Football Preview: Hastings Raiders vs. St. Thomas Academy Cadets
Hastings hasn't had much luck against St. Thomas Academy recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Hastings Raiders will host the St. Thomas Academy Cadets at 6:30 p.m.
Hastings is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 35 points last Friday, they were much more limited against Robbinsdale Armstrong on Friday. They were outmatched by the Falcons at home and fell 42-6. The matchup marked the Raiders' lowest-scoring contest so far this season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for St. Thomas Academy, who bounced back after a loss on the road last Friday. They put the hurt on Apple Valley with a sharp 46-21 victory on Friday. The win 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. Those 135 rushing yards gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Ari Tobias, who rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to St. Thomas Academy's defense and their three sacks. 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.
The defeat snapped Hastings' winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 3-3 record. As for St. Thomas Academy, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 4-2 record this season.
Hastings took a serious blow against St. Thomas Academy when the teams last played back in October of 2023, falling 40-7. Thankfully for Hastings, Savion Hart (who rushed for 268 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 11.7 yards per carry) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
