigland, Mathias Weiland, Jeremiah Schumacher, Ben McKinney, Jacob Wichern, Preston Kage, and Hunter Schauer.

The individual stats for passing: Axel Arnold 35-86 for 415 yards with 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, Jacob Sandquist 22-47 for 324 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

The individual stats for rushing: Brenden Freiermuth 68 carries for 227 yards and 1 touchdown, Payton Burow 65 carries for 237 yards, Axel Arnold 43 carries for 101 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 two point conversion, Joey Millner 15 carries for 76 yards, John Chorlton 13 carries for 48 yards, Jacob Sandquist 13 carries for a negative 39 yards, Johnny Bezdicek 3 carries for 4 yards.

The individual stats for receiving: Stephen Reifenberger 25 catches for 337 yards and 6 touchdowns, Joey Millner 14 catches for 144 yards, Lucas Knoll 10 catches for 96 yards, Rico Cooper 5 catches for 63 yards and 1 touchdown, Johnny Bezdicek 1 catch for 72 yards and 1 touchdown, Payton Burow 1 catch for 22 yards.

The individual stats for special teams, kicking: Simon Hedin 8-9 on extra points and 2-2 on field goals. punts: John Chorlton 22 punts for 666 yards, Stephen Reifenberger 5 punts for 145 yards. Punt returns: Joey Millner 5 returns for 58 yards. Kickoff returns: Joey Millner 20 returns for 440 yards, Michael Gruwell 6 returns for 80 yards, X’Zavier Duetsch 2 returns for 31 yards, Stephen Reifenberger 2 returns for 24 yards, Johnny Bezdicek 1 return for 18 yards, Lucas Knoll 1 return for 8 yards.