At 33 the Hastings Raiders came into Thursday night’s game against the 15 Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars riding a twogame win streak. They were confident and rightfully so: they had just defeated Two Rivers by more than 30 points and had a thrilling comefrombehind win in overtime against South St. Paul. The confidence didn’t equate to another win, as Jefferson came from behind to win 2922.

Both teams spent the first quarter getting a feel for each other’s defense and it took until the 10:53 mark of the second quarter for the first points to get on the board. The Raiders were energized when Vincent Zeyen burst through the line to block a field goal attempt by the Jaguars.

Hastings took advantage and went 81 yards on nine plays, scoring on a 17yard run by Payton Burow to go up 60. Sieben hit the PAT and Hastings had the lead.

With just 18 seconds left in the first half, Hastings capped a 9 play, 56yard drive with a 9yard touchdown run by Danny Millner, Sieben hit the PAT and Hastings took the lead 140.

“The first half we played really well and, and found ways to get off of the field,” explained Head Coach Dana Strain. “Then offensively, we got a couple of scores, and we also moved the ball pretty well. I thought we ran the ball really well in the first half.”

Jefferson took the opening kickoff of the second half and returned 80 yards to the Raider 15 when the ball was knocked loose. The Jaguars recovered the fumble at the Raider six. The excellent return was made possible by a holding penalty on Jefferson which brought the ball back to the Jefferson 30. Two big runs by Daniel Freitag and Jefferson was quickly back in Raider territory.

Jefferson methodically moved the ball down the field but some key tackles for loss, including a huge sack by Austin Leflay and another fumble, forced Jefferson to go for it on fourth and seven where they earned the first down by an inch. A pass to the endzone resulted in a pass interference penalty and Jefferson was now on the Raider 12. Freitag took a pass down to the twoyard line by jumping over a standing Blake Vandehoef which resulted in a 15yard personal foul penalty. Jefferson kept taking one step forward and two steps back with penalties until they finally connected on a trick play for a touchdown. Hastings still had the lead 147.

The Raiders received the kick, and they started near midfield. A first down false start moved Hastings back 10 yards and two consecutive run plays had them facing a third and 14. Millner was in the shotgun and a bad snap from center shot past him. Millner won the ensuing scramble for the ball, but the play had already been broken. In an effort to save the play, Millner launched the ball to the center of the field toward Rico Cooper. Cooper lost track of the ball which was tipped and intercepted. The interception was returned deep into Raider territory but called back to the Jefferson 35 because of an illegal block penalty. A second penalty by the Jaguars pushed Jefferson back even further to their 20.

Eleven plays and 80 yards later, the Jaguars scored their second touchdown of the game on a 13yard run by Freitag and the game was tied at 14 at the start of the fourth quarter.

The ensuing kickoff went deep to Hastings with Burow receiving the ball at the Raider 10. Burrow broke a number of tackles to give the Raiders excellent field position. Three straight runs by Burow and the Raiders were in a predicament until the officials called another unsportsmanlike conduct on the Jaguars for a helmet to helmet hit by a defender against Burow, who was forced to sit for one play. Hastings then had another turnover, and Bloomington was back on the offensive at their own 35. Six plays later Schultz punched it in on a 17yard run giving Jefferson the lead 2114 with the successful PAT. The kick was the Jaguars twenty first unanswered point.

Burow was cleared to return, and he took the deep kick again, this time at the 11. He once again broke through the initial line of wouldbe tacklers, and he was loose down the left hash mark for an 89yard kickoff return touchdown. This was Burow’s second kickoff return for a touchdown in as many weeks. The Raiders went for the twopoint conversion to take a onepoint lead. Millner took the snap, handed it off to Burow who headed to the left side of the line. Burow quick flipped it to Jonathon Bezdicek who fumbled the pitch but he quickly recovered, picked up the fumble and rumbled to the right scoring the two and giving the Raiders the lead, 2221.

Jefferson took the ball back and marched down the field into Raider territory. Three straight penalties by the Jaguars had the Raiders feeling very good about their chances, to win the game but each of the three penalties brought back a Jaguar touchdown. Jefferson finally punched it in with 3:24 left in the game to go up 2922.

Hastings turned the ball over on downs and Jefferson punted away as time expired and the game was over.

The Raider offense continued their running ways from the Two Rivers game, relying heavily on Burow throughout the night. Burow did a great job hitting the holes made by the Raider offensive line, racking up 135 yards on 22 carries with one touchdown for the night offensively and he was responsible for 134 yards and one touchdown on kickoff returns.

Overall, the Raiders offense had 45 plays for 232 yards. The Raider defense saw 63 plays and allowed 427 yards. 319 of those yards were on the ground and 108 in the air.

The surprise of the night is the difference in penalties. Hastings was penalized six times for 59 yards and Jefferson was penalized 17 times for 180 yards.

The loss could severely hurt the Raiders seeding for the playoffs which could put the chance of a home playoff game at risk. St. Thomas has the conference lead at 40 in the conference and 70 overall. Hastings is in second at 21 in the conference, 34 overall with one game left against conference opponent CretinDerham Hall (12/16). Hastings currently has the standings lead and the headtohead tie breaker against third place Apple Valley (22/34).

Hastings needs to roll into St. Thomas University’s football stadium on Wed, Oct. 19 and take care of business against CDH. They need to not just beat Cretin, but they need to blow them out and show the conference they deserve to be in the top half of the section to host one more at Todd Field.

Raider speedster, Johnny Bezdicek picked up a fumbled pitch exchange and scored the twopoint conversion to give the Raiders their last lead of the game. Photo by Bruce Karnick

Quarterback Danny Millner completed 53 percent of his passes going 8-for-15 for 81 yards.Photo by Bruce Karnick