Football Preview: St. Thomas Academy Cadets vs. Hastings Raiders
St. Thomas Academy is 9-1 against Hastings since September of 2018, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The St. Thomas Academy Cadets will take on the Hastings Raiders at 6:30 p.m. Hastings took a loss in their last game and will be looking to turn the tables on St. Thomas Academy, who comes in off a win.
St. Thomas Academy took a loss when they played away from home last Friday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Friday. Everything went their way against Apple Valley as St. Thomas Academy made off with a 46-21 win. The victory almost wasn't to be: the Cadets were down 14-0 in the fourth quarter.
Dominic Baez was his usual excellent self, rushing for 135 yards and four touchdowns on only 14 carries. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. Ari Tobias handled things on the ground, rushing for 84 yards and a rushing touchdown.
St. Thomas Academy's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB three times. In fact, those sacks all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Todd Rogalski. He also made four total tackles, which is notable because St. Thomas Academy is undefeated when he posts at least three total tackles, but 1-2 otherwise.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, St. Thomas Academy was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 247 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, a win for Hastings just wasn't in the cards on Friday as the team wasn't able to take the lead at any point. They were beaten by Robbinsdale Armstrong 42-6. While losing is never fun, the Raiders can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota football rankings (they are ranked 84th, while the Falcons are ranked ninth).
St. Thomas Academy has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests, which provided a nice bump to their 4-2 record this season. As for Hastings, the loss snapped their winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 3-3 record.
Everything came up roses for St. Thomas Academy against Hastings in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, as the squad secured a 40-7 victory. In that matchup, St. Thomas Academy amassed a halftime lead of 26-0, an impressive feat they'll look to repeat on Thursday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
